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Is It Folk Art?

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Six Black Masters is the first publication to discuss Johnson’s work in the context of contemporary and earlier black artists. Artisan traditions such as engraving and goldsmiths are mentioned, as well as other artists who were known to sketch likenesses. Conversations of whether or not Johnson’s work is considered folk art have emerged in some of the writing. Specifically the thesis Joshua Johnson: His Historical Context and His Art (1983) by Mary Lynn Perry. She argues that Johnson’s work fits into a tradition of black artisans and portrait painters. Portraits were not considered high art in early America, especially of the style that Johnson created. These portraits “were not seen as products of a creative mind which might be evaluated by abstract standards. A portrait was, rather, a memento of the dead or a gesture of respect and affection for the living.”[12] Perry goes on to quote Holger Cahill from 1932 who links the work of limners like Johnson with a folk art tradition and definition:

The work of these men is folk art because it is the expression of the common people, made by them and intended for their use and enjoyment. It is not the expression of professional artists made for a small cultured class, and it has little to do with the fashionable art of its period. It does not come out of an academic tradition passed on by schools, but out of a craft tradition plus the personal quality of the rare craftsman who is an artist.[13]


This position is challenged in the article "Black Art, Folk Art, and Social Control" by Eugene W. Metcalf (1983). In this article Metcalf offers a critical look at the African-American survey exhibitions that were gaining in popularity among museums. On page 271 Metcalf states: “The few specialized exhibitions and books that have focused entirely on the work of black American artists have also generally adopted a high-cultural bias.” There is further discussion of the exhibition “Two centuries of Black American Art” that was organized by the L.A. County Museum of Art (LACMA).

With the introduction of Joshua Johnston, Driskell [the curator] almost completely dropped the discussion of folk-motivated artifacts to devote three times as much space and effort to showing the development and mastery by black Americans of the academic arts. The message here is clear. While playing an important role in early black artistic development, folk arts and crafts are now no longer significant, or perhaps even living traditions.[14]
 

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  1. Joshua Johnson, Painter Greta Kuriger Suiter
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