Book Description

Overshadowed by the work of the great masters, folk art was for centuries neglected by collectors and museums, and scorned by connoisseurs. Indeed it only began to attract serious critical attention and public appreciation during the nineteenth century, while the spread of the Industrial Revolution was threatening it with extinction. Since then, though scholars have devoted much effort to the study of the subject on a national or regional basis, and have published the fruits of their researches in monographs and specialist journals, no major work of synthesis has appeared. The field is vast, for, if we include those American communities which are of European origin, it ranges (in area) from the Urals to the Catskills, and from Norway to Peru, and (in time) from the Middle Ages onwards. This rich and varied body of anonymous achievement in the arts and crafts has now been made the subject of an exhaustive coordinated study under the editorship of H J Hansen. The contributors are all specialists who are professionally concerned with the study and preservation of folk art, and have been drawn from many countries. In the text, the subject is treated country by country. In the illustrations, the artifacts are arranged by category: buildings, furniture, household utensils, ceramics, glass, costume, toys, woodcarving and painting-a uniquely comprehensive pictorial survey, made possible by the generosity of museums and private collectors all over Europe, who freely made their treasures available for the purpose. The last chapter, devoted to folk art on the market, is a valuable guide to the collector and dealer. Indispensable to the scholar, this book will also be a revelation to anyone who has hitherto regarded folk art as being inevitably quaint or primitive. It provides a remarkable record of the beauty and refinement of style which result from direct contact between the human creative impulse and the articles used in everyday life by ordinary people.