Maine Antique Digest March 2015

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20-A Maine Antique Digest, March 2015
- FEATURE -
Books
Received
by M.A.D. Staff
Folk Art in the Attic: Adven-
tures from a Lifetime of Hunt-
ing for Antiques and Folk Art
by Shaun Markey (Sonderho
Press, 2014, 184 pp., softbound,
$19.99).
Shaun Markey has been
involved with Canadian antiques
since 1980, when he and his
girlfriend (now his wife) found
shards of a six-gallon butter
churn in the field where his fam-
ily’s log cabin had once stood.
“That butter churn,” he writes,
“became a symbol to me of my
family’s history…. I could hold
it in my hands and imagine my
ancestors working with it on that
farm 100 years ago.”
Markey’s book is an entertain-
ing collection of stories about
some of themost memorable peo-
ple and antiques he has encoun-
tered in his years as a collector,
picker, and part-time dealer. He
admits that although his is “not
a museum-type collection,” he
hopes the book “captures at
least some of the excitement,
the fun, the risk, the frustration,
the gains, and, occasionally, the
losses that go hand in hand with
the pursuit of antiques.” Markey
believes that there are still many
interesting Canadian antiques
to be found and concludes his
book with a message to readers:
“Start collecting. You will not be
disappointed.”
Impressionism in Canada: A
Journey of Rediscovery by A.K.
Prakash (Arnoldsche Art Pub-
lishers, distributed in the U.S. by
Antique Collectors’ Club, 2015,
802 pp., hardbound, $85).
A work of passion and preci-
sion and of deep understanding
of the subject, this resource book
adds a vital link to the history of
art in NorthAmerica. It embraces
so much relevant art history that
it could be a textbook, albeit one
written with insightful enthusi-
asm for the artworks themselves
more than for theoretical asides
or ponderous generalities. The
author’s tone is refreshing, but be
aware that the book itself is hard
to hold, so prop it on a tabletop
or desk to investigate and relish
A.K. Prakash’s clear-eyed way
of seeing and knowing art.
Since the art results from the
way the artists lived, worked,
and were affected by patronage
or not, Prakash masterfully sets
the stage. He begins with France,
naturally, and then compares and
contrasts Canadian and United
States Impressionism for a
more complex understanding
of each and all. His choices for
illustrations are remarkable and
presented with care. They come
from some august and diverse
sources and are in color for an
eyeful on almost every page.
One example literally caught my
eyes, a portrait by Pierre-Au-
guste Renoir of Victor Chocquet.
Chocquet gazes at you full
of great spirit, and I discovered
who he was by reading: “Not all
the collectors were wealthy. The
customs officer Victor Chocquet,
who never earned more than
4,000 francs a year, patiently
assembled a splendid collection
by Cézanne (fifty works), Monet
(twelve), and Renoir (ten), as
well as Manet, Morisot, and
Pissarro.” And there follows a
sensitive quotation about him
by a contemporary who saw him
attending auctions and exhibi-
tions, where Chocquet wanted to
persuade other attendees of the
reasons for his admiration and
pleasure of the artworks. Turn
the page and van Gogh’s portrait
of Dr. Gachet appears.
Ah, so it goes throughout the
chapters—discoveries one after
another by careful juxtaposi-
tion and insightful commentary.
Whitman Encyclopedia of Mex-
icanMoney, Volume 1: An Illus-
trated History of Mexican Coins
and Currency by Don and Lois
Bailey (Whitman Publishing,
LLC, 2014, 490 pp., hardbound,
$39.95 from Whitman Publish-
ing, LLC, ]
or [800] 546-2995).
This is the first volume in what
will be a four-volume encyclo-
pedia about Mexican money.
This initial entry in the series is
Lewis Miller’s People, June
Burk Lloyd and Lila Fourh-
man-Shaull, editors (York
County Heritage Trust, 2014,
163 pp., hardbound, $49.95 plus
The Legacy of Ferdinand A.
Brader, edited by Kathleen
Wieschaus-Voss (Center for the
Study of Art in Rural America,
2014, 252 pp., softbound, $48
postpaid from Center for the
Study of Art in Rural America,
] or
[330] 456-6600).
Hundreds of intricate wide-an-
gle or bird’s-eye view drawings
by Ferdinand Brader (1833-c.
1900) were made in Pennsylva-
nia and Ohio during the years
It’s time to
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•••
•••
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•••
These are brief reviews of
books recently sent to us.
We have included ordering
information for publishers that
accept mail, phone, or on-line
orders. For other publishers, your
local bookstore or a mail-order
house is the place to look.
Among the museum collections’
artworks illustrated here, you
may have experienced the art
before, but there are artworks not
seen by many, such as the exqui-
site Rain in Giverny by William
Blair Bruce in 1887. Bruce was
Canadian. We are on page 127
now and have the pleasure of
looking forward through hun-
dreds more pages of discovery in
this way.
Another special aspect of this
book is the inclusion of how
intertwined the collectors were
with the artists. For instance, I
came away with a deeper appre-
ciation of Mary Cassatt’s contri-
bution beyond her canvases and
drawings; she was an art advisor
to her wealthy, open-minded
friends, and these friends col-
lected, and many of them
donated art to the museums (new
at the time) that we recognize as
major repositories of many of
the finest artworks of that time.
This is a single example among
many explored in like fashion.
One comes to better appreciate
the best aspects of the art consul-
tants and dealers and collectors
with good eyes.
We follow the Canadian artists
to France to study and discover
their interpretations of their
lives there and, when and if they
returned, to American scenes.
Many times, North American
artists would meet in Europe and
befriend each other. The inter-
connections abound.
With the stage set, Prakash
proceeds to give us 14 individ-
ual biographies (one per chapter,
from seven through 20) of Cana-
dian Impressionists and chap-
ter 21, “Other Canadian Artists
Influenced by Impressionism,”
all appropriately full of illus-
trations and annotations. Each
is introduced with a large pho-
tograph of the artist and a few
genial, poetic statements from
Prakash. One such introduction
will serve as a typical example.
Here is the one for Maurice Gal-
braith Cullen (1866-1934):
“No man laboured more stead-
fastly than Maurice Cullen to
advance the world of Canadian
art with discoveries he made
from his own observation. The
modelling of form by the subtle
flow of light into dark, the atmo-
spheric effects, the mysteries of
mountains and moving waters—
such things possessed him and
led him to endless experimen-
tation. Cullen is recognized as
the father of Canadian Impres-
sionism, an artist who perpet-
ually brooded on the moods of
nature. In his lifetime he even-
tually came to be idolized, and
a century later, he maintains his
position in the affections of the
art world in Canada.”
Rich with insight, this author-
itative book deserves careful
reading and return visits. In a
word, it is delightful.
A.C.V.
he wandered, seeking congenial
places to earn a meager living
making art. At age 40 he had
left Switzerland, where he had a
son and wife, and he eventually
made his way back to Switzer-
land upon discovering that an
inheritance had been left to him
several years prior to his return
sail. One essay in the book (by
Bristol Lane Voss) puts together
as full a chronology as possible
of Brader’s personal life and
habits, and another essay exam-
ines his working methods, yet his
life is in many ways mysterious.
Brader’s true legacy is the
drawings that give us clear views
of the settlement time of the
so-called Pennsylvania Dutch
populace in the spreading United
States. Many of those drawings
are gathered here with prove-
nances and with essays by sev-
eral authors. The art documents
“a dynamic folklife of a peo-
ple who were close to the land,
loved God, and became a central
thread in the American fabric,”
in the words of one of the essay-
ists in this catalog of Brader’s
works. In all, this book may be
the fullest analysis of Brader’s
work and life that you could
ever read. It has been rigorously
researched and documented. As
a bonus, you will learn about a
slice of American history.
This catalog was published in
conjunction with three simul-
taneous exhibitions of Brader’s
work in Canton, Ohio. The exhi-
bition at the Little Art Gallery
in North Canton closed on Jan-
uary 11; exhibitions at the Can-
ton Museum of Art and at the
McKinley Presidential Library
& Museum remain on view
through March 15. Support for
research and for the publication
of the catalog came from the
Center for the Study of Art in
Rural America. See the Web site
) for
more information.
A.C.V.
S/H from York County Heritage
Trust, ]
or [717] 848-1587).
Reproduced in this volume
are hundreds of previously
unpublished sketches of people
from York County, Pennsylva-
nia, by folk artist Lewis Miller
(1796-1882). They are from the
collection of the York County
Heritage Trust. The first section
includes individual drawings
with minimal text (mostly names
and occupations) that were later
assembled six to a page. Draw-
ings in the second set were done
on pages from an 1875-76 cat-
alog for Montgomery Female
College and include longer
descriptions and comments by
Miller, who was trained as a
carpenter.
The text accompanying all the
drawings has been transcribed
and is reproduced in two chap-
ters following the drawings.
This awkward format requires a
lot of flipping back and forth; it
is unfortunate that the transcrip-
tions don’t appear on the pages
of the images themselves. Nev-
ertheless, the book is full of fas-
cinating glimpses into 19th-cen-
tury life in Pennsylvania. An
index of subject names is at the
back of the book.
The likeness that appears
on the cover of this book is a
self-portrait by Miller from the
last year of his life, showing him
at his desk drawing an old house
and trees. The text above the
self-portrait identifies the sub-
jects that Miller drew on the col-
lege catalog pages (“This book
is full of our old Yorkers”) and
includes Miller’s thoughts on
mortality: “There’s Something
in the parting hour, will chill
the warmest heart—yes kindred
comrades, lovers, friends, Are
fated all to part.”
Essays at the beginning of
this book discuss Miller’s life
and analyze how his drawings
have been interpreted over the
years. In 1966 Miller’s drawings
were first shared with the public
in Lewis Miller: Sketches and
Chronicles , now out of print.
The York County Heritage Trust
is to be commended for letting us
now see more of Miller’s work
and his insights on everyday life.
intended to be “user friendly for
the beginning collector as well
as interesting to the advanced
numismatist.” It begins with an
overview of Mexican numismat-
ics and then features 26 chap-
ters on topics including “Media
of Exchange in the Anahuac
Era,” the colonial era, the inde-
pendence movement, coinage
reforms of 1902 and 1905, med-
als, and paper money. The book
concludes with a glossary, a bib-
liography, and a comprehensive
index.