AFA Summer 2021

2021 Antiques & Fine Art 69 Fig. 9: Girl in Rose Garden, possibly by Joshua Johnson (1763–1832). Gallery catalogue sheet, Downtown Gallery records 1824–1974, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Reel 5558, frame 510. Fig. 10: Joshua Johnson (1763–1832, In the Garden, ca. 1805. Oil on canvas, 27½ x 19¾ inches. Baltimore Museum of Art, Md (1967.76.1); Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. Halpert placed inventory in department stores such as the Gimbel Galleries in Philadelphia, Marshall Fields in Chicago, and Neiman Marcus in Dallas; invested in good quality images to accompany her carefully worded press releases; and in the archive there are clippings of magazine advertisements featuring folk art portraits being used to market household products like face powder and custard. 5 All of this effort was to garner better coverage, build interest, and associate folk art with contemporary living (Figs. 6, 7). Profits from Halpert’s folk art gallery were substantial enough to underwrite the expenses incurred in supporting living artists whose work was being exhibited at the Downtown Gallery. After her partnership with Cahill was dissolved in 1940 and she moved further uptown to 43 East 51st Street, Halpert placed her folk art on the first floor instead of the second and continued to collect and feature folk art until her death in 1970 (Fig. 8). For those with an interest in folk art portraits, the catalogue sheets found in Notebooks (section 3.1) are particularly informative. Each sheet has a photograph of the portrait, notations concerning dimensions, medium, details about the sitter if known, when, where and from whom the portrait was acquired, details concerning family history/provenance, transcriptions of any inscriptions or labels, as well as exhibition and publication history (see fig. 12). Some entries record restoration work done and include photographs of before and after treatment. Excerpts of exhibition catalogue entries are also sometimes included along with gallery correspondence and the occasional auction catalogue illustrating the portrait in question. As these were working gallery records, annotations such as buyers’ names were included right up until the time the gallery closed in 1973. In the earliest records, prolific artist Ammi Phillips was catalogued as unknown or anonymous. Other artists were tagged by geographica l location such as the Fa ll R iver artist. Occasionally, as in the case of Joseph Stock, a full biography of an artist is included. Fortunately, portraits by some of our best known artists today such as John Brewster or Erastus Salisbury Field are easily recognizable from the black and white photographs despite their varying sizes and condition.