Arthur Rothstein. “Girl at Gee’s Bend, Alabama [Artelia Bendolph],” April 1937, The Art Institute of Chicago, through prior gift of Simon and Bonnie Levin.
This show is a quiet stunner. The questions it poses are clear and compelling and its artworks linger in memory. The exhibition describes an era where government, galleries, collectors and museums had more to do with the production and reception of visual culture than we imagined. It combines handcrafted objects (“folk art”) with pictures by the period’s most important photographers. Photos massed together reflect their production as museum collections or government projects, while vernacular objects are arranged in their own domains. Thanks to the well-written labels and information panels, two- and three-dimensional pieces speak to each other across gallery spaces. The black-and-white photos make conspicuous the colors of the carved wood, the furniture, and especially, the fabric pieces. The dirty yellow paint on a Shaker chair or the kaleidoscopic patterns of a fabric sampler are simply gorgeous. Adding another sensual dimension to the show is the thoughtful menu of roots music that plays at the entrance.
The depth of the museum’s photographic collections is impressive; many of these pictures are rarely seen or are new acquisitions. The works of Dorothea Lange (her “Ex-Slave with a Long Memory, Alabama,” is a revelation), Walker Evans, Berenice Abbott and Arthur Rothstein are shown in abundance, but they don’t crowd out the others. Standouts include Sid Grossman’s close-up of Big Bill Broonzy’s bluesy face, signage-drenched pictures of ethnic businesses by Abbott and several rarely seen heartstring-tugging images of Depression-era children. The show admirably includes objects from, and images of, many regions of the country, not just New York City or the Dust Bowl. It also demonstrates how Farm Security Administration photographs were used by publishers.
The vernacular objects include carved birds, furniture, redware, wrought-iron pieces, rugs, fabric pieces, weathervanes and “tramp art.” Objects are mounted and lit beautifully. A Zoar, Ohio, chair is paired with its actual fabrication pattern. And rarely has a pair of wrought-iron rushlight holders been presented so effectively. Find the inscriptions and painted birds on a small, charming, eighteenth-century chest-over-drawer. A vitrine full of carved birds delights. Inside, Wilhelm Schimmel’s pocket-knife-carved “Parrot” is a masterpiece of self-taught art.
John Haley Bellamy. “Eagle,” 1870/1900. The Art Institute of Chicago, bequest of Elizabeth R. Vaughan
It’s important how the exhibition charts how folk art came to be sought and understood in the early twentieth century. One learns about collectors, their gifts, indexes and research projects, as well as commercial galleries devoted to the then-new interest in folk art, which was regarded as a genuine, indigenous art form. This is one of the strengths of the show overall: it displays intriguing and authoritative pieces while explaining how taste for the work developed over time. But the result is not theoretical or meta: Instead, it leads to a deeper institutional understanding of American culture.
The show is so rewarding that one barely notices that nearly every piece comes from the Art Institute’s own collection, demonstrating how museums can combine and reorient their own works to illustrate important histories. Altogether, “Photography + Folk Art: Looking for America in the 1930s” is one of this year’s must-see exhibitions. (Mark B. Pohlad)
“Photography + Folk Art: Looking for America in the 1930s,” Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South Michigan, through January 19, 2020.
