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An Exhibition at the New York Office
of the Archives of American Art, January 22-April 30, 1999
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 Chuck and Jan Rosenak at home Tesuque, New Mexico. Photograph by Lynn Lown | Authors of such books as the Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists (published by Abbeville in 1990), The People Speak: Navajo Folk Art (published by Northland Publishing in 1994), and Contemporary American Folk Art: A Collector's Guide (published by Abbeville in 1996), the Rosenaks recently donated their extensive research files -- including letters, more than 1,000 photographs of artists, printed material and tape-recorded interviews -- to the Archives of American Art. |
| Like his self-taught subjects, Chuck Rosenak has no formal education in photography. He learned by doing and picked up tips along the way from professionals photographers. His photographs not only document the artist in his or her environment but provide a window to the soul. In an interview for the Archives of American Art he said, "What I want is to catch something in an artist's expression, his or her eyes, and face, that tell something about the artist...and that's what I want for my own personal preference." |  Chuck and Jan Rosenak in Gregory Warmack's bottle cap throne and jacket, ca. 1992. Photograph by Gregory Warmack, also known as "Mr. Imagination." |
Liza Kirwin
Southeast Regional Collector
All photographs in this exhibition were taken by Chuck Rosenak unless otherwise noted. The web version of the exhibit features the portraits themselves; below is a checklist of the other materials selected by Dr. Kirwin for the display cases in AAA's New York Regional Center. All papers and photographs on display at are from the Chuck and Jan Rosenak Research Material at the Archives of American Art.
NUMBERED ITEMS ON THE WALLS:
1. Photograph of Chuck and Jan Rosenak in Gregory Warmack's bottle cap throne and jacket, ca. 1992. Photograph by Warmack, also known as "Mr. Imagination."
2. Jon Serl (1894-1993), Aunt Nettie, 1987, oil on plywood, 59 ¼ x 19 inches. National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen.
3. Rod Rosebrook (1900-1994) at his home in Redmond, Oregon, with his iron buggy wheel assemblages, ca. 1992.
4. Jimmie Lee Sudduth (b. 1910) with one of his mud paintings at his home in Fayette, Alabama.
5. John William ("Uncle Jack") Dey, Acupuncture Pitchfork Style, ca. 1974, model airplane enamel on board, 27 x 40 inches. National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment. This painting is reproduced on the book jacket of the Encyclopedia.
6. Theodore ("Ted") Ludwiczak (b. 1926) with his carved stone heads on the Hudson River.
In an interview for the Archives of American Art Chuck Rosenak said, "After his retirement, he [Ludwiczak] took a railroad spike and a simple hammer and carved out faces he saw in the rocks along the Hudson. This is one of my favorite pictures."
7. Mamie Deschillie (b. 1920) wearing her finest silver and turquoise jewelry with one of her cardboard cutouts at her home in Fruitland, New Mexico, ca. 1992.
8. Louise Nez (left) and her daughter, Florence Riggs (b. 1962). In The People Speak: Navajo Folk Art, the Rosenaks describe the scene: "In early October of 1992, we visited Florence Riggs at the home of her mother, Louise Nez, in Farmington. Mother and daughter were working in the cramped-for-space living room on a type of loom that we had never seen before -- a double loom. ‘My brother [Bill Nez] designed and built this loom for us,' Florence Riggs says. "It gives me the chance to visit with mother, and both of us can weave our own rugs a the same time.'"
9. Nicholas Herrera (b. 1964) in the process of carving Christo out of cottonwood at his home in El Rito, New Mexico. (Christo is now in the collection of the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles.) Chuck Rosenak christened Herrera the "El Rito Santero," in an article he wrote for the Folk Art Messenger (Summer 1993): 4-5.
10. In an interview for the Archives of American Art Chuck Rosenak recalled his photograph of Navajo woodcarver Elizabeth Willeto Ignacio (b. 1926): "She didn't speak a word of English but her son Harold was there and Harold told her that we'd like to photograph her and she went inside the hogan and put on all this jewelry. Most Navajo women do not feel dressed unless they are wearing their jewelry and then she came out and sat again next to the hogan and I took this picture of her. This piece that's next to her we bought."
11. Garland Adkins (1928-1997) on the Fourth of July, holding his briefcase which he used to carry samples of his art. Garland was known for his carved wooden horses. He and his wife, Minnie, created a sense of community around their Peaceful Valley Woodshop by promoting artists in the surrounding area.
12. Bruce Hathale (b. 1956) on the top of a mesa in Tes Nez lah, Arizona, with one of his sandpaintings on muslin. In the background is the adobe mud wall of his father's hogan, ca. 1992.
13. Gerald "Creative" DePrie (b. 1935) working on one of his drawings at his home in Huntington, West Virginia.
14. Bertha Halozan with one of her paintings of the Statue of Liberty.
15. Raymond Coins (1904-1998) is best known for his large carved and painted wood figures and small stone "doll babies." Chuck Rosenak photographed him against the wood siding of his home in Westfield, North Carolina.
16. Reverend J. L. Hunter (b. 1905) senior minister of the True Light Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, with one of his most popular subjects -- the Statue of Liberty -- covered with silver glitter.
17. Mark Casey Milestone (b. 1958) with one of his weathered whirligigs at his home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Rosenak research material also includes photographs of Milestone with his hand-made musical instruments and paintings.
18. Leroy Archuleta (b. 1949) in Tesuque, New Mexico, carving an elephant that is now in the collection of Chuck and Jan Rosenak.
19. Herbert Singleton (b. 1945) with one of his carved and painted wood panels in the courtyard of the Barrister Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana. In an interview for the Archives of American Art Chuck Rosenak said, "We wanted to find out what American was like. That's why we set out on this voyage of discovery and Singleton was part of it. We never could exist in his community, nor could he exist in our community. When we collected his work, it was as an outsider looking in rather than the other way around."
20. Powell Darmafall (b. 1925), also known as the "Glassman," with one of his broken glass collages in his home in Baltimore.
21. Bessie Harvey (1929-1994) with one of her sculptures made of tree limbs, roots, and found objects at her home in Alcoa, Tennessee.
22. Quinton ("Q. J.") Stephenson (1920-1997) with his dinosaur at his "Earth Museum" in Garysburg, North Carolina.
23. Chuck Rosenak photographed Rose Williams, the matriarch of renown family of Navajo potters, with one of her traditional pots.
24. David Strickland (b. 1955) with one of his pieces made of scrapped farm equipment.
25. Horacio Valdez (d. 1992) at his home in Dixon, New Mexico, holding his bulto Nuéstra Senora (Queen of Heaven), ca. 1991, now in the collection of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
26. Loy A. Bowlin "The Rhinestone Cowboy" (1909-1995) proudly photographed in full rhinestone regalia outside his rhinestone and glitter encrusted home in McComb, Mississippi. The Rosenak research material also includes many photographs of the interior of Bowlin's house.
27. Clyde Jones in his "Jungle Boy Zoo," his environment of wooden animals that fill his yard and spill into his neighbor's yard in Bynum, North Carolina.
Case no. 1 (below Jon Serl's Aunt Nettie):
Chuck and Jan Rosenak at their home in Tesuque, New Mexico. Photograph by Lynn Lown.
Chuck and Jan Rosenak's annotated copy of the Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists. On Joseph P. Aulisio's entry Sterling Strauser playfully alluded to the power of collectors in the field of American folk art. He wrote: "After Joe sold me this painting he wrote me a letter saying, ‘Sterling, now that you own this painting, I hope it becomes as famous as "Whistler's Mother!"' The Rosenaks dedicated the Encyclopedia to Sterling and Dorothy Strauser.
Case no. 2:
Letter, October 8, 1995, from woodcarver Leroy Almon, Sr. (1938-1997), concerning his musical tapes and his introduction to Ann Oppenhimer, President of the Folk Art Society of America.
Business card of Leroy Almon, Sr.
Christmas card from Henry Ray Clark (b. 1936). Clark, who had been incarcerated several times, wrote: "They can lock my body up, but they can't lock up my mind. As long as my mind can create something beautiful to look at, I am a free man, and I will live forever in my art."
Letter from William Steen, of The Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, thanking the Rosenaks on behalf of Henry Ray Clark, "The Magnificent Pretty Boy," (b. 1936), for their support of Clark's parole from prison.
Letter, September 19, 1992, from fiber artist Mary K. Borkowski (b. 1916) regarding her failing health, the sale of her thread paintings, and her fondness for Bob Bishop, Director of the Museum of American Folk Art, who had died that year.
Postcard from Mary Michael announcing the sale of works of art by her mother ceramicist Georgia Blizzard (b. 1919), May 14 to 17, 1994.
Letter from John William ("Uncle Jack") Dey (1912-1978) in which he offers for sale his "Gillespie City Picture," a painting inspired by one of Russell Gillespie's cabins. Dey wrote: "Now if you don't like this picture think it's too high, don't intend to take care of it leave it hang. I don't care whether you buy it or not and that's a fact, by an old coot known as Uncle Jack," January 14, 1975 (two pages).
Letter, March 4, 1994, from Minnie Adkins (b. 1934) thanking the Rosenaks for the Encyclopedia and enclosing press clippings. Adkins, known for her carvings, quilts, and paintings, also mentions that she will receive the Appalachian Treasure Award on June 19, 1994.
Case no. 3:
Letter, February 27, 1990, from painter Andy Kane (b. 1956) thanking the Rosenaks for their letter of recommendation and describing his life in Philadelphia and temporary employment (3 pages).
An album of "available paintings as of 2/12/93" from Andy Kane (b. 1956).
Among the Rosenak research material are guides to environments such as Samuel Perry Dinsmore's (1843-1932) Pictorial History of The Cabin Home in Garden of Eden, Lucas, Kansas (Lucas, Kansas: Privately printed, n.d.).
Catalog for the first museum exhibition of woodcarvings by John. W. Perates (1895-1970).
Christmas greetings from James Harold Jennings (b. 1931), undated.
1993 manuscript essay by woodcarver and farmer Lavern Kelley (b. 1928), "1949 Ford Backing Into the Barn," about methods for hauling loose hay before the advent of hay baling.
Letter from Eva Fasanella, July 20, 1989, responding to Chuck Rosenak's request for information about her husband, painter Ralph Fasanella (1914-1997) and
enclosing a copy of his birth certificate showing a variation in the family name. Fasanella was known for his intricate paintings celebrating urban life and human industry.
Case no. 4:
Announcement for an exhibition of sculpture by John Roeder (1877-1964) at the Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California, October 31 to November 28, 1962.
Santero Enriqué Rendon (1923-1987) in Velarde, New Mexico, with one of his carvings. Photograph by William Oppenhimer, 1986.
Photograph of the custom-made package in which Gregorio Marzán (1906-1997) shipped his sculpture to the Rosenaks.
Catalog for an exhibition of paintings by Jack Savitsky (1910-1991) and Justin McCarthy (1892-1977) from the collection of Sterling Strauser, East Stroudsburg State College, March 1 - 30, 1972.
Thirty-seven-page letter from painter Robert E. Smith (b. 1927) responding to Chuck Rosenak's request for biographical information, undated.
Catalog for an exhibition of the paintings of Queena Stovall (1887-1980) at The Lynchburg Art Center, Lynchburg, Virginia, April 15 through 27, 1956. Stovall dedicated the exhibition "to Pierre Daura -- who inspired me to paint country life as I know and love it."
Program from the memorial service for painter Sybil Gibson (1908-1995) held at sea in the Gulf of Mexico. Gibson was known for her pastel and tempera paintings on brown paper bags of girls, flowers, and animals.
Undated letter from Lawrence Stinson (b. 1906) thanking the Rosenaks for including him in the Encyclopedia, which he calls "one of the greatest books since the printing of the Bible." He added, "One lady friend said why didn't you tell us you are an artist. I said you wouldn't have believed it, but this book is proof enough" (postmarked July 1994, three pages).
Case no. 5:
Announcement for the auction sale of the artistic estate of Rod Rosebrook (1900-1994) in Redmond, Oregon, May 14, 1994.
The Melrose Plantation Cookbook by Francois Mignon and painter Clementine Hunter (1886/1887-1988) includes photographs of Hunter and her murals as well as the famous recipes. Published by Francois Mignon, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1956. Hunter is pictured with her paintings Secret Garden (left) and Sorghum Making (right).
Letter from Theodore Gordon (b. 1924), January 25, 1991, thanking the Rosenaks for including him in the Encyclopedia. "It was exactly what I have been craving," he wrote, "(A definitive statement on me in a definitive work.)" Among other material on Gordon is an announcement for an exhibition of his drawings at the San Francisco Public Library, October 1984.
The Rosenak research material includes many draft writings by Chuck Rosenak such as this typescript "S. L. Jones," which was subsequently published as "‘A Person Has to Have Some Work to Do': S. L. Jones, Wood Carver," in Goldenseal 8 (Spring 1982): 47-52.
Postcards from Madelin Jones and Shields Landon ("S. L.") Jones (1901-1997). Madelin thanks the Rosenaks for sending flowers to her husband in the hospital, September 21, 1990; and on January 24, 1991, she thanks them for the Encyclopedia and comments on her husband's health.
Transcript of an interview of Fred Smith (1886-1976) regarding his outdoor environment, Concrete Park, in Phillips, Wisconsin, conducted by William Bohne at the Pleasant View Rest Home in Phillips in the summer of 1970.
Case no. 6:
Exhibition announcement for "Navajo Folk Art," at the Museum of Northern Arizona in 1990, featuring Mamie Deschille's Black Cow, a cardboard cut-out from the collection of Chuck and Jan Rosenak.
In the Navajo Nation one must navigate by landmarks. The Rosenak research material includes detailed, and often circuitous routes to remote locales. Here is one example of a path to Mamie Deschille's house trailer in Fruitland, New Mexico, near Farmington.
Christine McHorse (b. 1948) with her prize winning pots at the SWAIA Indian Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1992.
Artist's statement and résumé of Navajo potter Christine McHorse (b. 1948)
Navajo weavers Julia and Fannie Pete with one of their goats, ca. 1992.
Thanksgiving card and letter from Julia and Fannie Pete regarding current orders for holiday rugs.
Navajo woodcarver Johnson Antonio (b. 1931) on horseback, ca. 1992.
Johnson Antonio (b. 1931), Man with Cigarette, 1985-1992, acrylic and watercolor on carved cottonwood, 32 x 8½ x 7¼ inches. National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment.
Johnson Antonio (b. 1931), Woman Holding Blanket, 1985-1992, acrylic and watercolor on carved cottonwood, 26 ¾ x 6½ x 6¼ inches. National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment.
Pyramid case:
Sculptor Gerald Hawkes (b. 1943), whose preferred medium is matchsticks, sent this glittery cut-out of Billie Holiday to the Rosenaks to commemorate their purchase of his matchstick bust of Holiday. Hawkes claims that God speaks to him through a mole in the center of his forehead. He has placed a divine mole on Holiday's brow.
Quinton ("Q. J.") Stephenson's (1920-1997) business card for his "Earth Museum," a lodge embellished with Indian relics, rocks, deer antlers, shells, bottles, fossils, and other relics and natural specimens.
Letter, August 3, 1992, from David Strickland (b. 1955) enclosing photographs of his sculptures Dinosaur and B. F. Avery Model A Alien. Strickland had just returned to his home in Red Oak, Texas, after installing one of his pieces at Chuck and Jan Rosenak's home in Tesuque, New Mexico.
Illustrated letter from Levent Isik (b. 1961) responding to the Rosenak's request for biographical information, undated.
Among the Rosenak research material is a thick folder of illustrated calendars from preacher Xmeah ShaEla'ReEl (b. 1943) in Beaumont, Texas. With this November 1994 calendar, a color photocopy, ShaEla'ReEl interprets a verse from Exodus.
For many artists the Collector's Guide placed their live and work in a new context. In this 1992 letter Jerry W. Coker wrote: "Your book was of great joy and encouragement to me. I had considered myself rather old at 53 to continue painting. Of course I can't stop, but to learn of the many "varied" backgrounds and ages was of real happiness to me. I have the same birthday as J. L. Sudduth (March 10) -- although he is 28 years older than me. So -- I have at least 28 more years to make art. Loved your book!"
Business card and promotional literature from Mark Casey Milestone (b. 1958).
Announcement for the exhibition "Symbols and Celebrations" at the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut, December 15, 1991 to March 8, 1992, with a note from Malcah Zeldis (b. 1931) about her children's book A Fine Fat Pig.
In this letter of January 16, 1994, Theodore ("Ted") Ludwiczak (b. 1926) offered his recollections of his service in the U.S. Army in Germany, his work grinding contact lenses, and his marriages, divorces, and stone carving. He wrote, "I chisel heads in Red Stone, small and big, smyling [sic] and happy, occasionally sad and somber, sometimes a rock tells me what he would want [to] look like" (three pages).
Article about Ludwiczak clipped from the New York Times, November 9, 1996.
Bertha Halozan's song lyrics and numerous paintings of the Statue of Liberty are testiment to her love of New York. The Rosenak research material also includes evidence of her recital at Carnegie Hall, where she sung such classics as "How Much is
That Doggie in the Window?"
Letter, January 13, 1995, from Jane ("In Vain") Winkelman enclosing color photocopies of her public art project in San Francisco ( three pages).
Preliminary sketch for LED Mill, 1979, by John Gerdes (b. 1913). LED Mill is now in the collection of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
ITEMS IN THE CASES:
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