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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Office of Communications
Stanhope Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264
Telephone 609-258-3601; Fax 609-258-1301CONTACT: Ruta Smithson (609) 258-3763
April 12, 2000
American Folk Art Collection on View at Princeton University Art Museum
Exhibition Dates: April 15 through June 18, 2000
PRINCETON -- "A Window into Collecting American Folk Art: The Edward Duff Balken Collection at Princeton," an exhibition of thirty-three paintings and works on paper dating principally from the nineteenth century, will be on view at The Art Museum, Princeton University, from April 15 through June 18, 2000.
This remarkable collection, which has been exhibited only twice, includes portraits, landscapes, genre scenes, schoolgirl pictures, and still lives by such major figures as Zedekiah Belknap, Erastus Salisbury Field, Sarah Perkins, Ammi Phillips, and Asahel Powers.
Edward Duff Balken, Princeton Class of 1897, was an early admirer of American folk art at a time when few others appreciated its aesthetic qualities. Beginning in the 1920s, he spent summers seeking out works of art in the vicinity of his summer home in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, creating a regional identity for his collection.
A window into the world of early folk art collecting, the Edward Duff Balken's collection, which was given to The Art Museum in 1958, provides an opportunity to examine one man's definition of American folk art and to gain insights into how our own perceptions of the subject have been shaped and informed by previous generations. For over twenty-six years, from 1920 to 1946, Balken collected painting and drawings, which he variously called "provincial," "primitive," and "folk" art. The years comprising his avid collecting of this material encompass the rediscovery and institutional acceptance of American folk art as a valuable component of the history of American art.
A fully illustrated catalogue of the exhibition, published by The Art Museum, is available in the Museum Shop or through the Museum's publications office for $18.00. Research by Charlotte Emans Moore and the late Colleen Cowles Heslip, recognized scholars in the field, offersffords fascinating new information on the works and for the first time makes the collection available to scholars, collectors, and the public at large. A poster, birthday calendar, and various cards illustrating works in the exhibition also are available.
The Art Museum is open to the public without charge. Free highlights tours of the collection are given every Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. It is closed on Monday and major holidays. The Museum Shop closes at 5:00 p.m.
The Museum is located in the middle of the Princeton University campus. Picasso's large sculpture Head of a Woman stands in front. For further information, please call (609) 258-3788.
SPECIAL EVENTSGallery Talk: Friday, April 28, at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 30, at 3:00 p.m., The Art Museum, "The Edward Duff Balken Collection of American Folk Art," Frances Lange, Museum docent
Open House: Sunday, April 30, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Gallery talks, tours, musical entertainment, and refreshments will be featured. The Art Museum
Children’s Talk: Saturday, May 6, at 11:00 a.m., The Art Museum, "Look at the Children," Frances Lange, Museum docent,