THE American Painter Justin McCarthy Annual I am not at the Outsider Art Fair Paris 2016 post

 

Justin McCarthy untitled Collection Jim Linderman

Justin McCarthy Nude circa 1965 Collection Jim Linderman

 

Justin McCarthy "The Last Supper" private collection Slotin Folk Art Auction

 

Justin McCarthy "Yankees Stadium" Private Collection

Justin McCarthy "Goodyear Blimp" Private Collection

"He didn't know he was painting quirky.  He thought he was painting straight."  So said Justin McCarthy's major benefactor the painter Sterling Strauser.  "People often found it difficult to believe that he was a self-taught naïve, because…some of his things look like Emil Nolde, some look like Milton Avery – people that he was not aware of at all. They look like Ernst Kirchner. Some of his watercolors look like Demuth. This is all purely accidental.”  Nancy Green Karlins (who wrote her PHD dissertation on McCarthy) writes: “McCarthy’s intense line, non-naturalistic color and exaggerated drawing are more characteristic of German Expressionism than of most eighteenth-and nineteenth-century American folk art…"

Art scholars have to explain the work of Justin McCarthy by placing him in context with other better known (and better trained) artists.  How else to discuss him?  There IS no appropriate context.  A little of this, a little of that, but really all one of a kind.  Once you have seen a few of his works, you will recognize them but you might not understand them.  Sterling Strauser (actually his wife Dorothy) saw them first sprawled on the grass in a Pennsylvania Town Square.  He recalled thinking how much he would like to see one of them in a frame.  They were priced high, as McCarthy knew he wasn't going to sell any, so why not?   He was a completely self-taught naive recluse who lived most of his long life in a depreciating mansion in Weatherly, PA. 

That is, when he wasn't in a mental institution. Sterling Strauser once told me "McCarthy cured himself through painting." Certainly he had the persistence and gumption to do it.  Evidence of his earliest work here shows it.

The earliest dates to 1915, while he was confined.  A primitive form only, in crayon, from a rudimentary sketchbook he created by gluing individual pages of drawings onto those already in a printed book.  "A Gibson Girl" is a purple shadow showing little or none of his promise.  It wasn't long until he progressed to the formal "Miss Moran" shown following from Galerie Bonheur.

Justin McCarthy "A Gibson Girl from the Follies" circa 1915 - 1920 Collection Jim Linderman

Justin McCarthy "Miss Moran" circa 1920 Galerie Bonheur

 

Justin McCarthy Private Collection

McCarthy came a wealthy family, but one with tragedy.  His father and brother died early and the young man's breakdown followed.  He tried to follow in his father's footsteps.  He tried law school but failed. There was some work over the years, including some time in the Pennsylvania Steel yards which resulted in a spectacular painting full of heat and smoke. 

Justin McCarthy Bethlehem Steel Private Collection

His brother was favored growing up and young Justin was shy. One pleasant and persistent memory had to have been the visit he had to the Louvre in Paris.  Only the wealthy could afford a trip to Paris at that time, and they went.  He was apparently left alone in the museum, and it stuck.

As his early, primitive institutionalized drawings developed he signed them with pseudonyms but often didn't sign them at all.  
After some five years, he was allowed back home to the mansion his father had owned and remained there most of his life.  During this time(though no one but his mother had seen the work) he filled the house with astounding vibrant quick explosions of color. He was a prolific and fearless artist. The Great American artist. Nothing escaped his eye and he would paint anything. Eventually even the unused stove and the bathtub were filled with paintings.  Strauser describes piles of work in every room.

Justin McCarthy Private Collection

Justin McCarthy Private Collection

Justin McCarthy Private Collection

Justin McCarthy Private Collection

They are both absurd and beautiful. Sports figures drawn while watching television and filled with color later. Some from life but imbued with his own.The pages of National Geographic Magazine. Some remembered from the early motion picture projector his wealthy father had at the mansion.  Gallerist and curator Randall Morris once described McCarthy as having a "cinematic style" which may have developed as he was a young boy watching flickering images.  His quick "wet on wet" working technique may have been an attempt to capture them. It was a practice he continued his entire artistic life. I believe he succeeded. 

A range of works drawn from the web give some indication to his unusual style and complete mastery of color.  The artist created work from 1915 up to his death in 1977.
 
See Also:   
Gene Epstein "What Kind of Art is This?" Folk Art Magazine Winter 1992 Pages 51

American Folk Art Museum McCarthy collection
 
Nancy Green Karlins "Justin McCarthy" 1891-1977 The Making of a 20th Century Self Taught Painter Dissertation Ph. D. New York University 1986

Randall Morris "The Cinematic "I" : Justin McCarthy 1984 Noyes Museum

Early sketchbooks and memories of Sterling Strauser are in the collection of the Archives of American Art Smithsonian Museum of Art 

See also two books on Folk art Outsider art by the writer Jim Linderman HERE and HERE.
A few other posts in my unstructured and informal Outsider Art series are shown HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE   More or less.  Additional works by Basil Merrett are HERE.

Sister Gertrude Morgan God's Greatest Hits Rod McKuen and Me! Annual I am not at the Outsider Art Fair 2016 Post

God's Greatest Hits which featured a dozen or so splendid paintings by Sister Gertrude Morgan was quite popular 45 years ago when published.  Some 300,000 copies were sold.  Book sales like that are improbable now, I can assure you.  It didn't hurt that the works illustrated were from the private collection of "middle of the road" poet Rod McKuen, or that the book was written by God.  Well, whoever wrote the Bible, that is.  31 biblical quotes, the colorful "googly eyes" works by the Sister and wrapped up with a nice sleeve in a tiny format.  As some of the little books were inscribed and/or even had an original work by the preacher, I've opened used copies of the book numerous times. 

But what became of the McKuen collection?  Read on...

I collected Sister Morgan's work heavily decades ago.  At one time I had fifteen of them arranged around my New York City rent-controlled apartment.  I even painted the walls and floor just like she did…it was like living in her little house / chapel.  They were relatively affordable then, though I do remember spending three grand on a really big one. The ones I found most interesting were apparently among her first works.  Crayon and shoe polish (white, of course) which were painted on cardboard and I presume used as Bible "flash cards" for the Lord.  They were uncharacteristic, and less dense than the later work.  Each depicted an obscure Bible story with a passage about each written on the reverse.  They were designed to be read while aiming them towards an audience. Like all my works by the artist, they are now in a private collection.  I don't think anyone will mind me sharing them here.  I even owned a T-bone steak she had signed and used as her stylus to paint the eyes of her self-portraits.  That now has an unknown owner too, and I hope it will not eventually be lost.  The bone was once shown in a book on folk art, at least. The photos are a bit fuzzy and I don't even have pictures of most of them, but here you go.  As you will see, at the time I was the perfect candidate for the good sister to cure...I was drinking and my hands shook!  The ones I can't show are too blurred (or never photographed.)

As for the God's Greatest Hits paintings?  By coincidence, a number of them are being sold on Ebay currently!  Those shown below, which filled pages of the tiny book and warmed Rod McKuen's heart…and listed for sale.  I presume the originals were purchased  by Mr. Mckuen from New Orleans gallerist Larry Borenstein, who nurtured her talent.  But how they ended up on America's garage sale is a mystery.  I certainly can not afford them anymore, but maybe you can.  There will certainly be a few at the Outsider Art show. 

Some of the works I used to have are shown in photographs of the artist in the spectacular "Tools of her Ministry" book by William Fagaly.  One hangs directly over her head while she studies the Bible.  The book was edited by a much respected friend Tanya Heinrich and designed by equally much respected friend John Hubbard.  It remains one of the most thorough and beautiful catalogs of a self-taught artist.  It is the one to buy, though there are certainly plenty of God's Greatest Hits floating around.  I was immensely proud to be included in the acknowledgements but didn't loan anything to the traveling exhibition.  Mine were gone!   

I have seen God's Greatest Hits shoved in among religious tracts in used bookstores.  Again, one should always look for any inscriptions and drawings on the title page.  The good sister painted a few of her record sleeves too, but be careful if you buy the CD.  One version was "funked up" by some looser hipster overdubs. 


Tools Of Her Ministry oddly does not appear on the American Folk Art Museum Book ordering page, but it is available HERE and you should join the Museum too.  My apartment, on the edge of Times Square, has been split in half and is now two studios, each costing as much a month as I paid for an entire year.  The works shown here are all in private collections.  The bone / stylus I owned was shown in the long out of print book Contemporary American Folk Artists by Elinor Landor Horwitz.  It is recommended and as books are largely dead weight now, available on used book sites for pennies and postage.

OTHER EDITIONS of the "I'm not at the Outsider Art Fair" essays are HERE. 
Finally, I still have some stuff left!  The new book (and $9.99 ebook) ECCENTRIC FOLK ART DRAWINGS OF THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES from the Jim Linderman collection is available HERE.   

Annual I'm Not at the Outsider Art Fair Post Famous Residences by Basil Merrett

My annual "I'm not at the Outsider Art Fair" series continues, here with works depicting famous residences by British eccentric and cypher Basil Merritt circa 1950.  I'd be there if I could, but I hate to fly.

A few other posts in my unstructured and informal Outsider Art series are shown HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE   More or less.  Additional works by Basil Merrett are HERE.

Outsider Art and Art Brut? It's a Piece of CAKE Paul K. Schimmack Bakes and Decorates an Astrology Chart

As much as I hate to start a new trend in "outsider art" I present here what was likely the first CAKE made with obsessive scribbles.  The medium?  SUGAR.  So there you go…a visionary piece of cake!  

There is an art to making cakes (and Schimmack was good at it) but when was the last time you saw some Art Brut applied with a frosting bag?  Among the proclamations made of sugary goo is that a trip to Neptune at 60 miles an hour will take over 20,000 years, so eat a big lunch before you go.  The artist/baker also indicates the weight of the moon.

Paul K. Schimmack was a bread and cake maker by trade (he was named Secretary of the Washington Wholesale and Retail Bakers Association in 1910)  As you can see here, his shop "The Lion Bakery" was capable of "40 buns in one minute!"   The building no longer stands. A house was placed there in 1922. Still, if one can say "he is better known" for a guy not known at all…it was his astrology art for which he is best not remembered today.  It is fair to speculate the great share of his work was eaten, but this recent discovery of a second obsessive diagram produced over 100 years ago is a good time to explore what is in the historical record.  This one has missed being included in the record as it was consumed after the picture was taken.

Astrology, of course, is the most intricate and detailed bogus system in the world!  Wiki calls it a pseudoscience, which means not science at all.  It is an early scam and continues to be.  I rank it just ahead of "magnet therapy" and Phrenology…the science of bumps on the head. 

Paul K. Schimmack's work "The Weather Shark Predictor" of paint on tin is now in the Balsley collection and it has appeared in shows, in a 1997 issue of Folk Art Magazine and in at least one catalog.  It is something of a masterpiece.  The artist seemingly registered a print of the piece in 1913 as "a work of art" titled Farmers Morning Glory Chart with the US Copyright Office.  It was published by the Schlesinger Company.  I believe "work of art" means a postcard, as the company was also responsible for the once common"Indian with headdress" postcards, though they did also publish lithographs for wall display. No publisher is indicated on the postcard here of his cake concoction, but it dates to around the same time.

Folk Art Magazine Spring 1997

A more typical image from Schlesinger Brothers Publishers

The Daily Republican (Monongahela, PA) of March 31, 1931 gave Mr. Schimmack a nice feature and asked him for a few predictions. "Inch downpour of rain during May followed by a rainy June. July, August, and September will be moderately dry. During November and October the rainfall will be medium and a general cyclone will strike the eastern states, causing shipwrecks and endangering tall buildings. Schimmack forecasts a general peace-making among all nations with the end of the year 1931.  Several years earlier, the paper had gone to Shimmack for his prediction on the Dempsey - Tunney fight!  Dempsey will enter the sign "with the support of the moon" while Tunney has Mercury behind him. 

In 1927, the Lincoln Star (Nebraska) filled lots of space with his predictions.  They called him a "weather shark" and astrologer.  The numerous, if mundane "crop reports" ran for several inches of copy.  Most notable was a "A big flood In California" and "The lion will show his teeth the first part of March, but that month and April will be relatively springlike."

Schimmack was also apparently the "go-to" guy for the Pittsburgh Press.  They called on his expertise in the January 26, 1932 issue.  "The change In weather will start to be noticeable today or tomorrow, however. Prom then on, there will be blizzards, sleet, snow, rain and ice. Eastern States will be paralyzed. "Coldest days will be Jan. 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31; Feb. 1, 3, 5, 6, 19, 22, 23. 24, 25, 27; March 2, 13. 18, 29, 31; and April 6, 7, 9 and 17." The Washington seer also predicted heavy snows in Pittsburgh and New York Feb. 22, 23 and 24. The groundhog will see his shadow; rivers will be at flood stage about the end of March and this district will experience a "white" Easter Sunday, he said."

He was referred to as the "astrological seer of Washington Pa." and that he had been "observing and charting planets for nearly 50 years…he's delved into histories of floods, cold spells and droughts for as far back as 1832, noting positions of planets for each."  Whew. 


The Spring 1997 issue of Folk Art magazine illustrated Mr. Schimmack's "Weather Shark Astrological Chart" along with a notice of an exhibition at the American Visionary Art Museum.   The piece is in the collection of John and Diane Balsley.  It also appears in the catalog of the exhibition.  A large color image of the piece is available HERE from the Ricco - Maresca Gallery. 

"Illustrative Astronomy" by Paul K. Schimmack  Photo Postcard 1910 Collection Jim Linderman

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

Outsider Art Fair 2017 Bonus Post Alabama Early 1990's

Outsider Art Fair 2017 Bonus Post Vernon, Alabama Early 1990's  
Photographs by Jim Linderman

Free preview and purchas the book IN SITU: American Folk Art in Place by the author HERE