July 4th 1939 Lou Gehrig Day The Luckiest... Anonymous Painting of 1939

Yes, it is July 4th, Independence day, but it is also Lou Gehrig Day.  July 4, 1939, one of our greatest baseball players took to the field and Yankee Stadium to acknowledge the crowds.  Movietone was there to record it, and it obviously moved the young artist here.

The…The…The   
Luckiest…Luckiest…Luckiest… 
Man…Man…Man.  
Lou was sick when he stood before the microphone.  No one had even heard of hockey then, and basketball was still a joke.  We had one sport and Lou was the epitome of it.  Of all his accomplishments, the greatest was that he played 2,130 games in a row.   From 1925 to 1939.  Have YOU ever called in sick?  Lou didn't.  Not once.  And all they had back then was aspirin.

The anonymous painting here, too large for my scanner, was found folded in a "one dollar" basket at the end of a table at a garage sale.  Who would throw this out?
 
Anonymous Child's Painting of Lou Gehrig Day.  Date, possible, 1939  Collection Jim Linderman
 

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Pair of 19th Century Folk Art Children's Drawings by Harry Moar More Folky than Children's Drawings of Today?

Two consistent drawings by young Harry Moar which I am dating to around the turn of the century.  The 19th one.   They are signed on the reverse, so young Harry had an idea of his own capabilities as an artist, or his parents did.  Some young and naive artists have no idea they should imprint their stamp on a work until they are told to claim it.  It would take a mighty precocious child to sign his work before being told.

Lined paper such as this came into being around 1900.

19th century drawings by children look more like folk art to me than those done today.    A children's art specialist could tell me more (and maybe one will write in) but these just look more folky than kids draw today.  


Now that kids draw with the "help" of touch pads these days... I won't have anything to find at antique shows, and I suspect they'll all start to look more or less the same.
 
Pair of original 19th century drawings by Harry Moar.  Collection Jim Linderman

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What's Better Than A Box Of Paints ? These Are! Blaisdell Pencil Box

What's better than a box of paints?  My box of Blaisdell Map Coloring Drawing Pencils!  They are encased in wood.

Blaisdell Colored Pencils No Date Collection Jim Linderman

The Art of Sewing Cards (Sewing Card Set No. 48-558)

Lillian Ethel Wandel (4th Grade) completed Sewing Card 1927 Collection Jim Linderman

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Nation of Immigrants Pilgrim Tale Told c. 1950

A collaborative effort, this handmade book by elementary students well over 50 years ago. The manila paper you may remember. The story, however, you may have forgotten. A nation of immigrants which began with a boat full of religious beliefs hoping to find a place they would be left alone.
Circa 1940 Handmade "Our Pilgrim Book" circa 1950 by Mrs. Whipple's class, Northeastern Michigan Collection Jim Linderman

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Folk Art Masterpiece Pieces of RICE Folk Art Masterpiece

Folk Art Masterpiece. Four feet long and entirely made of hand-dyed rice kernels, each single piece placed by hand. I thought it was a pretty good (and pretty large) hooked rug until I got about fifteen feet away. 100% rice, whole-grain....and each tiny kernal vegetal dyed. Click to enlarge. I am inclined to run a "guess the number of kernels" contest but then I would have to count them myself.


When does a now extinct child's craft become a work of art? Well, for one thing, when it gets this big. No child made this. 4 feet x 3 feet and framed like the serious construction it is. This took longer than the hardest puzzle and I presume tweezers were involved.


Now tedious and repetitive folk art pieces like this used to be common, or at least smaller versions were. Certainly television took away much of the motivation, I suspect sleeping pills and sedatives have as well...obsessive art is far less seen than it used to be. This certainly would have won first prize at the State Fair around 1900 had it been entered, but there is no attribution other than the Midwest.


I have seen portraits of clown heads made of aquarium sand. I have seen entire buildings made out of corn-cobs. I have seen a Harley Davidson motorcycle constructed of dried beans. If there is a person bored and a wooden board, something will be made. But I could look 20 years full time and not find a piece as balanced, as big and as beautiful.



"Make-do" Applied Rice constructed "painting" circa 1900. Collection Jim Linderman

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