Document Type

Gallery Guide

Publication Date

9-10-1999

Abstract

This maverick art movement called contemporary folk or outsider art is eminently popular with the public and is increasingly the focus of serious study in the art world.The Haggerty Museum first presented contemporary folk art in an exhibition of the collection of John and Diane Balsley in 1992. In the Balsley exhibition, two of Blackmon’s paintings, God Can Take You Through The Radiation Belt Of Life and Stop Feeding The Snakes And Feed The Childrens, appeared with the work of sixty artists including David Butler, Howard Finster, Bessie Harvey, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, James “Son Ford” Thomas, and Joseph Yoakum.The Balsley exhibition provides a context for the current solo exhibition, which the Haggerty has organized in collaboration with Jeffrey R. Hayes, Professor of Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.The exhibition will travel to three additional venues: Diggs Gallery,Winston-Salem State University; City Museum, St. Louis; and the Brauer Museum of Art,Valparaiso University.We thank the borrowing institutions for their support and interest in this exhibition.

Comments

Published version. Signs of Inspiration: The Art of Prophet William J. Blackmon. Milwaukee, WI: Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, 1999. © 1999 Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University. Used with permission.

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