What is the correct labeling for the artists who are unschooled, untrained, in the formal academic art training traditions? With the start of the New York Museum of American Folk Art, art historians started by labeling these works as Folk Art, years later, untrained artist come under a variety of labels: Naive, Primitive, Outsider, Outliers and Folk Art.
Most amateur artists are unknown, they don't have full resumes and documentation of their work, as much of their work is produced for themselves, friends or family members. In the case of these painters they would use materials that they had or were readily available. Unlike their professional contemporaries, they painted not to gain fame but to preserve an account of adventurous days or happy imaginings.
In the first example, the idyllic genre scene depicts two hunters dressed in traditional red along with their English Pointers.The hunters are shooting at some pheasants in-flight overhead. The scene could be anywhere in a northern climate that is experiencing late autumn and the need for a red wool jacket. One sportsman wears a 1950's fedora, the other is wearing a red wool hunting cap. The game bird dogs are ready to retrieve the pheasant.
Self-taught - realist amateurs frequently choose landscapes as their subject matter. In the painting below there are pine and aspen trees, a stream runs right through the middle of the composition and a buck and his doe are about to cross the stream. There are antlers on the buck, sending the message that it is not spring, otherwise the antlers would be gone. There is a free flowing inventiveness in this composition, the aspen trees appear to be dancing, the deer are quirky and the stream looks like milk.
These two paintings remind us of mid-century rural America, where kids studied gun safety, and outdoorsmen/artist recorded the rural landscape.
Most amateur artists are unknown, they don't have full resumes and documentation of their work, as much of their work is produced for themselves, friends or family members. In the case of these painters they would use materials that they had or were readily available. Unlike their professional contemporaries, they painted not to gain fame but to preserve an account of adventurous days or happy imaginings.
In the first example, the idyllic genre scene depicts two hunters dressed in traditional red along with their English Pointers.The hunters are shooting at some pheasants in-flight overhead. The scene could be anywhere in a northern climate that is experiencing late autumn and the need for a red wool jacket. One sportsman wears a 1950's fedora, the other is wearing a red wool hunting cap. The game bird dogs are ready to retrieve the pheasant.
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| "Pheasant Hunting Season" Oil on Canvas Board Signed AG 1950 |
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| "Wooded Landscape with Deer" Oil on Masonite Signed: J. Britland |
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| "Wolf" Carved Pine Log Sander Judine Waller |
Folk sculpture has its own category of art. Sander J. Waller (1910-2004), took up sculpture in retirement, after a lifetime of work. Waller's education was completed through his sophomore year, therefore he would be considered an outlier artist. While those education limits would have stunted many, he could read extensive manuals on everything from how to fix a car, to how to play the violin. In the 1930's he enrolled in a correspondence mail order "self-study" violin course out of Kansas City. Weekly, he would study and submit his homework (by mail) to the instructors. Likewise, when it came to his sculpture, he found books and proceeded to study and prepared his first efforts.
While Waller created numerous subjects, the figurative and his large animals highlighted his powers of observation. He executed several large animals, Wolf was created out a single hefty log. In this case he uses the vertical elements of the pine log to create the wolf. The wolf has a long pointed snout, and thin long legs with tiny paws. The ears provide a balance to the wolf's howling, and the simple clean contours of the wolf's body emphasize modern design. The overall composition creates a smooth silhouette.
This sculpture was outdoor art. As it become weathered and more gray, some of the carving details and incised lines have diminished. There were carving details that showed the wolf's eye and elements of the wolf's tail that is wrapped around his seated rear. Waller employed simple silhouette and decorative details of his wild wolf, by large measure his wolf looks tame and appears nonthreatening.
Waller, like many amateur artists used found materials. He looked for the right kind of scrapes of raw wood that could be carved into figures and objects. As his carving habits become more intense, he invested into carving tools that improved his compositions, and demonstrated his feelings for materials and surface. Waller frequently signed his works with a SJW, using a wood-burning tool.
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©2021. Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art is a research collaborative, working to track artists that got lost and overlooked due to time, changing styles, race, gender and/or sexual orientation. Our frequent blogs highlight artists and art movements that need renewed attention with improved information for the researcher and art collectors. The photo in this blog was created by Mr. Waller and all written materials are used under the Fair Use Section 107, Copyright Act, unless otherwise noted.
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