Compelling VisionsFlorida Collects Folk Art

March 31 through July 8, 2007

Above: Ned Cartledge (American, 1916-2001), Mona Lisa on a Bicycle, 1972, Polychromed carved wood relief, Gift of Martha and Jim Sweeny in honor of Museum Director Dr. John E. Schloder, 2010.25

Experience over 120 idiosyncratic works that defy categorization. It has been called folk, outsider, visionary, and the more accepted term, contemporary self-taught art. These works, many by African Americans, are on view from seven private collections. The broad themes include: religion and the idea of the visionary, portraits, architecture, animals, popular culture, humor, political commentary, and carving sticks and canes that reference historical American folk art. The artists represented include many of the very best: Bill Traylor, the Rev. Howard Finster, Roger Price, Nellie Mae Rowe, Minnie Evans, Mose Tolliver, Clementine Hunter, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Missionary Mary Proctor, Thornton Dial Sr., Carleton Garrett, Ned Cartledge, Woodie Long, and Purvis Young, among many others. The exhibition encompasses sculpture, painting, drawings, collages, and mixed-media works, some monumental in scale. These individualistic, gifted works reveal why contemporary self-taught art is now considered, like the blues, spirituals, and jazz, a great contribution to American culture.