Crafting authenticity: The validation of identity in self-taught art

Theory and Society

Volumn 32, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 153-180

  Fine, Gary Alan ^a  

^a NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 1642421003     PISSN: 03042421     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/A:1023943503531     Document Type: Article

References (103)

1. Interview of Hans Jorgensen by Willem Volkersz, March 7, 1975, Archives of American Art transcript, 25-26.
2. Tom Wolfe, Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers (New York, 1971).
3. Gerald L. Pocius, "Art," Journal of American Folklore 108 (1995): 413.
4. George Dickie, Art and the Aesthetic: An Institutional Analysis (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1973).
5. Tom Wolfe, The Painted Word (New York: Bantam, 1976); Arthur Danto, "The Artworld," Journal of Philosophy 61 (October 15, 1964): 571-584.
6. Tom Wolfe, The Painted Word (New York: Bantam, 1976); Arthur Danto, "The Artworld," Journal of Philosophy 61 (October 15, 1964): 571-584.
7. Howard Becker, "Art as Collective Action," American Sociological Review 39 (1974): 767-776.
8. Janet Wolff, The Social Production of Art (New York: St. Martins, 1981).
9. Anne E. Bowler, "Asylum Art: The Social Construction of an Aesthetic Category," in Vera L. Zolberg and Joni Maya Cherbo, editors, Outsider Art: Contesting Boundaries in Contemporary Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 29.
10. Elsewhere I discuss the battles ("term warfare") over the appropriate label for the field - the competition among proponents of outsider art, folk art, and self-taught art. In this article, I use the term "self-taught art," the least controversial label to refer to the field as a whole.
11. Dean MacCannell, The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class (New York: Schocken, 1976); Jane C. Desmond, Staging Tourism: Bodies on Display from Waikiki to Sea World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); xix; John Urry, The Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies (London: Sage, 1990).
12. Dean MacCannell, The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class (New York: Schocken, 1976); Jane C. Desmond, Staging Tourism: Bodies on Display from Waikiki to Sea World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); xix; John Urry, The Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies (London: Sage, 1990).
13. Dean MacCannell, The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class (New York: Schocken, 1976); Jane C. Desmond, Staging Tourism: Bodies on Display from Waikiki to Sea World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); xix; John Urry, The Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies (London: Sage, 1990).
14. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 239.
15. For extensions of this argument, emphasizing definitions of genuineness and core beliefs, particularly as related to the construction of the self, see Lionel Trilling, Sincerity and Authenticity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972); Richard Sennett, The Fall of Public Man (New York: Vintage, 1978); Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991). These arguments, limning the authentic self, are, of course, derivative from those of Martin Heidegger (Being and Time [New York: Harper, 1962]), whether supportive or critical.
16. For extensions of this argument, emphasizing definitions of genuineness and core beliefs, particularly as related to the construction of the self, see Lionel Trilling, Sincerity and Authenticity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972); Richard Sennett, The Fall of Public Man (New York: Vintage, 1978); Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991). These arguments, limning the authentic self, are, of course, derivative from those of Martin Heidegger (Being and Time [New York: Harper, 1962]), whether supportive or critical.
17. For extensions of this argument, emphasizing definitions of genuineness and core beliefs, particularly as related to the construction of the self, see Lionel Trilling, Sincerity and Authenticity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972); Richard Sennett, The Fall of Public Man (New York: Vintage, 1978); Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991). These arguments, limning the authentic self, are, of course, derivative from those of Martin Heidegger (Being and Time [New York: Harper, 1962]), whether supportive or critical.
18. For extensions of this argument, emphasizing definitions of genuineness and core beliefs, particularly as related to the construction of the self, see Lionel Trilling, Sincerity and Authenticity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972); Richard Sennett, The Fall of Public Man (New York: Vintage, 1978); Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991). These arguments, limning the authentic self, are, of course, derivative from those of Martin Heidegger (Being and Time [New York: Harper, 1962]), whether supportive or critical.
19. Regina Bendix, In Search of Authenticity: The Formation of Folklore Studies (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997): 13-14.
20. Viktor Gecas and Peter J. Burke, "Self and Identity," in Sociological Perspectives on Social Psychology, Karen S. Cook, Gary Alan Fine, and James S. House, editors (Boston: Allyn and Bacon 1995), 42.
21. Rogers Brubaker and Frederick Cooper, "Beyond "Identity," Theory and Society 29/1 (2000): 7.
22. Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996), 168.
23. Howard Becker, Art Worlds (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982), 258-269.
24. Admittedly, there are numerous stylistic groups in the contemporary art world, and many (if not all) might consider themselves "out of the mainstream."
25. Jane Becker, Selling Tradition: Appalachia and the Construction of an American Folk, 1930-1940 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998), 194.
26. Arjun Appadurai, "Commodities and the Politics of Value," in Arjun Appadurai, editor. The Social Life of Things (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 6.
27. Shelly Errington, The Death of Authentic Primitive Art and Other Tales of Progress (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998).
28. Marshall Sahlins, Islands of History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).
29. Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984), iii.
30. Sally Price, Primitive Art in Civilized Places (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 7-22.
31. Michael Thompson, Rubbish Theory: The Creation and Destruction of Value (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 9.
32. Howard Becker, "Arts and Crafts," American Journal of Sociology, 83 (1978): 862-889; Howard S. Becker, "La Confusion de Valeurs," in Pierre-Michel Menger and Jean-Claude Passeron, editors, L'Art de la Recherche: Melanges (Paris: La Documentation Française, 1994), 11-28. Available in English ("Confusions of Value") at http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/hbecker/Confusion.html.
33. Howard Becker, "Arts and Crafts," American Journal of Sociology, 83 (1978): 862-889; Howard S. Becker, "La Confusion de Valeurs," in Pierre-Michel Menger and Jean-Claude Passeron, editors, L'Art de la Recherche: Melanges (Paris: La Documentation Française, 1994), 11-28. Available in English ("Confusions of Value") at http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/hbecker/Confusion.html.
34. Howard Becker, "Arts and Crafts," American Journal of Sociology, 83 (1978): 862-889; Howard S. Becker, "La Confusion de Valeurs," in Pierre-Michel Menger and Jean-Claude Passeron, editors, L'Art de la Recherche: Melanges (Paris: La Documentation Française, 1994), 11-28. Available in English ("Confusions of Value") at http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/hbecker/Confusion.html.
35. Michael D. Hall, "The Mythic Outsider," New Art Examiner (September 1991): 16. See also Donald Kuspit, "The Appropriation of Marginal Art in the 1980s," American Art 5/1-2 (Winter/Spring 1991): 134.
36. Michael D. Hall, "The Mythic Outsider," New Art Examiner (September 1991): 16. See also Donald Kuspit, "The Appropriation of Marginal Art in the 1980s," American Art 5/1-2 (Winter/Spring 1991): 134.
37. Julia Ardery, " 'Loser Wins': Outsider Art and the Salvaging of Disinterestedness," Poetics 24 (1997): 329-346.
38. We see this process in the enshrinement of self-taught artists by comparing them, favorably, with canonized artists. Thus, MAFA director Robert Bishop could say of Mose Tolliver's work at the Corcoran show: "I would say in comparing Tolliver's work to Picasso, it is of equal value - you can hang him beside a Picasso and you have the same kind of creativity and deep personal vision" (Anton Haardt, "Mose Tolliver Goes to Washington," Raw Vision 12 (Summer 1995): 28).
39. Lynne Adele, Spirited Journeys: Self-Taught Texas Artists of the Twentieth Century (Austin: Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, 1997), 13.
40. The development of the field of self-taught art has been a process that has occurred over the course of the twentieth-century, even prior to the writings of Jean Dubuffet and Michael Hall. Early in the century, avant-garde artists appropriated images of the self-taught, notably, but not exclusively Henri Rousseau in the early years of the century, and mentally ill artists somewhat later. These embrasures allowed the avant garde to attack the canons of the institutions of art. Again, the issue of the authenticity of creativity was central (see Bowler "Asylum Art"; Lucienne Peiry, Art Brut: The Origins of Outsider Art (Paris: Flammarion, 2001)).
41. Interview of Michael Hall with Julia Ardery, August 14, 1993, transcript, 14-16. Available in Oral History Archives, University of Kentucky Library.
42. Jack Hitt, "The Selling of Howard Finster," Southern Magazine (November 1987): 54-55.
43. This last point is effectively discussed in light of the history of the art of the mentally ill, as described by Anne E. Bowler, "Asylum Art, " 12-15, 31.
44. Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr. and Julia Weissman, Twentieth Century Folk Art and Artists (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1974), 9.
45. Stacy C. Hollander, "Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century," Folk Art 23/1 (Spring 1998): 46.
46. Ralph Turner, "The Real Self: From Institution to Impulse," American Journal of Sociology 81 (1976): 989-1016.
47. John Maizels, "no title," Raw Vision 11 (1995): 13.
48. Joe Adams, "Joe Adams Answers Questions From New Collectors About Building a Folk Art Collection." 20th Century Folk Art News (July 1996): 10-11.
49. Vera L. Zolberg and Joni Maya Cherbo, "Introduction," in Vera L. Zolberg and Joni Maya Cherbo, editors, Outsider Art: Contesting Boundaries in Contemporary Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 2. See also Steven Dubin, "The Centrality of Marginality: Naive Artists and Savvy Supporters," in ibid., 48.
50. Vera L. Zolberg and Joni Maya Cherbo, "Introduction," in Vera L. Zolberg and Joni Maya Cherbo, editors, Outsider Art: Contesting Boundaries in Contemporary Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 2. See also Steven Dubin, "The Centrality of Marginality: Naive Artists and Savvy Supporters," in ibid., 48.
51. Roger Manley, "Robbing the Garden," Folk Art Messenger 7/2 (Winter 1994): 5.
52. Joanne Cubbs, "Rebels, Mystics, and Outcasts," in Michael D. Hall and Eugene W. Metcalf, Jr., editors, The Artist Outsider: Creativity and the Boundaries of Culture (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994), 90.
53. Cited by John Michael Vlach, "The Wrong Stuff," New Art Examiner 19 (September 1991): 23.
54. Alice Thorson, "The Temptation of 'O'Appalachia," New Art Examiner 18 (October 1990): 28, 30.
55. James Yood, "Et in Arcadia Ego?" New Art Examiner 19 (April 1992): 26.
56. Regina Bendix, In Search of Authenticity, 3-4.
57. Raymonde Moulin, "La Genèse de la Rareté Artisque," in Raymonde Moulin, De la Valueur de l'Art: Recueil d'Articles (Paris: Flammarion, 1995), 161, 167.
58. Ibid., 180-182.
59. Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994), 9.
60. Alan Sondheim, "Unnerving Questions Concerning the Critique and Presentation of Folk/Outsider Arts," Art Papers (July/August 1989): 34.
61. Shelly Errington, The Death of Authentic Primitive Art, 118, see also 3.
62. Judith McWillie, "From Ideology to Identity: Syncretism and the Art of the XXI Century," in Syncretism: The Art of the XXI Century (New York: Alternative Museum, 1991), 5.
63. Richard A. Peterson, Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997), 3.
64. Julia S. Ardery, The Temptation: Edgar Tolson and the Genesis of Twentieth-Century Folk Art (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998), 277.
65. Theodor W. Adorno, The Jargon of Authenticity (translated by Knut Tarnowski and Frederic Will) (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1973).
66. In 2001, the museum subtly but significantly changed its name from the Museum of American Folk Art to the American Museum of Folk Art: transforming itself into a showcase for international folk art.
67. E-mail to outsiderart@onelist.com. "Early Versus Late - Apples versus Oranges?" October 30, 1999.
68. Larissa MacFarquhar, "But Is It Art?" New York (January 29, 1996): 40.
69. E-mail from Lois Zetter to outsiderart@onelist.com, "re: Castle," January 19, 1999.
70. E-mail from Randall Morris to outsiderart@onelist.com, "so anyway...," March 23, 1999.
71. Rosemary O. Joyce, " 'Fame Don't Make the Sun Any Cooler': Folk Artists and the Marketplace," in John Michael Vlach and Simon J. Bronner, editors, Folk Art and Art Worlds (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1986), 226.
72. Richard Blodgett, "Collectors Flock to Folk Art," New York Times (September 12, 1976).
73. John Windsor, "Catch 22: The Case of Albert Louden," Raw Vision 18 (Spring 1997): 50.
74. A prominent collector was telling me about her lunch with an established self-taught artist (although a boundary-stretcher): "He's talking to me about his deals, and he wants to travel in Europe and he thinks it will affect his oeuvre. I said, don't ever use that word again.... I just said, don't use that word. Take it out of your vocabulary because it doesn't work" (Interview).
75. E-mail from Mike Smith to outsiderart@onelist.com, "Re: Collectors - Necessary evil? "March 24, 1999.
76. Letter from Robert Manley to Chuck and Jan Rosenak, May 11, 1996, Archives of American Art.
77. Lynne Adele, Spirited Journeys, 14.
78. Allen S. Weiss, Shattered Forms: Art Brut, Phantasms, Modernism (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), 67; e-mail from Randall Morris to outsiderart@onelist.com, "A Solution perhaps," September 28, 1999.
79. Allen S. Weiss, Shattered Forms: Art Brut, Phantasms, Modernism (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), 67; e-mail from Randall Morris to outsiderart@onelist.com, "A Solution perhaps," September 28, 1999.
80. Betty-Carol Sellen, Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2000), 121-122.
81. It has been reported that his former dealer, Sherry Pardee, has met Angel.
82. Jeff Huebner, "Has Anyone Seen Clyde Angel?" Chicago Reader 29/28 (April 14, 2000): 1, 31-37.
83. Ibid., 37.
84. E-mail from geo to outsiderart@onelist.com, "Re: Clyde Angel," April 16, 2000, emphasis added.
85. Laurent Dancin and Martine Lusardy, Outsider and Folk Art: The Chicago Collections (Paris: Halle Saint Pierre, 1998), 64-65.
86. Huebner, "Has Anyone Seen Clyde Angel?" 32.
87. Gladys Engel Lang and Kurt Lang, "Recognition and Renown: The Survival of Artistic Reputations," American Journal of Sociology 94 (1988): 92-95.
88. Randall Morris, "Self-Taught Ethics Regarding Culture," New Art Examiner 22/1 (September 1994): 19.
89. I b i d.
90. E-mail from Randall Morris to outsiderart@onelist.com, "Clyde Angel," April 16, 2000.
91. Bourdieu, The Rules of Art, 169.
92. Butler Hancook, "The Designation of Indifference," New Art Examiner 20 (October 1992): 22, 25.
93. Julia Ardery, The Temptation, 254.
94. Ami Wallach, "The Thorny and Profitable Outsiders," New York Newsday (January 28, 1994).
95. E-mail from Randall Morris to outsiderart@onelist.com, "Troubled Waters," April 23, 1999.
96. Sellen, Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art, 131. Robyn's brother, Shawn, "The Birdman," though legally blind, makes self-taught birdhouses.
97. Sellen, Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art, 131. Robyn's brother, Shawn, "The Birdman," though legally blind, makes self-taught birdhouses.
98. "In Memory of Our Most Precious Son Robyn Banks Beverland," Folk Art 23/4 (Winter 1998/1999): 70.
99. Wendy Steiner, "In Love With the Myth of the 'Outsider,' " New York Times (March 10, 1996): 45, 48.
100. Thomas MeGonigle, "Violated Privacy," Arts Magazine 55 (October 1980): 156.
101. Flora Rheta Schreiber, Sybil (New York: Warner, 1974).
102. E-mail from Randall Morris to outsiderart@onelist.com, "Sybil, " December 22, 1998.
103. Barbara Schreiber, "Notes From the Navel-Staring Department." Art Papers 22/1 (January/February 1998): 16-17.