American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum
From the wistful charm of an early-19th-century American portrait of a sharp-nosed adolescent girl to the exquisite curves of a six-inch-long sea horse carved from the ivory tusk of a whale, Ralph Esmerian has an eye for the most striking examples of folk art.American Radiancelavishly showcases the collector's major gift to the American Folk Art Museum in New York, where it is on view through June 2002. With 778 photographs, 419 in color, this volume ranges over many categories, including portraits, scenic images, narrative watercolors, furniture and decorative objects, Shaker crafts, fraktur (ornate penmanship samplers, birth records, love tokens, and other illuminated texts), needlework, and wood and metal sculpture. Each of the 341 objects is fully discussed in a separate "notes" section written by 12 specialist contributors, so that the bulk of the book consists solely of captivating photographs alive with pattern, color, whimsy, and grace.--Cathy Curtis