Four drawings with watercolor by Lucy Moose (1921 - 2010) Miss Moose was born August 28, 1921,in Charlotte, N.C. and passed away
on October 7, 2010 in Atlanta, GA at the age of 89. She attended Queens
College in Charlotte, N.C. and also served actively in the United States
Navy at The Pentagon during World War II, followed by 3 years in the
Naval Reserves. Miss Moose had a long-standing career in fashion
merchandising with several large retailers, in addition to retirement
from the United States Army & Air Force Exchange Service. After
living for many years in New York City and abroad in Hong Kong and
Germany, Miss Moose retired to Atlanta, Georgia where she became a very
active volunteer and received her 20 Year Volunteer Award from The Jimmy
Carter Presidential Library. Miss Moose was a member of Peachtree Road
United Methodist Church. ART BOOKS AND INSTANT EBOOK DOWNLOADS BY JIM LINDERMAN AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE OR FREE PREVIEWS HERE
Colorama Crazy Ball Vintage Hand-painted Carnival Sign Folk Art. He started out bold with a giant C but ended up with a tiny A. Collection Jim Linderman
These drawings
were done from 1918 to 1919 by Elizabeth Stohn. Ms Stone was a child at the
time, and was something of a "cross-category" artist. Part Schoolgirl art, part naive,
part trained (as she had just completed her "art school training" by
correspondence school. ) Certainly not what is generally considered
"outsider" art, though that term is pretty widely applied as far as I
can tell. These are folky and charming, but not really folk art
either. Outsider Art? Nah.
While
thousands of women studied art and (like Ms. Stohn) aspired to be an
artist, even naming early woman artists is hard. They were screwed over
ever since they were here in every field. Why should art (or comics,
for that matter) be the domain of men? Plus, here is a secret…they were
often better than the men and never received the credit. They were
lost and laboring as "anonymous" in quilting, needle-point, and other
acceptable near domestic arts.
I
remember respected art scholar and dealer Randall Morris saying
somethinglike "Cartoonists have their own school, they aren't outsider
artists" and I don't differ with him. Still there are many standards
being applied on the walls of the outsider art fair, and each show will continue the
mixed blessing of being labeled as an outsider.
"I
know it when I see it" was used to describe pornography by Justin Potter
when ruling in a landmark obscenity case heard by the Supreme Court in
1964. I am pretty sure he threw his hands up when he said it. "I
shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I
understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core
pornography"], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing
so. But I know it when I see it..." he said. We should avoid that esteemed opinion
when evaluating outsider art.
A wonderful group of "comic books" were one of discoveries at the last Outsider Art Fair. I'll guess
he took some courses too, but it is a guess. Dan Nadelwould be the person to ask. I sure would love to see
them, but as I say, I wasn't there.
(There was another Johnson
(real name Ferd or Ferdinand Johnson) working at the same time in
Chicago, and he became quite well-known among other cartoonists. Same
fellow? I can't tell…I didn't go go cartoonist school! (joke) It was certainly
not the same fellow, but neither of them were being "obsessive" about
drawing. They were just doing what comic book artists do. That would be
filling page after page with drawings. Ask Gary Panter, a great artist
who is not an outsider. He published a massive book containing his
sketchbooks. Read the great essay on Frank, the outsider HERE by Dan Nadel. There were other great cartoon artists (Basil Wolverton, Windsor
McCay for example) and there were plenty of bizarre comic strip artists
who were visionaries. Mr. Nadel knows his stuff…See the magnificent
volumes he put together on some HERE. Any library specializing in any art must have
these two books. Like the books displayed at the last outsider art
fair, he reveals dozens of quirky and magnificently talented artists, be
they self-taught or not.
Ponder on what an outsider artist is,
and if the work you are appraising fits some arbitrary non-definition
like Justice Steven's frustrated legal opinion of smut, ponder more. Everyone
has their own concept. But can we agree, at least, that if one went to
art school, he isn't an outsider? Outsider Art...I know it when I see it.
Other articles in the I'm Not at the Outsider Art Fair series are HERE. See also two books on Folk art Outsider art by the writer Jim Linderman HERE and HERE.
Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber folk art sculpture made of clay. Joe was active in the late 1930's to the late 1940's. Born in Alabama and moved to Detroit after being visited by a gang of the Klan. Let's not let that happen again. Best known for his professional record, but also for standing up for civil rights all his life. In 1934, Louis won his first professional title (for which he earned $59.00) and went on to win all 12 of his fights in 1934, ten by knockouts. THANKS TO NATALIE CURLEY ANTIQUES Joe Lewis clay sculpture Circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman
Cutest little Valentine's Day Cards I have ever seen...and I met the artist! The woman selling them told me she made them as a young schoolgirl after I bought 'em. Makes these little bundles of bitter about 50 years old. I am really glad she kept them. Three vintage handmade Valentines circa 1960 Collection Jim Linderman
The site is ten years old. There is no big whizbang shindig to celebrate, as I am working on a book. There ARE a hundred or more people to thank. Lauren Leja, Natalie Curley and Shannon Reganin particular have contributed objects and ideas over the years. ALL the followers are appreciated, many of them artists and art dealers, antique dealers and pickers. Folks who "get it" and let me know they do. Some of the brightest people I know and admire have found the site. Most encouraging is the mail I have received from relatives, friends and such who have written me over the years and add to my stories. Being thanked for writing about forgotten folks they knew, they married or grew up with. It is humbling. For example, the post I did on obscure bluegrass and country performer Rem Wall. Nearly FIFTY comments from folks who remember or knew him. What an honor it is to receive such feedback. My wife Janna lets me do it. Not everyone has a wife who allows their husband to dwell in curious places and sully his reputation with risque images once in a while. I get to. There are a few special friends. The late Jay Tobler, one of the smartest people I have ever known. Robert Reeves, who shared my interests and made me laugh like no one else. Jimmie Allen, A golden Southern Picker who influenced one of my most successful books. Steve Slotin, a hero. Craig Yoe, the world's greatest comic art scholar and collector. Lance Ledbetter and Dust to Digital. Brian Wallis and the International Center of Photography. Tanya Heinrich and the American Folk Art Museum. The fascinatingDire McCainatParaphiliapublished some ofmy favorite pieces. I could go on and on. Lisa Hix at Collectors Weekly has been wonderful and written about a few of my projects.
I can't thank enough the folks who took the time to write about the site and my projects. Many of them are found on the side banner. The banner is not often seen
on a smartphone, so I am copying them here. Since I don't make any dough on
any of this really. I am lucky to break even...so the words mean so much.
The people and publications who took the time to write about me have made what I do legitimate. It is and was liberating and encouraging. This list is again far from complete, but I truly never thought I would "receive press" and boy, have I had lovely things said about me. Here are links to those to whom I am in debt.
"Linderman produces the most sublime books on dreamy, arcane subjects,
sexy stuff, too, all with rare one-of-a-kind images." Craig Yoe 2017
"...disclosing an underground history of American popular culture one oddball tale at a time" John Strausbaugh in The New York Times "...one of the blog writers to watch for" ARTSlant
"...wonderful, extraordinary, fascinating, remarkable and profound"
Fans in a Flashbulb International Center of Photography Museum 2016
"Perpetually
ahead of the collecting curve...a one man Taschen. An authentically
curious individual...diligently archiving the forgotten curiosities of
American History"
"Jim
Linderman likes Art, Antiques and Photography and his collection of
Vernacular Photography, Folk Art, Ephemera and Curiosities is a
wonderful place..." LifeElsewhere with Norman B. 2014
"...collected
over the years by Jim Linderman, a character who seems the perfect
subject for a Harvey Pekar comic. Linderman treats collecting like a
calling, and his finds have a resulting air of authority, stunning in
their capture of bygone picturesque moments." Derek Taylor Dusted
"The
pictures, discarded artifacts of ecstatic Americana, come from the
stash of Jim Linderman, who in his introduction recalls advice he’s
plainly taken to heart: “Collect the heck” out of whatever you find
interesting." Drew Jubera Paste Magazine
"His interest in art
is rivaled only by his interest in music, and one expression informs
the other. He pursues objects with thoroughness and an innate sense of
curiosity..." Tanya Heinrich Folk Art Magazine "Linderman acknowledges the obscure at the same time that he elevates it.... His collections tell vast stories in sotto voce,
allowing curios and objects shadowed by mainstream culture and
ideology to converse and be heard. What we hear is an enormous
American sub-culture speaking in forbidden, marginalized languages:
stuff discovered boxed in the attic out of embarrassment or zealotry,
smutty ash trays crowing next to religious pamphlets, each claiming a
part of the complex, sometimes contradictory, always conflicted
American imagination, a chaos of memories that will one day vanish." Joe Bonomo Author of Conversations With Greil Marcus, Jerry Lewis Lost and Found and No Such Thing As Was
"...he's one of the world's greatest pickers." Brian Wallis in The New York Times "Documenting--one
clipping at a time--the scrapbook of a leg and garter aficionado that
was dumpster-dived in Virginia in the 60s" "...an outstanding
image-archaeologist who has compiled a shelf-ful of worthy and unique
photographic histories." William Smith Hang Fire Books "Linderman has a knack for discovering untold stories and introducing them to a wider audience" Joey Lin Anonymous Works
"Jim Linderman...makes us all look a little puny" Could it be Madness-this?
"...insatiable
collector of ephemera and ringleader behind an incredible circus of
blogs — including the treasure trove dull tool dim bulb" The Cynephile
"...there's
something beyond the endless photos and postcards and weird propaganda
from another time that he lovingly documents - I think it's the
collection as a whole, the portrait of a person fascinated with culture
and communication. I have met people like this before, and in reading
Dull Tool Dim Bulb I feel I have been lucky enough to meet one more.
This site is a goldmine in terms of links..." The Hyggelic Life October 2009
"Linderman is always on the lookout for the new and exciting" Chuck and Jan Rosenak Contemporary American Folk Art
"Jim Linderman has a nice little colllection of interesting books and blogs...But every so often he just loses it." American Digest March 2010
"FOR
MOST OF HIS LIFE, COLLECTOR JIM LINDERMAN has searched high and low
for authentic things--unique and special objects that define the
artistic culture of the American experience. From folk art to popular
culture, from pulp fiction to Delta Blues-- Jim is a walking authority
on so many things American they are too numerous to mention. One thing
is certain-- his collecting interests are for things that have fallen
through the cracks, those things lost and forgotten--the box of material
under the table at the flea market booth. If it wasn't for dedicated
collectors like Jim Linderman-- so many important objects about our
culture would have surely been lost to time and indifference."
"Jim
Linderman maintains a most interesting blog about the most amazing
things from his collection—a site he calls “Dull Tool Dim Bulb,” the
only curse words his father ever uttered. I love it, and read it
everyday." "...an excellent writer and I devour your blog daily. I am impressed at your deep knowledge of things within your niche..." John FosterAccidental Mysteries
"I am grateful to Jim Linderman for first alerting me to the existence of the 1930s Spiritualist hymn "Jesus is My Air-o-plane." William FagalyNew Orleans Museum of Art, Author Tools of her Ministry: The art of Sister Gertrude Morgan
"Linderman describes a long gone world...(he) claims not to be a writer but he is most certainly an excellent researcher..." BOOKSTEVE
"Jim Linderman, King of the Internet Ephemeral Arts" Spaniel Rage
"He
came to us with hundreds of jaw-dropping baptism photos that he'd been
collecting for 25 years," Ledbetter explains. "By the time he found
us, he'd already done half a lifetime's works, and he trusted us to
handle it properly." Lance Ledbetterin Creative Loafing 10/13/11
Thank you all so very much. Everyone needs a hobby. I am so grateful for mine.
Justin McCarthy "Blond Beauty" Self-Taught American Folk Artist Crayon mounted on wallpaper scraps c. 1920 (Illustrated in the catalog Justin McCarthy Allentown Art Museum 1985. Collection Jim Linderman
Folk Art Environment Vernacular Architecture Photograph Anonymous. A grotto-like installation around living quarters. No date. Thanks to BOX LOT on Facebook. See also the 250 page bookIn Situ: American Folk Art in Place by Jim Linderman
No way to compare rates for this patriotic "no tell hotel" once operating somewhere in America....(Or Canada. See comment at end of post) Vintage anonymous snapshot, no date. Collection Jim Linderman See also IN SITU-AMERICAN FOLK ART IN PLACE
An interesting folk art sculpture made from SNOW in St. Paul, Minnesota 1937. The creation even shows a pair of folk art portraits on the wall! Figural snow and ice sculpture have been staples of the St. Paul Winter Sports Carnival since 1885, when the city decided to create an ice palace while the prominent Montreal, Canada festival was on lock down for a smallpox outbreak!
An ephemeral folk art sculpture which has melted away.
Many other images of the festival are collected by the Minnesota History CenterHERE but this one does not appear. St. Paul Winter Sports Carnival 1937 Real Photograph Post Card collection Jim Linderman
Large Folk Art Carving / Sculpture Articulated Man with Big Feet and Little Hands. Nearly 22 inches tall. Figure is wired to "walk" whencranked. Circa 1940? Collection Jim Linderman
