Becoming America: Highlights from the Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection of Folk Art

by David Wheatcroft (Author), John Demos (Author), Robin Jaffee Frank (Author), James Glisson (Author), Jonathan Fielding (Author), Karin Fielding (Author)

• New

  Illustrated
  2020

  $48.37

  Celebrating two collectors' passion for Americana and the window it provides into the everyday beauty of the past
  
  Becoming America offers a multifaceted view of one of the foremost collections of 18th- and 19th-century American folk and decorative art from the rural Northeast. Essays by leading specialists discuss the culture of furniture workshops, exuberant painted decoration, techniques of sewing and quilting, and poignant stories about the families depicted in the portraits. The collection itself includes Shaker boxes, a beaded Iroquois hat, embroidered samplers, metalwork, scrimshaw, handwoven rugs, ceramics, and a weather vane. The majority of these works have never before been published. With lively essays and profuse illustrations, this handsome volume brings to life the aesthetic of early Americans living in the countryside and is an essential exploration of the period's taste and style.