Join Jonathan Demme with friends in person at Material Culture for a special pre-auction exhibition party on Friday, March 28, from 7-11 p.m., with live music and refreshments. Admission to the party and the weeklong exhibition are free and open to the public. The Friday night party starts off a weekend of auctions dedicated solely to the superb self-taught art collection of Jonathan Demme.
November 1 to December 29 The Veil Code: A Cross Cultural Survey of Veils and Traditional Dress From Asia, Africa and the Middle East Featuring items from the collection of Isabella de la Houssaye, Princeton, NJ Reception: Friday Nov 1, 7 pm - 11 pm
November 1 to 17 Material Culture Presents: The Afghan Peace Rug Project Reception: Friday Nov. 1 from 7 p.m. - 11 p.m. For the past 30 years, Afghan war rugs have been highly valued and internationally collected as pieces of modern folk art. These rugs, woven by Afghan village artisans since 1979 following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, depict images of the wars and conflict that have been a trademark of this country for the past three decades. In an effort to both revitalize the Afghan economy and reshape its image from one of war to one of peace, Material Culture has partnered with a group of village rug producers in Afghanistan to launch the Peace Rug Project. Working with the same village artisans who have been weaving images of tanks, guns and hand grenades for years, the Peace Rug Project has challenged these artisans to leave behind this imagery and weave instead images of peace. Small, folk-art sized wool carpets using natural dyes and depicting images of flowers, birds, animals, village life, and all manner of personal expression, have begun to emerge from Afghan villages and Material Culture is proud to bring them to the international market. This series of [...]
Saturday November 2, 2 p.m. Mexican Folk Devotional Retablos Presented by Joseph F. Chorpenning, Editorial Director at Saint Joseph’s University Press. This illustrated lecture will focus particularly on the Mexican retablos being offered for sale at the November 3rd auction. Free, Open to the Public
Auction: Sunday 11/03/13, 11 am Preview Exhibition: Thursday 10/31 to Saturday 11/2, 10am-6pm – Daily Browse the Catalog on LiveAuctioneers.com | Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form Material Culture brings an astonishing gathering of important folk and self-taught art to auction on November 3rd. Comprising over 700 lots, its sale, “Candles in the Light: International Folk and Self-Taught Art, ” revels in the spirit and diversity of unique artistic vision around the globe. A leader in self-taught art, Material Culture has once again compiled a stunning array of paintings and drawings in this burgeoning field, led by pieces by Purvis Young, Howard Finster, Justin McCarthy, Ellis Ruley, Prince Twins Seven-Seven, Victor Joseph Gatto, Thornton Dial, Jack Savitsky, Lee Godie, Anna Zemankova, Anne Grgich, and many others. Self-taught sculpture includes work by S.L. Jones, and Nate Barrow, both also shown in two-dimensional artwork, and folk-art inspired artists R.A. Miller and David Butler. A truly global compendium of folk art at the sale is led by pieces from Haitian metalworker Georges Liautaud, Togolese folk artist Abagli Kossi, and Felippe Archuleta, an American folk artist from New Mexico. A large assortment of Georgia folk pottery comes to the sale, including the work of Lanier Meaders, [...]
As part of our stewardship to the study of traditional craft, we have been on the publishing team for a number of books in the field. We have put together joint ventures with other presses and academic institutions, and have also been the sole publishers of our own works. A detailed compilation of these works will be available here soon. Vernacular Architecture By Henry Glassie The Potter's Art By Henry Glassie Prince Twins Seven-Seven By Henry Glassie The Stars of Ballymenone By Henry Glassie Dreams of my Brother By Material Culture
Mr. Imagination in the midst of his creations, including a bottlecap throne, suit, and figure. Renowned folk-artist and friend of Material Culture Gregory Warmack, known as Mr. Imagination, passed away on May 30, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 64. Spiritual and prolific as an artist and warm and thoughtful as a man, he saw the untapped possibilities in everyday or discarded objects, transforming them into spectacular works of art. At times whimsical and at times commanding, his pieces always have an individual force and an animating presence. Born in 1948, the third of nine children in a religious family on the South Side of Chicago, Warmack had an early connection to art. A self-taught artist, he honed his creativity through his teens and twenties by making jewelry, carvings, canes and hats that he would sell on the street and in local venues. But his life was forever changed in 1978, when he was mugged, shot and left to die on the street. While doctors fought to save him, he had a near-death experience in which he was taken back in time to see ancient civilizations, including images of African masks, Egyptian kings, and grand thrones. [...]
An article memorializing Prince Twins Seven-Seven, who spent time as Artist in Residence at Material Culture and passed away last June, appears in the spring 2012 issue of African Arts. We received permission from the author, Henry Glassie, to post it here to commemorate the anniversary of his death. A pdf of the full text, complete with original photos, is also available online. In Memoriam: Prince Twins Seven-Seven 1944–2011 by Henry Glassie To begin at the end is to begin in sorrow. Prince Twins Seven-Seven died in Ibadan on the morning of June 16, 2011. For seventy-two days he lay in the hospital, unable to move, communicating only by blinking his eyes. It was reported as a stroke, but whatever the cause, it was wrong—the wrong end for an ebullient man of constant action whose body was charged to the full. He beat rhythms on trees in childhood, danced on the road in youth; he whistled and sang while his hand darted and glanced, filling spontaneous shapes with intricate patterns bound for infinity. Prince was born on May 3, 1944, in Ijara, near the northeastern edge of Yorubaland. His father, Aitoyeje, was a Muslim from Ibadan. His mother, Mary, was a [...]
