Folk Art Show Is Whimsical and Bit of Fun

A whimsical folk art exhibit opening Sunday at the National Gallery brings color, fine craftmanship and a bit of fun to the museum’s often serious-minded east building.

The diverse array of more than 100 early 19th-Century artifacts, titled “An American Sampler: Folk Art From the Shelburne Museum,” was directed by John Wilmerding, the art scholar responsible for bringing the acclaimed Helga paintings by Andrew Wyeth to Washington earlier this year.

The show, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Shelburne Museum near Burlington, Vt., is an eclectic display of quilts, carrousel animals, trade signs and whirligigs that reflects the values held by the museum’s late founder Electra Webb: beauty, symmetry of line and movement and unique decoration by the artist.

Examples can be found in the rhythmic colors of the handmade quilts and coverlets that provide a frame for the larger objects, juxtaposed at odd angles throughout the four display rooms.

A stunning quilt, among many, is the “Mariners Compass Quilt,” which jumps out at the viewer with its bold stripped-down design of compasses and hickory leaves in applique.

One object in particular immediately catches the observer, a 6-by-3-foot rocking chair used by 19th-Century store owners to advertise furniture.

Wilmerding, pointing to a large pair of wooden eyeglasses hanging from the ceiling and also a huge wooden tooth, said the trade signs were effective forms of advertising, especially when part of the population was illiterate.

“What you’re seeing here is basically the 19th-Century equivalent to the billboard,” he said.

He said the show is the first large-scale exhibit devoted to historical folk art for Washington museums, and part of its impact “derives from being able to hold its own with the Georgia O’Keefe exhibit here and the other grand masters.”

“This exhibit is full of whimsy and spirit and offers one an occasion to view serious folk art and have a good time while doing it,” he said.

Many of the objects, though technically simplistic, express the artists’ honesty and innocence, free of the academic restraints of European art.

Several whirligigs, some with movable paddle arms that can be propelled by the wind, add an air of gaiety to the exhibition. The “Spinning Woman” is a clever example. As the wind rotates her wheel, she spins wool with her hands as her foot works the treadle.

The exhibit’s carousel animals are both sentimental and technically fascinating. The anatomical detail and subtle nuances of coloration in the carved creatures, some by German-born Philadelphian Gustav Dentzel, evoke childhood memories of merry-go-rounds and fair games.

The exhibit, in its entirety, provides a reprieve from the often stoic prints and dark portraits of the era, enriching the viewer with an appreciation of American folk artists.

The Shelburne folk art exhibit will remain at the National Gallery through April, 1988, then travel to Kansas City, May 7 to Sept. 4; Denver, Oct. 15 to Jan. 8, 1989; Los Angeles, Feb. 16 to April 30; Hartford, June 4 to Sept. 3, and New York City Oct. 3 to Jan. 7, 1990.