Jim Linderman blog about surface, wear, form and authenticity in self-taught art, outsider art, antique american folk art, antiques and photography.
Antique American Folk Art Button Table Mat
Andy Warhol "Limited Edition Prints" by the USPS and Fred Collins
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Two limited edition prints here. One is a limited edition print of sorts (a United States postage stamp) affixed to another print on an envelope. It is an individually hand-painted print mailed on the first day of issue for the Warhol stamp used to mail it. August 9, 2002.
For some bizarre reason, it was reported the Warhol 37 cent stamp was unveiled at the Gagosian Galllery on Madison avenue. WHAT? Jeez, I wonder if "Go Go" had any Warhol works in the back room? Gauche!
Fortunately another source says the stamp was first presented at the Andy Warhol Museum where it most certainly belonged. The stamp was originally a photo booth portrait, and it appears the Warhol Museum owns the original. It was actually a passport photo from the 1960s. The artist first made his own prints of the image in 1964 which were sold for "a few hundred dollars." A later edition (The Red Series) from 1965 were apparently given away. Read the story of one disputed print HERE in the Daily Mail. The average print run of a United States commemorative stamp is around 50 million. That is a lot of tiny Warhol works, but still limited. The annual limited edition Christmas stamps double that number and then some.
How many were mailed on special envelopes like this one? Only Fred Collins knows. Mr. Collins made his living creating and selling first day covers. His website currently shows one available for $12.95, which seems quite fair considering it was painted by hand. The stamp carried a 37 cent face value and still does. It isn't a "forever" stamp, but is forever worth exactly 37 cents worth of postage. Didn't even change over the last eighteen years of economic turmoil. Or whatever. I don't know if Mr. Collins work fluctuates. Collins seems to have escaped any validation from the art world…but among "first day cover" collectors he is highly regarded.
The source for Fred's drawing was a photograph taken by Burt Glinn of Magnum Photos in 1965. Andy pops out of a sewer with Edie Sedgwick! She wore her hair "Warhol-style" but hers was real. Also shown is Chuck Wein. He "discovered" Edie at the office of their mutual shrink. Wein was played by Jimmy Fallon in the 2006 film Factory Girl! Right now, one has to pay a streaming service three bucks to see it.Antique Folk Art Animal Carvings with Original Paint
Lisa Z. Sigel The People's Porn: A History of Handmade Pornography in America Book Review
Lisa Sigel is an audacious scholar. Her field of study is old as the species, but still appears to scare the pants off academia. None of us would be here if it weren't for sexual activity and that makes it one of the most important areas for study, yet Sigel's afterword details a harrowing pattern of denied fellowships, grant rejections and any interest at all from cultural institutions. Their eyes are closed.
The author writes that "there are no big grants or prizes for the study of pornography. Foundations, ever since the year of the Mapplethorpe (1990) do not fund general scholarship on pornography or erotica and most institutions will be penalized with cuts in federal funding if they inadvertently discuss erotic objects." Meanwhile, Facebook continues to figure out how to eliminate errant female nipples from postings through artificial intelligence.
It might be a stretch, but in some ways this compares to the reluctance of art institutions to accept the work of folk and outsider artists. Nearly one hundred are illustrated here. They will certainly open some eyes, although most of the wondrous objects shown in The People's Pornography have yet to find any acceptance at all. That is except for those owned by a handful of adventurous collectors and the Kinsey Institute. One characteristic of all the work shown is their scarcity. Think of the amount of material tossed by horrified surviving family members if they came across some of the art shown here.
Sigel takes on all manner of handmade and homemade erotic objects. They may look pornographic but all reflect true human emotions the makers struggled with. Or simply enjoyed. They display humor (hilarious gag objects intended to surprise) or extreme violence, such as the work created in prison by imaginations which might be out of control. Still, all exist and all are worthy of appraisal.
Sigel also takes on what those here will recognize as "term warfare" as we figure out how to categorize and understand art made by the creative impulses of the untrained. Maybe there are outsiders and WAY outsiders. Just flipping through the images here will shock some. Well…many. Others might remember familiar "dirty jokes" traded among classmates. Although this is a scholarly and historical approach, Sigel manages to provide a highly readable narrative. She writes like other recent authors who popularize science (think Mary Roach and Caitlin Doughty). This book isn't just for the pictures.
There have been several other books on erotic folk art. Milt Simpson, who recently celebrated his 95th birthday, published the lovely Folk Erotica: Celebrating Centuries of Erotic Americana in 1994.. Thomas Waugh's book Out / Lines : Underground Graphics from Before Stonewall provides scores of homemade gay pornography in 1982. Lisa Sigel's own article "Flagrant Delights" in Antiques Magazine July/August 2014 is also recommended.
Purchase The People's Porn: A History of Handmade Pornography in America HERE
Lisa Sigel bibliography of books and publications HERE
Wood Carving Folk Art Puppet Head original paint circa 1950
Meet the Press Leatrice Joy Original Press Photograph 1921
Antique American Folk Art Automobile Collection. Made by Hand Vintage Wood Carving Toys c. 1930 Original Paint
Antique Folk Art Paper Cut / Folded Paper Froebel "Kindergarten" Projects circa 1903 - 1904 by Kenneth Miles Litchfield, CT Collection Jim Linderman
Gorillas in Chains! Folk Art Real Photo Postcard
How to Index and Catalog your Video Collection!
Outsider Art Journalism from Home! Douglas Levicki Amateur Homedrawn Newspaper from England
Antique carved folk art stone
Naive Outsider Art of Moses Baker
Tintograph Stencil Children's Art Kit c. 1915
19th Century Folk Art Ledger with Drawings from Students in a One Room School
Giant Tin Sardine Can Submarine Explores Lake Michigan Waters Folk Art Fish Sculpture
Well, a giant homemade fish submarine! "Lake Crossing in Sardine Can" reads the caption. I'm not sure the date. The fish is just over ten feet long. The maker Barney Connett prepares for launch.
Original A.P. Wirephoto circa 1950?
Rasmus Petersen
Rasmus Petersen stands by his rock garden Statue of Liberty with an odd plaque reading "Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think" for some reason.
Folk Art Foot Ephemera
The small art of the mailed foot. Two of these anyway. The smallest is actually a Lady's Calling Card. Late 19th / Early 20th Century. Collection Jim Linderman