Jim Linderman collection of Antique Wooden Folk Art Figures shown mid 1990s Articulated Figures and Whirligigs

Jim Linderman collection of Antique Wooden Folk Art Figures shown mid 1990s. Articulated figures and whirligigs

Our Curious World Sideshow

It’s Our Curious World! Cheap carnival midway booth circa 1960? Original glossy press photo by Larry Epstein Philadelphia, Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb. Thanks to Lauren Leja of FACEBOOK on eBay

Pair of Homemade Santa Claus Figures

Both these fellas obviously from the same template (or traced) and taken from the same scrapbook! Let's play the old game "spot the difference" and start with the buttons. Happy Holidays. DRIVE SAFE. Two Santas circa 1930 Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb.

Original 19th century Photograph of a folk art sculpture group of carved dogs birds and more.

I was challenged to identify the maker but have failed so far. Lots of birds and a pair of dogs. Excellent carved folk art from 1890 to 1910 maybe. I would have had the dogs face each other, but that’s just my sense of balance. A detail scan shows the menagerie, the other shows the garden. Early photograph of folk art carvings in the garden. Circa 1890 - 1910. The photo is 5” x 7” in an 8” x 10” mount. Collection Jim Linderman Dull Tool Dim Bulb The Blog.

Group of Three Folk Art Articulated Figure Carvings

Small Articulated figure folk art figures. Circa 1920 - 1940 Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Folk Art Sewer Tile Miniature Shoe c. 1900 - 1920

Miniature Sewer Tile Shoe circa 1900 - 1920. A shoe formed in a mold for commercial sale made by Sewer Tile workers in their off-time. Length 5 inches, 2 1/2 inches tall at heel. Signed on base “JG” Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb the blog.

The Bettie Page Scrapbook found in Virginia Robert Harrison and his Cheescake

Over on my Facebook "Rare Bettie Page" page I’ve been posting from a 1950s Scrapbook found in a dumpster in Virginia. These magazine photos appear to have come mostly from Robert Harrison magazines of the era which featured gossip and cheesecake. He employed an army of pinup photographers. One page is significant as it shows Bettie Page with her famous Bettie Bangs and without! African American NYC policeman / photographer Jerry Tibbs suggested she would look better with them and he sure was right. I used some of these in a book years ago without identifying the model. Original pages from the vintage scrapbook Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb #bettiepage. #scrapbook #robertharrison #1950s. #pinup #pinups

Jack Savitsky the coal miner folk artist two early works from 1965

Jack Savitsky, AKA “Coal Miner Jack” (1910 - 1991) was in fact a coal miner with a 6th grade education from Pennsylvania who developed Black Lung Disease in 1960. This forced him to leave the job he followed his father into. His son Jack Savitt suggested Savitsky take up art not long after he became sick in 1960. He achieved great success for a folk artist primarily as his well-known “Train in a Coal Town” painting was featured in 1974 on the cover of Herbert Hemphill’s book “Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists” in 1974, A book which belongs in any art collection and which frankly remains the best source on this thing of ours. Hemphill, or “Bert” as known was preternaturally inclusive in the self-taught masters he first brought to the attention of many collectors. Now that used books are affordable, an essential purchase. I was proud to visit and call Bert a friend, and I was also proud to visit Jack Savitt and his wife Mary Lou many times at their house where they continued to sell the work by Savitsky until they both also passed. In my mind, all legends now but at one time approachable to a novice collector like myself. Hemphill passed in 1998. Unlike the familiar coal mining themes of Savitsky’s work, he was prolific in all manner of subjects as the rather strange early drawings here reveal. These are 9 x 12 or so and on paper unlike the hundreds of small drawings he did on the back of cut-up cereal boxes later in life. His work is included in a dozen prominent museums today. The photo was given to me by painter Sterling Strauser, who knew Savitsky and many notable artists from an earlier era of the appreciation of self-taught art. NOTE there are several fake works attributed to the artist but being offered on eBay currently. Don’t be misled. Pair of Jack Savitsky drawings 1965 collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb the Blog.