UNC Press - The Temptation

376 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 77 b&w illus., 10 color illus., 2 maps, notes, bibl., index

Paper

ISBN 978-0-8078-4700-8

Published: April 1998

The Temptation

Edgar Tolson and the Genesis of Twentieth-Century Folk Art

By Julia S. Ardery

Awards & Distinctions

1998 Mary Ellen LoPresti Award, Art Libraries Society of North America, Southeast Chapter

Why, beginning in the late 1960s, did expressive objects made by

poor people come to be regarded as "twentieth-century folk art,"

increasingly sought after by the middle class and the wealthy?

Julia Ardery explores that question through the life story of

Kentucky woodcarver Edgar Tolson (1904-1984) and the evolving

public reception of his poplar "dolls."

The Temptation presents a vivid chronicle of folk art's

ascendancy in the late twentieth century, enlivened by the voices

and opinions of diverse participants in the folk art scene.

Drawing on in-depth interviews with collectors and dealers,

museum and auction house officials, and Tolson's own family

members and friends, the book traces a twenty-year tug-of-war

over the definition, sale, and interpretation of folk art. Unlike

earlier studies, Ardery's work also links the popularity of folk

art to larger historical forces: the civil rights movement and

the War on Poverty in Appalachia, government and corporate arts

sponsorship, developments in arts education, and an expanded art

market.

Well illustrated and impeccably documented, The

Temptation offers an engaging account of how a generation both

reflected and reinforced its ideals through its fascination with

crayon drawings, quilts, and wooden dolls.

About the Author

Writer Julia S. Ardery, a sociologist, journalist, and poet, lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Reviews

"Julia Ardery, writing with a true storyteller's skill and the objectives of a journalist and activist, offers the story of Edgar Tolson as a case study of the role tradition has played (or not played) in the development of the notion of 'folk art' in the twentieth century."
--American Quarterly

"Contributes significantly to the growing literature on the intricate social and economic relationships between artists and their collectors and dealers. It also introduces Edgar Tolson, a colorful figure in the development of a new genre, twentieth-century folk art."
--American Historical Review

"An engaging sociological tale that approaches parable. . . . This ambitious, provocative book is at once biography, cultural criticism, and sociohistorical account."
--Winterthur Portfolio

"Absorbing. . . . Ardery compellingly demonstrates that the true temptation in understanding the folk art genre lies in our own willlingness to construct a belief in the folk art myth."
--Appalachian Journal

"A tour de force. . . . A must read for anyone involved with folk art."
--Choice

"More than a biography of folk art master Edgar Tolson, this well-researched and informative tome traces the rise of contemporary folk and outsider art since the late 1960s, and is a welcome addition to the small but growing library of scholarly studies on the subject."
--Outsider Magazine