Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists

Rating:
Summary: Great information, photographys and interviews
Review: I love the book and i wish i was in it. Being a folk artist I really enjoy all the photos and interviews. It is a great resource.

Rating:
Summary: makes a good doorstop
Review: no information is better than bad information. a new emerging field of art deserves a better book than this. it is very misleading to call it "the encyclopedia", for many artists are left out who were very well documented at the time of its publication. it doesn't seem that the people who wrote the bios and info were very well informed, or perhaps they were just showing their bias.the editor(s) should not have allowed that to happen. it does have some nice pictures of artists, but the quality of the art leaves alot to be desired. who decided which artists were included? i am surprised that a museum would put their name on such a publication.

Rating:
Summary: They Left Out 9 Years...
Review: no information is better than bad information. a new emerging field of art deserves a better book than this. it is very misleading to call it "the encyclopedia", for many artists are left out who were very well documented at the time of its publication. it doesn't seem that the people who wrote the bios and info were very well informed, or perhaps they were just showing their bias.the editor(s) should not have allowed that to happen. it does have some nice pictures of artists, but the quality of the art leaves alot to be desired. who decided which artists were included? i am surprised that a museum would put their name on such a publication.

Rating:
Summary: They Left Out 9 Years...
Review: This self-proclaimed 20th century encyclopedia of American Folk Art came out in 1991... how could it be a comprehensive look at the century's folk art in America when 9 years didn't even happen when they wrote this? There are artists left out and what is written is often slanted with regards to "collectability" since the authors' have invested in a large folk art collection. The emphasis is often that the early work is really the only inspired work. Once an artist is "discovered" by the public the art is no longer as good so you should only have the early pieces, like the ones in the encyclopedia. This bias also occurs in the author's book on Collecting American Folk Art. But really, the big flaw in this book is that it was written 9 years before the end of the century and has left out many worthwhile artists. A very disappointing book.