A Man with REAL GUTS (Hand-painted Guts) collection Jim Linderman

Umm.  Click to enlarge guts.  It's Gray's Anatomy in living color (the book, not the television show I have never seen and never will) and fully hand-painted too!  I call him "BIFF" as that seems to be a good name from the era, and the fellow at the antique shop thought it was his name too.  So Biff it is.  I have no idea how old, where from...or who had the job of painting intestines as they came down the line, but they did a good job.  I hate to imagine their dreams after a big production run.

Biff stands a whopping 19 inches tall.


Anatomical Dummy / Model with innards out!  No date or manufacturer.  Collection Jim Linderman

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Down Home Old Timey Rural Musicians RPPC collection Jim Linderman

Click to Enlarge  Collection Jim Linderman

One does not often find a group of early musicians sitting in front of a calendar, especially one in which it is so easy to see the date, and this is May 1913.  But then, one does not often see a baby possum in a photo either.  Could be a ferret, I guess.  Mammal, or marsupial? on the right...and it looks like a phonograph horn in the center.  A real musical group!

The opossum in the United States is usually the Virginia opossum, but since their habitat is more than a third of the lower 48 states, I can't locate this photo.  Unless someone out there recognizes the players.  I can hope.  

It was common for photographers who operated a studio to use musical instruments as props.  No props here.  These are the real deal and I would have loved to hear them go down.   

Good deal of cultural information for one little real photo postcard.

Real Photo Postcard 1913 (Azo Back) Collection Jim Linderman


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Postcard Collage of Clippings Homeward Bound to Alice collection Jim Linderman

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It was once quite a thing to receive a postcard, and all the better if it was homemade.  This magnificently one-of-a kind card was actually part of a series.  Entirely handmade in collage technique from clippings taken from advertisements and catalogs, it was made for a woman named Alice in South Orange.

Note the handwritten #1 in the upper right hand corner, the only part of the card not clipped, and on the reverse is written "First of a series of instructive postals" but unsigned.  I am going to guess our primitive but accomplished collage artist was literally on his way back to Alice, and at each opportune moment took the time to construct a report from the road.  I like to think one was sent each night.  How far or arduous the journey will never be known.

The date shown on the cancellation is hard to make out, but I am guessing close to the 1900 date.  Postcards were a penny then and for a long time after.


Anonymous handmade postcard to Miss Alice Osborne  Date Unclear.  Collection Jim Linderman

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J.J. Cromer sends a Bell out of the Sky Art Photography and the Company Picnic

A huge bunch of Bell employees at what I presume is the annual mandatory company picnic.  It wasn't enough that you had to go (and potato sack) you also had to herd together and look up at the camera in the suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana.   My guess, as the tiny logo at lower right reads "Indianapolis Photo Co" but who knows.  Bell Telephone?  Bell Helicopter?  I believe there was a Bell Helicopter plant in Indianapolis, and that would make sense here, right?  But then lots of these guys are wearing boaters and skimmers.  Anyone who knows for sure is welcome to write in.
 
I am doing an enlargement of each letter so you can find your relatives!

This splendid proto Spencer Tunick (in clothes) was sent by artist J.J. Cromer.  Cromer is an astounding artist, and it was kind of him to send along a few photos he thought deserved the Dull Tool Dim Bulb treatment.  Thanks J.J.!  Gift accepted!

Cromer is extraordinary..  Just two of his works are shown below. TRULY extraordinary.  I think Chelo Amezcua, Carlo Zinellli, Nellie Mae Rowe and a host of other one-of-a-kind artists, though Cromer clearly lives in a city of his own. Seldom does Horror Vacui look so good.

A Dry and Practical Matter JJ Cromer

The Steering Committee JJ Cromer

J.J. sent a few photographs, which will allow me to link to his site several times.  Not only kind of him, It will encourage folks to check out his work again.  If you like this blog, you will like his art.  There is a remarkable body of work, an impressive exhibition history and a delightful sense of line.  Check him out HERE.

"BELL" undated group photograph Indianapolis Photo Co. Gift of JJ Cromer

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Folk Art Train with Human Caboose Snapshot 1939

Snapshot Anonymous (Train with Caboose) 1939  Collection Jim Linderman

A Good Game of Horseshoe Pitching Picture collection Jim Linderman

Collection Jim Linderman Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Close.  

Link to the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association HERE

Original Photograph, no date (c. 1900?)  Collection Jim Linderman

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How to Make Magic (Number One)

A group of well-guarded secrets No Date  COLLECTION JIM LINDERMAN

Proto Porn book by Jim Linderman in THINGS Magazine

Things Magazine has run a nice little blurb on the book PROTO-PORN: The Art Figure Study Scam of the 1950s.  Things is lovely, a magazine and weblog about objects, collections and discoveries... and this is much appreciated.

‘During the 1950s, under the quasi-legal rubric and ruse of “Art and Photo Figure Studies” hundreds of soft-core digest books featuring blurry photos of semi-naked women were sold by the truckload to a willing, greedy and needy consumer market’: the story of Proto-Porn: The Art Figure Study Scam, one of several publications by Jim Linderman, keeper of the (somewhat nsfw) Vintage Sleaze weblog. This is of course Taschen territory as well: American Pin Ups, Gil Elvgren, 1000 Pin-up Girls, etc. etc"

Things Magazine is HERE and highly recommended.

Man with Pear Folk Art Bust Carving collection Jim Linderman

Prize Winners! Females Finish in First Place Tinted Tintype photograph collection Jim Linderman

A group of hand-tinted ribbon holders! 

Prize winners Tintype Photograph circa 1880 Collection Jim Linderman

Jigsaw Plywood Folk Art Heads

What can I say?  Folk Art Plywood Jigsaw Heads.  1950?  Collection Jim Linderman

Two Fiddlers Fiddling Tintype collection Jim Linderman Ferrotype

A fine pair of fiddlers  Tintype circa 1870 Collection Jim Linderman

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World's Smallest Carvers! Engraved Copper Plate Folk Art Eagle

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A tiny copper plate engraving with a pennysworth of Honest Abe for size comparison.  It occurs to me that engravers are actually carvers...very skilled carvers with a steady hand.  I have yet to see a chain-saw engraving.

Copper decorative folk art hand engraving No Date Collection Jim Linderman

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Fat Man Tintype Circus Sideshow or Just a Large Man? Collection Jim Linderman

Certainly the largest man I've ever seen fit onto a tintype.  Sideshow performer or just portly?

Tintype circa 1870 collection Jim Linderman

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Fake Native American Band RPPC Real Photo Postcard collection Jim Linderman

Real Photo Postcard circa 1910 Collection Jim Linderman

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The Albatross of Maine Charles Tower's Fantasy Bird from the Insane Hospital collection Jim Linderman

The Insane Hospital of Augusta, Maine opened in 1840, but much of it burned down ten years later.  Since there were so many insane people in Maine  (they turned down 100 applications for lack of space) they rebuilt in 1854.  By 1900 they had over 1,000 inhabitants.

I do not know when Charles Tower was admitted, but this drawing and fantasy story about the Albatross of Maine was certainly done before 1900.  You can read it, but I think it made more sense to Charles than it will to you.

Letter and Drawing by Charles W. Tower, Augusta Insane Hospital circa 1880?  Collection Jim Linderman

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School for Boys Graduating Class By the Numbers

CLICK TO ENLARGE URBAN SCHOOLYARD

Someone went to plenty of trouble identifying all the young men here.  A few gaps, but not bad.  There are three boys named Morris, each further indicated by additional numbers on the reverse! (Morris number 2, Morris number 3...but I suspect they went by other nicknames, like "big" Morris and "stinky" Morris or something)  The  fellows in back graduated, and most of them went on to grade A schools.  

Where and When?  Couldn't tell you, but one of the lads was from Cleveland.

Class Portrait, circa 1910?  Original Photograph, 6" x 9" Collection Jim Linderman
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Wyoming Cowboys Roll into Town on a Float

Click to Enlarge Fake Cowboys

The Wyoming Cowboys roll into Cleveland on a float...I will refrain from saying these rough and tough hombres are "floating" into town, but I gotta say they look like tenderfoots to me.   Their dates look a bit surly, ornery and peeved though.

Original Snapshot, no date Collection Jim Linderman

Buyer Beware Folk Art This Little Piggy Went to Market

All sold within the last few weeks on eBay.  These would fall into the "antiques made while you wait" category.

This little piggy went to market,

This little piggy stayed home,

This little piggy had roast beef,

This little piggy had none,

And this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home.

Rhoda Ann Sargent RIP 1886 Hair Folk Art Memorial Tribute Death

Rhoda Ann Sargent's Hair woven into a tribute.  1886 Collection Jim Linderman

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Tintype Dog with Considerable Eyebrows Tintype Photograph collection Jim Linderman

A real pair of eyebrows on this li'l fellow.  Perched on a birch stand, man's best friend.

Tintype Photograph circa 1870 Collection Jim Linderman