Word: folk
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...Museum of Fine Arts seems to think that American Folk Art is indeed worthy of museum space with its newest attempt at a blockbuster exhibit, “American Folk,” a collection of late eighteenth to early twentieth century folk art that comprises a broadly categorized melange of everything from cabinets to hunting decoys. About a hundred and twenty years ago, the founders of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) would have laughed at the idea of curating something so banal as what could be made by an amateur in the home, whose creation was intended...
Curated shows have run the gamut this year from Van Gogh to the Art of the Guitar to American Folk. Van Gogh got equal billing with John Lennon’s guitar. Now, an 18th century carved George Washington doll shares the same media market as Van Gogh’s “Postman...
...Guitar” was filled to the brim with 500-year-old guitars and lyres capitulated to a bean-bag chair music video conclusion. Like rock and roll, folk art is approachable and familiar. But a huge exhibit of objects that could be found in someone’s attic represents quite a risk...
...place value not on the technique present in each work of art but on the objects importance as a cultural artifact. Does this redefinition mean that a slaves quilt ought to receive the same artistic consideration as a Vermeer or a Raphael? The MFA itself offers few clues. Folk art, according to the MFA, is art for the people by the people, a visual demonstration of America’s democratic values. All Americans, at least in MFA literature, can produce art. Theory aside, “American Folk” is no grand curatorial achievement. Within the space that...
However, all was not brash thunder and explosive lightning. To temper the vitrolite building through the first of two stunningly executed sets, the group called upon the folk song “Scarborough Fair” and a little known Gershwin standard, “Soon.” Perhaps the most compelling diversion was one of Scofield’s elegant compositions, an ode to his wife entitled “Mrs. Scofield’s Waltz.” A lyrical and haunting ballad, it allowed Black to soar over the melody, as he engaged in touching introspective...