Cleo Crawford. Obscure African-American painter

A great, forgotten painting by African-American artist Cleo Crawford executed in 1938. Crawford lived in Haverstraw, New York. He unfortunately passed away shortly after his work was included in a Sidney Janis show and later the book “They Taught Themselves” in 1942. It also appears in Herbert Hemphill’s “Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists” in 1974. The other day I saw an eBay seller offering “Giclee print on canvas” reproductions! Ugh. My guess is that this was never approved by the legitimate owner. Cleo Crawford “Christmas” oil 28 x 40 1/2” Sidney and Harriet Janis collection, Museum of Modern Art

Black Jesus Last Supper Outsider Art collection Jim Linderman

Black Jesus Outsider Art. The Last Supper, mid 20th Century. Signed by RAY (unknown)said to be from Virginia. Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Art Brut from Detroit Michigan Sam Mackey

The little known work of Sam Mackey is shown here from several institutional collections. Mr. Macky was the grandfather of Tyree Guyton, creator of Heidelberg Project, a long standing (and constantly changing) folk art environment in Detroit. Mr. Guyton has said his grandfather was an inspriation on his own work. I am not sure how widely Sam Mackey's work has been publicly shown, if at all. Some 25 years ago I was fortunate to see of number of originals in New York courtesy of a friend who had the work sent to him for approval. Great work, and work which I believe is quite scarce. The art here is dated circa 1987 - 1992. Crayon and pencil on paper. Images of Sam Mackey work from the following sources: Knight Foundation The Wayne State University Collection For art and artists(blog) University of Michigan Museum of Art

Blanch Ackers African-American Artist from Arkansas, Michigan.

Blanch Ackers moved from Arkansas to near Detroit, Michigan in 1943. In 1985 she found employment in a Foster Grandparent program and was introduced to art by Christine Hennessay, an art teacher. She was over 70 years of age when her first drawings were produced. Essentially "memory paintings" the work reflects strongly the African-American experience in the Southern United States where she spent her childhood. Blanch Ackers passed in 2003 at the age of 88. Ms. Ackers has a wikipedia entry, and her works are held by the University of Michigan Art Museum Blanch Ackers. Five untitled drawings, c.1990 Collection Jim Linderman

African-American Quilt Drawings by Sarah Mary Taylor of the Delta

A pair of interesting drawings by African-American Quilter Sarah Mary Taylor of Yazoo City, Mississippi.  Circa 1993.  Known widely for her quilts, I suspect she may have done several hundred drawings before passing on.  These are surprising for their unusual form.  Most of the drawings I have seen were designs based on her standard, repeated quilt figures.  Hands, human figures and animals.  I've always wondered if anyone has her original templates for quilting…and if she even used them!  Free-hand pieces here represent a house (with a figure inside tucked under a quilt?) and numerous irregular squares.  If Ms. Taylor made a "house" quilt, it would look more like this drawing than the traditional quilter's house form or pattern.  Lots of crosshatching.  The floating figure on the other piece?  A melon abstraction within four corners.  Cosmogram?

The house at the time I visited was not green.  Then, her tiny place was painted a bright orange, and I cribbed a photo from wikipedia commons (photo by Terry Nowell) I have no idea how many houses she lived in, but I do know she had five husbands over her long life.  It was hard to keep a family together in the Black south of the early 20th century.

Ms. Taylor was born near Betonia, Mississippi in 1916.  A cook, a nanny and a field hand.  Also from Betonia at the same time?  Skip James.  A blues musician of staggering talent who would have been performing around the area at the same time.  Sarah would have been 14 at the peak of his depression-era career.  Betonia had a population of less than 200 in 1900, and has only 500 now. Could she have missed him busking?  He recorded a dozen or so sides in 1931 then went missing until musician John Fahey and others located him in the 1960s.

This is deep Delta.  Betonia is  right down highway 49 from Yazoo.  I wish I had asked her if she remembered Skippy James.  Both come from the same place, after all.  The musician has the same root as the artist.  Same well.

The drawings are now, as far as I know, in private hands.  The one I gave my avid-quilting mother is lost.  


Two drawings by Sarah Mary Taylor circa 1993 Private collection

Outsider Art African American Yard Show Sculpture Alabama c. 1990 Photographs by Jim Linderman Television in the Driveway

Outsider Art African American Yard Show Sculpture Alabama c. 1990 Photographs by Jim Linderman Television in the Driveway high atop a pole.  See also the BOOK and EBOOK by Jim Linderman In-Situ: American Folk and Outsider Art in Place available HERE.

Fantasy Drawings by African-American Artist Asa "Ace" Moore collection Jim Linderman

 

 

A group of the recently discovered erotic fantasy comic illustrations by Asa "Ace" Moore, African-American from Ohio, circa 1935.  

All Original Drawings circa 1935 collection Jim Linderman

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Reverend John Ruth Bible Garden

Camel and sign from the lost environment of Reverend John D. Ruth, Athens Georgia

Original 35mm photograph Athens Georgia c. 1994 collection Jim Linderman