I'm Not at the Outsider Art Fair Paris 2019 Edition post Anonymous Drawings of Startled 1950s Women

A surprising group of drawings by an anonymous west coast shut-in at this point known only as Ms. Daisy.  Each is 9" x 12" and there are hundreds. Each drawing has the date created on the reverse and most have a weather report!  (Cloudy today, sunny and hot, smog, etc…)  She lived into her 90s, and while institutionalized drew one every few days from 1952 until tapering off in the 1960s.

I have never had such a large group of work consecutively dated. The artist's work improves a bit over the years, but each retains this rather stark, naive singular look. One note in the reverse indicates "there is a convention on television so we can't watch our programs" leading me to guess these are an assortment of entertainers, soup opera stars and models of the 1950s.  Another note reveals workers are "removing the trees across the road." Only a few are identified by name but many could be identified.

I cannot say if the artist had training, or if the results were produced through practice. There are no duplicates.  Hundreds of 1950s women, each which reflect the times and the persistence of the artist. The overall effect of a dozen lined up is wonderful.

I will scan a few more soon. 

Six anonymous (Ms. Daisy?) Drawings of women 1957 - 1958.  Collection Jim Linderman

You might also enjoy the book Eccentric Folk Art Drawings: Obscure Drawings of the 19th and 20th century, a 250 page book of similar discoveries available from Blurb.com in softcover or an affordable ebook.  The link leads to a ten page preview and ordering information.  Thanks!

A few of the other outsider art fair posts are available HERE

Regine Gilbert Outsider Artist or Flower Child? A Forgotten Primitive Painter

In 1956 Artnews referred to Regine Gilbert as "a sophisticated experimental primitive" and that  "Her eye has combined Henri-Edmond Cross and van Gogh."  Ten years later,  the Palm Beach Daily called her "the only living American primitive painter" which seems even more of an exaggeration. As far back as 1951, Newton Galleries were representing  Ms. Gilbert as "Brooklyn's most exuberant and imaginative primitive" in a press release.  A year earlier, a New York magazine called Cue reviewed a Gilbert show as "...another of those primitive painters who periodically invade the art galleries, this time a "Grandma Moses" of Brooklyn. Her floral paintings, gay, decorative and flat are particularly effective." Another paper once called her a flower child!

Regine Gilbert was born in Austria in 1907.  In the 1930's she immigrated to the United States and lived in New York city until the 1950s. Relocating to Palm Beach, Florida she continued to paint. Apparently an ardent self-promoter, the artist affixed numerous reviews and clippings of her work to the reverse of her paintings. 

Pair of Flower Paintings by Regine Gilbert  Oil on Board circa 1950 Collection Jim Linderman

Outsider Art Folk Art Sculpture The Catskills Prepare for War

Outsider Art Folk Art Sculpture  The Catskills Prepare for War!  Said to be from New York State.  Circa 1930 - 1950?  Original Snapshot Collection Jim Linderman

Robert Howell Folk Art Yard Show Outsider Artist Virginia c. 1993 photographs Jim Linderman

Robert Howell Yard Show Outsider Artist  Virginia c. 1993 photographs by Jim Linderman

Liz Renay Bizarre Outsider Artist and Mob Gun Moll

Any artist admired by John Waters is at the very least interesting, he being an informed, if unconventional collector.  This HAS to be especially true if the painter happens to be a former gun moll, showgirl and self-admitted lover of 2,000 men. Her autobiography was titled My First 2,000 Men and while I haven't read it, I believe her. She had two week long marriage at age 15. It set the pattern, but she survived.

Ms. Renay lived a rich life.  She knew and consorted with Mobster Mickey Cohen, and she loved him, I guess.  At least, she loved him enough to help him launder some money which came up during the investigation of the murder of mobster Albert Anastasia.  That is not a small time gangster. That is a gangster when they were bigger than General Motors.  Anastasia was said to have been done in by Crazy Joe Gallo.
 
Liz passed away on January 22, 2007.
One of the best ways to remember Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins, her real name, would be to appreciate the fabulously goofy outsider art paintings she created. There aren't enough paintings by showgirls.
 
Unlike most self-taught naives, Liz eventually went from obscure to big time, finally achieving a major show at adventurous and prestigious art gallery Deitch Projects in New York.  Art snobs like to say an artist's background doesn't have anything to do with their artistic esthetics, painterly qualities and such, but I think Deitch knew a good story when he saw one.

The magnificent exhibition of paintings was put together by the Burlesque Hall of Fame and Deitch. Not only are they huge in scale and scope, they are bizarre and that's great.  That whole "Low-Brow" art movement owes her a debt. The installation was a few years ago, but let's help it keep making some news. It is said she painted 150 works.

View the show HERE, which was installed with numerous objects from her career.  Her work, which sold for a few grand in the 1960s is holding firm...see one for sale at 15 grand HERE

Deitch Projects is HERE. Burlesque Hall of Fame is HERE, and the images are theirs.  A nice slide show also appears HERE on artnet.
My First 2,000 Men is HERE.   

Folk Art Morton Salt Girl. Early 20th Century Appropriation of Brand Images Outsider Art

Here, Dorothy Hudgens recreates the Morton Salt Girl (invented 1914) in her presumably school age manner. The piece comes from a folder dated 1926.  Dorothy Hudgens lived with two artistic sisters. All were pretty good!  Still I wonder about branding young children. 

Outsider art fans might be interested in this piece by the artist James Castle.  Same time period, same salt?  James Castle piece is taken from the web, I am afraid I don't know who owns the work.
 
Collage c. 1925 Dorothy Hudgens.  Collection Jim Linderman.  
Thanks to Natalie Curley Antiques.

Harry Bentz Cowboy Artist / Western Folk Artist

 Among outsider art enthusiasts, The phrase "real deal" comes up often. Those who have become familiar with the material know what it means.  It could be a certain look to the work. It can also be as much the artist's motivation as skill. Harry Bentz is what once would have been called the work of a Sunday painter or a folk artist.  An amateur. Maybe he was an American primitive.  Maybe not.    

Actually the most accurate label would be Cowboy Artist. Mr. Harry Bentz was the real deal when it came to roping, riding and even mining. A real cowboy who made art. Untrained, but highly motivated to learn and create. 

There are a few brief biographies. My guess is that Bentz found himself some time and started using it to make art. In the 1960s he painted what could be some 200 works. Along the way, he learned that through some primitive xerox (ayup) and a goofy photo stat process of some sort (ayup) he could make editions!  Of a sort. The cowboy took advantage of modern technology available to the common man.  Again speculating, I believe the artist wanted something to sell in a rack alongside his paintings at events.  How many of these could range into the hundreds.

As with many primitive painters, he used found material to paint on. Some were uneven, large boards.  Many of the sketches are on the reverse of used paper from the Bureau of Mines.   

Apparently Bentz was working on a book.  Among his papers are handwritten captions for "Sketches of the West" which would have been 60 pages.

The drawings would not have been shown art fairs, but at western events. In some ways, as far outside of the contemporary art world as one can be.  He fished, hunted, broke horses, played the guitar and took out pack teams as a hunting guide. In 1951 he became a member of the Rodeo Cowboys Association. He began serious painting while working on a ranch near Kennewick, Washington. Reflected in his work is the life he lived.
 
All paintings and drawings collection Jim Linderman.  





   

Trench Art with a Twist Hammered copper sculpture made from old copper stills after World War One

Trench Art with a twist, but not all trench art was made in a trench. Generally, the term refers to art sculpture made from expended artillery shell casings. Nothing to do but stay down, cringe at the incoming and hammer copper. However this group of decorative items was made by a different group of soldiers.  As noted on the reverse of the image, These fine examples were made by disabled soldiers as they recuperated. The material is taken from the remnants of old copper stills.  Prohibition provided the material!  World war one ended in 1918.  Prohibition started in 1920.  Must have been a bitter pill to have fought for your country only to return without having even a beer. 
 
The Trench Art  of the Great War website refers to pieces like those above as convalescent soldier art.  The Wikipedia entry for Trench Art suggests "Outsider Art" as a related category.

Original undated, anonymous 8 x 10 press photograph circa 1920.  No credits on photograph. 
Collection Jim Linderman

Anonymous Outsider Art / Art Brut found on the streets of Manhattan

Anonymous Outsider Art / Art Brut found on the streets of Manhattan circa 1985.  Now lost.  Each was 18 x 24. 
Order books and affordable E-books by Jim Linderman HERE

Lonnie Holley Birmingham Alabama Outsider Art Environment Unpublished Photos c.1992

Photographs of Lonnie Holley and his workshop at what has come to be known as the Birmingham Alabama Airport environment.  They date to 1992 or so.  I believe at the time this was both "studio" and home for the artist.

You'll find dozens of his sculptures (made from scrapped foundry sandstone) and hundreds of painted and shaped works of wire, fabric and detritus. It might look ragged, but every thing was purposeful and in place. Something out of a dream. While chatting and touring with the artist, I realized everything was connected through small caves from which children began to emerge.  Beautiful, handsome young children who had been living (or hiding) in their places for safety.  Shy at first, they romped like any kids as they became comfortable with my visit.  

Holley had purchased the land intending to establish it as a refuge for artistic expression.  He was certainly not one short of artistic ideas. Apparently the airport didn't agree and claimed the land. I hope the artist and his family received what was deserved, but it sounded like a land grab at the time. Mr. Holley was and is a genius. This is something I have learned to know and increasingly appreciate over the last 25 years.

A feature article was published by The Guardian which tells his personal story in depth.

ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS by Jim Linderman Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb.

The Folk Art Concrete Water Jug of S.P. Dinsmoor Garden of Eden

Anyone who has studied American Folk / Outsider art environments is familiar with Steven Dinsmoor and his Garden of Eden.  This appears to be a less common period image. Apparently, Dinsmoor kept this handmade object at the foot of the concrete coffin he made...in case he had to grab some water. That is if he was going down instead of up.  It's hot down there.  See HERE and elsewhere for more pictures.  Let me know if you find a picture of the jug in place?  You might also enjoy the book / ebook In Situ: American Folk Art in Place by Jim Lindeman.  Available for purchase HERE on Blurb.  
Real Photo Postcard c. 1920 Collection Jim Linderman

Georgia Folk Artist R. A. Miller paints a Snake. Outsider Art

Georgia Folk Artist R. A. Miller paints a Snake.
Original Photo Jim Linderman c. 1995

Basil Merrett Outsider Art The Religious Series c. 1950 Collection Jim Linderman

Basil Merrett Outsider Art The Religious Series c. 1950 Collection Jim Linderman.  Each drawn (while institutionalized) on hand-cut 4" x 5" cardboard. See also the book Eccentric Folk Art Drawings by Jim Linderman

Annual I'm not at the Outsider Art Fair 2017 post. Are Cartoonists Outsider Artists? Elizabeth Stohn and Fred Johnson

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.   

Labels appropriate to Ms. Stohn could maybe include "rebel" too.  I have written about her life and how she was one of the first women to use "thought and caption" balloons.  That post sorta went mini-viral in the comic book world, being picked up by comic historians and such.  The Comics journal linked to it as well. One day I hope to scan her entire "graphic novel"  From Poverty to Luxary (sic)

I remember respected art scholar and dealer Randall Morris saying something like "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 Nadel would 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.