Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum
Encyclopedia
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum is a museum located in Colonial Williamsburg
, Virginia
, United States
. Initially based on donations from Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
, it was founded in 1957 and then subsequently expanded to contain a much higher number of objects of folk art
. Today it includes more than 3,000 objects.
, wife of the John D. Rockefeller Jr., founder of Colonial Williamsburg
, lent a portion of her folk art
collection to the Ludwell-Paradise House in Williamsburg. Four years later, she donated such collection, which remained in the Ludwell Paradise House until 1956.
In 1956, two years after it had been announced that a museum bearing the Rockefeller name would be built in Williamsburg, David Rockefeller, Abby Rockefellers's son, reunited the collection of the Ludwell-Paradise House to 54 additional folk art objects, which Mrs. Rockefeller had donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
and the Museum of Modern Art
.
The museum opened its doors in May 1957 as the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection. It changed names in 1977 to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center and again in 2000 as Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum.
The first year after its opening the museum came to include, besides Rockefeller's collection, works assembled by J. Stuart Halladay and Herrell Thomas, Holger Cahill
, Edith Gregor Halpert, and John Law Robertson. Now the museum contains works of portraiture, Southern and African American folk art, sculpture, fraktur
, and textiles. It includes representative works of well renowned artists, such as Eddie Arning
, Wilhelm Schimmel
, Erastus Salisbury Field, Edward Hicks
, Lewis Miller
, Albert Hoffman
, Lewis Miller
, and Ami Phillips. Various exhibitions of the museum regarded 18th and 19th-century painters such as Zedekiah Belknapp, James Sanforth Elsworth, and Asabel Lynde Powers.
The museum includes notable 18th-century watercolor painting
s such as The Old Plantation
, by South Carolina
slave owner John Rose.
One of the most notable curators of the museum has been Thomas N. Armstrong III
.
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Initially based on donations from Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, , was a prominent socialite and philanthropist and the second-generation matriarch of the renowned Rockefeller family...
, it was founded in 1957 and then subsequently expanded to contain a much higher number of objects of folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
. Today it includes more than 3,000 objects.
History
In 1935 philanthropist Abby Aldrich RockefellerAbby Aldrich Rockefeller
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, , was a prominent socialite and philanthropist and the second-generation matriarch of the renowned Rockefeller family...
, wife of the John D. Rockefeller Jr., founder of Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
, lent a portion of her folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
collection to the Ludwell-Paradise House in Williamsburg. Four years later, she donated such collection, which remained in the Ludwell Paradise House until 1956.
In 1956, two years after it had been announced that a museum bearing the Rockefeller name would be built in Williamsburg, David Rockefeller, Abby Rockefellers's son, reunited the collection of the Ludwell-Paradise House to 54 additional folk art objects, which Mrs. Rockefeller had donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
and the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
.
The museum opened its doors in May 1957 as the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection. It changed names in 1977 to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center and again in 2000 as Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum.
Collection
The 424 objects, collected by Abby Rockefeller between 1929 and 1942 remain the core of the collection, however the museum has grown into containing more than 3,000 objects today.Holger Cahill
Edgar Holger Cahill was the National Director of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration during the New Deal.-Biography:...
, Edith Gregor Halpert, and John Law Robertson. Now the museum contains works of portraiture, Southern and African American folk art, sculpture, fraktur
Fraktur (Pennsylvania German folk art)
Fraktur is both a style of lettering and a highly artistic and elaborate illuminated folk art created by the Pennsylvania Dutch...
, and textiles. It includes representative works of well renowned artists, such as Eddie Arning
Eddie Arning
Eddie Arning was born in the farming community of Germania, Texas. As a young adult, he was admitted into a Texas mental institution for violent acts. In 1964, after 60 years in the institution, he was introduced to crayons, and began coloring. Over ten years, he produced over 2000 drawings...
, Wilhelm Schimmel
Wilhelm Schimmel
Schimmel is a German piano maker. The company was founded in 1885 in Leipzig by Wilhelm Schimmel. This company is especially popular for its high quality concert grand pianos. In August 2009, the biggest piano maker in Germany became insolvent and was protected from its creditors in a manner...
, Erastus Salisbury Field, Edward Hicks
Edward Hicks
Edward Hicks was an American folk painter, a distinguished minister of the Society of Friends, and he also became a Quaker icon because of his paintings.-Early life:...
, Lewis Miller
Lewis Miller (Folk Artist)
Lewis Miller was a Pennsylvania German folk artist, noted for his watercolors of historical and every day events.Miller was born in York, Pennsylvania...
, Albert Hoffman
Albert Hoffman (artist)
Albert Hoffman was an American painter and wood carver. Never progressing beyond a sixth-grade education, Hoffman earned his living operating a junkyard in Galloway Township, near Atlantic City, New Jersey...
, Lewis Miller
Lewis Miller (Folk Artist)
Lewis Miller was a Pennsylvania German folk artist, noted for his watercolors of historical and every day events.Miller was born in York, Pennsylvania...
, and Ami Phillips. Various exhibitions of the museum regarded 18th and 19th-century painters such as Zedekiah Belknapp, James Sanforth Elsworth, and Asabel Lynde Powers.
The museum includes notable 18th-century watercolor painting
Watercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
s such as The Old Plantation
The Old Plantation
The Old Plantation is an American folk art watercolor that was likely painted in the late 18th century on a South Carolina plantation. It is notable for its early date, for its credible, non-stereotypical depiction of slaves on the North American mainland, and for the fact that the slaves are shown...
, by South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
slave owner John Rose.
One of the most notable curators of the museum has been Thomas N. Armstrong III
Thomas N. Armstrong III
Thomas N. Armstrong III was an American museum curator who was director emeritus of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum ,...
.