Quote and Credit
Daredevil Plummets to the ground Real Photo Postcard c. 1930 Collection Jim Linderman
the Museum of the Corn Cob (!) real photo postcard circa 1910 Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb
The story of how artists Dorothy and Sterling Strauser came upon Justin McCarthy’s naive art strewn on the lawn at an outdoor market in 1960 is told in numerous books and catalogs. Dorothy (or “Dot” as she preferred) saw them first and went to go get Sterling and share them. In July of that year, a brief article in the Pocono Record announced he would be selling “his fashion drawings” at the Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania Courthouse Outdoor Art Show. Sterling was exhibiting in the same show (his framed and hanging) but it was Dorothy who soughtJustin’s out. She found a kindly gentleman with his paintings tossed on the ground. She went to get Sterling. He, of course, loved them and recalls how much he would enjoy seeing them in frames. McCarthy worked on any available scrap of paper, but to my knowledge never framed a work. He had plenty of time. By the time this splendid couple came across his work, the artist had filled his then run down mansion with 40 years of art. Sterling, who represented and promoted McCarthy’s art for the rest of both of their lives, remembers being allowed to view the work in the mansion two years later, saying the paintings were stacked all over including in the bathtub and the kitchen stove. This was in 1962 . In her dissertation on Justin McCarthy, Nancy Karlins writes “The Strausers were impressed and wanted to buy one of McCarthy’s paintings but they were priced at one hundred dollars each…and he told them he did not think her would sell many pieces of his work so he might as well charge a lot as a little”. Arrangements were made and Sterling Strauser began making the work available to his art world friends and curators.
NOTES
Original photograph Sterling and Dorothy Strauser on their porch in 1991 by Jim Linderman
Original photograph of the McCarthy mansion 1992 by Jim Linderman
Quote from Justin McCarthy (1891 - 1977) The Making of a 20-Century Self-Taught Painter
By Nancy Green Karlins Thoman. 1986
A work by Dorothy Strauser (“Rumble Seat Ride”” a hooking and Sterling Strauser (“Floral arrangement”) from
Lyzon Gallery postcards no date. The Nashville gallery represented Strauser’s work.
Collection Jim Linderman
https://justinmccarthyart.blogspot.com
Folk Art Carving of pinup model Bettie Page c. 1955 - 1960
Art Deco Tool Chest (!). Handmade cubby with original paint early 20th century
Odd " Perpetual Motion" Machine? Wires, Spinner and Electric Contacts. Boy Scout Project Homemade
Japanese sketch book 1949 of Exceptional Quallty
Halloween Cooking with Spirits
An amazing Miniature Folk Art Environment in the backyard (!) Courtesy Natalie Curley Photography Dealer and writer.
Folk Art Snapshot photograph of carved birds on a homemade spinning whirligig and a bizarre handnade birdhouse
Dog Scrapbook 19th Century collage and paint
Sister Gertrude Morgan's Eyes Folk Art Slotin Catalog
I always look forward to Steve Slotin’s auction catalogs and enjoy picking one listing to share on the blog. This time it’s a vivid Sister Gertrude Morgan work with hundreds of eyes…eyes she used to make with a steak bone as a stylus I once owned. I’m including a small picture of it here…A once cherished tool in my collection of her paintings. 
Over the years I collected work by the New Orleans preacher and artist who epitomized what this field and this art is all about. I have shared a dozen or more of my former collection of her paintings on the blog, none as good as this one. The Slotin Auction of 900 works is held November 7 and 8. Bidding online is easy and fun. Top-notch.
19th century centennial whirligig folk art sculpture on a stereoview photograph
AI revives my Warhol / Heinz Tracing Book from 1927 Theory
I was surprised to find AI has plundered my piece about a freebie tracing book published by Heinz a few blocks from where Andy Warhol grew up at the same time. The little book was designed to have children trace the Heinz products so as to brand theIr innocent minds. It worked. The booklet was published a year before Andy was born. I surmised that the roots of his pop art works of Heinz and Campbell’s products could be “traced” to this little booklet which he certainly would have had access to. No, he didn’t own my copy originally. No, he didn’t literally trace these specific images. But he did do remarkably similar works in the 1960s and some are nearly identical. Regardless, there was a good amount of interest when I originally posted this theory with images of the little booklet in 2010. I’ll try to link to additional material in the comments below. Here’s the AI interpretation of my original discovery:
AI OVERVIEW
The connection between collector and archivist Jim Linderman and Andy Warhol centers on a compelling art-world discovery regarding the origins of Warhol’s iconic commercial pop art.
The "Missing Link" Discovery
Through his popular art and culture blog, Dull Tool Dim Bulb, Linderman documented his acquisition of a rare piece of ephemera: a 1927 Heinz Kindergarten Book (No. 6). Published in Pittsburgh—exactly one year before Warhol was born there in 1928—the book featured built-in, branded tracing paper designed for children to trace commercial products. Linderman hypothesized that this specific childhood tracing book may have served as Warhol's early introduction to commercial product replication.
The Visual Evidence
Linderman noted striking similarities between the pre-printed graphics in the Heinz book and Warhol’s later signature style:
* The Hand-Drawn Tracings: The 1927 book featured early marketing illustrations intended to teach kids how to trace commercial goods.
* The Ketchup Connection: The tracing templates almost perfectly mirror the lines of Warhol's famous 1962 Heinz Ketchup drawing (which famously sold at Christie's for over $1 million in 2009).
While it remains an unproven hypothesis, Linderman’s discovery generated significant intrigue among pop art enthusiasts and collectors, offering a tangible look at how early 20th-century commercial marketing might have subconsciously shaped the pioneer of Pop Art.
#warhol. #theory. #art. #Linderman. 
Reward of Merit 19th century congratulations to a successful student
Vingage Carnival Sideshow Ball Toss Game Board Folk Art Original Paint
Slotin Auction November 7-8, 2026
Japan Baseball Cards AKA Menko Cards
Horrid Folk Art Sculptures in a Junk Roadside Attraction with a Monkey
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