Anonymous Works: June 2013

Friday, June 28, 2013

Circa 1860 Folk Art Catlinite Pipe in the Form of a White Man

Catlinite pipe carved in the form of a white man in 1840s attire resting on his arms and lower back, with his legs raised. The toes point toward the reeded mouthpiece with a poured lead decoration at its top. The legs form the pipe's stem; the upper torso, head and hat form the bowl. The carved details are finely incised. The pipe was probably made by or for David Faribault, Sr. and given by his son, David Faribault, Jr. to Reverend Moses N. Adams, an Indian Agent in Flandreau, South Dakota, in the 1870s.

Collection of Minnesota Historical Society.

Folk Artist with Carved Wooden Chain

Circa 1855 daguerreotype of a folk artist and his wooden chain whimsey.

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment

Thursday, June 20, 2013

"The Song of the Sweep"

Circa 1880 cabinet card of a Hudson River Valley chimney sweep named John King.

On the back it reads:
John King, the subject of this photograph, is a familiar sight on the streets of all the Hudson River towns, and even as far as Buffalo. His peculiar song, or call, is original with him, and his powerful baritone can be heard from one end of a street to the other, as he wanders about in pursuit of his advocation.
We had some trouble to induce John to have his photograph taken in the act of giving his street cry, his idea being that he ought to sit for his picture in his "Sunday clothes," which, of course, would have spoiled the effect. This is the very reason why many a picture is condemned as "unnatural" by friends of the original. We all feel better and more comfortable in our every-day clothes, and often the best photographs are those made on the spur of the moment, "just as you are," without previous preparation.

C. H. GALLOP & CO.
MODERN PHOTOGRAPHERS
292 and 294 MAIN STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.

Available here.