WALK THE WALK, TALK THE TALK

W A L K T H E W A L K
T A L K T H E T A L K
PHILADELPHIA ANTIQUES & ART SHOW • A P R I L 2 1 - 2 3

S T E V E N S . P O W E R S
W A L K T H E W A L K
T A L K T H E T A L K
“Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk” is more than a clever title
for this mix of carved walking sticks, figural ceramics
and folk art, but also a philosophy of collecting with
courage—of not playing it too safe and embracing
outliers. Finding examples of a genre that push
boundaries and surprise us, yet still overlap its
predecessors—objects that break preconceived
notions and move the line forward.
Come see this collection and more at The Philadelphia Antiques
& Art Show, April 21-23, 2017.
Location: The Navy Yard, Marine Parade Grounds
4747 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19112
additional show information: philadelphiaantiquesandartshow.com
W O R K S O F
A R T
& a m e r i c a n a
360 Court Street #28, Brooklyn, NY 11231 | 718.625.1715 or 917.518.0809 | stevenspowers.com | member: ADA

Eight is Enough (detail)
Iowa
Concrete and polychrome
Circa: 1920-1930
*full details pages 28-29.

Important Southern Figural Folk Art Stick
North Carolina
Walnut
Circa: 1880
Size: 28" (h)
Provenance: Peter Brams
This is one of the finest figures to appear
on a folk art walking stick extant.
Though the artist is unknown it is
initialed “JE” in script below the male
figure and marked “NC” [North
Carolina] below the rattlesnake.
The surface is untouched and complex
with a rich patina and oxidation.

Rare Redware Monkey Bank & Whistle
Pennsylvania
Circa: 1860
Size: 5" (oah)
Provenance: David Good, Peter Brams

Massive Covered Ash Burl Bowl
Ash burl
Circa: 1780
Size: 14 3/8" (d) x 10" (h)
Provenance: DeVere Card, Avis & Rockwell Gardiner,
Private, Sam Forsythe & David Good, Leigh Keno
Exhibited: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 1971
Pictured and discussed: North American Burl Treen:
Colonial & Native American, page 62-63; and The
Use of Burl in America, page 25.
This is the largest covered ash burl bowl extant.
Covered burl bowls are typically of a vague sugar
bowl size, this enormous example would have likely
been a serving piece brought to the table.
It maintains its original shellac and complex surface.

Southern Stoneware Face Jug
Attributed to E. Galloway
Paducah, KY
Circa: 1880
Size: 9" (oah)
Provenance: Peter Brams
A highly unusual and rare
“Caucasian” face jug sporting
a Van Dyke mustache and
beard. The life-sized face is
made from a stoneware body
and covered with a white
bristol glaze and detailed
with cobalt.

Exceptional English Treen Cheese Scoop
England
Circa: 1760
Size: 6 5/8" (oah)
The ultimate cheese scoop! A great large
folk art face with tight, intricate details
on her sleeves and bodice.
This example is a recent discovery—a
sister scoop, by the same hand and dated
1757, was in The Longridge Collection
of treen.

Folk Art Cane of Man with Bow-tie
New England
Tiger maple / cherry
Circa: 1880
Size: 35"
Provenance: Steve Miller, Peter Brams
Literature: for a cane by the same hand
see, Carved & Whittled Sculpture:
American Folk Art Walking Sticks, Selections
from the Pamela and Tim Hill
Collection, pages 110-111

On The Moors
Peter Coker (1926-2004)
Oil on newspaper
Circa: 1970
Size: 11 3/4" (w) x 11" (h) (sight)
Literature: Catalogue raisonné #183,
illustrated on p. 89.

The Newport Zoo
Newport, KY
Dated: April 6, 1925
Size: 11 1/2" (w) x 5 1/4" (d) x 3 1/2" (h)
A large and unusual piece of Southern
ceramics featuring a menagerie of
animals—an alligator, birds, a fish, and a
turtle.

Nine Hands Cane with Shorebird and Dog
Georgia (attributed)
Circa: 1880
Size: 35" (h)
Provenance: Southern collection
Literature: for a cane by the same hand
see, Carved & Whittled Sculpture:
American Folk Art Walking Sticks,
Selections from the Pamela and Tim Hill
Collection, page 98.
A fascinating and mysterious carving
with nine hands around the stick,
interspersed with carpentry tools and
lizards. The top has a conjoined
shorebird feeding its young and a dog’s
head.
Though the meaning is not known—the
tools and hands make me think of
“helping hands.” Or from a different
perspective, the religious act of “laying
on of hands.”

Important African American
Folk Art Carved Cane
Circa: 1881
Size: 36" (h)
This spirited carving is not
only remarkable for its’
prodigious carvings, it is
the inspired, non-formulaic
execution that makes
it exceptional.
The forty or so carvings
feature; a large capuchin
monkey at the top with a
turtle fetish set into it
(under glass). What
follows is a whole lot of
carving; clusters of shore
birds, 16 or so African
American male heads, a
few snakes, an elephant, a
few dogs, etc.
The male heads all appear
to be African American
which would point to the
race of its carver. The cane
is signed and dated, “BY
TG 1881.”

African American Folk Art head
Circa: 1900
Size: 11 3/8" (oah)

Railroad Station, Randolph
George E. Morgan (1870-1969)
Oil on canvas board
Circa: December 1962
Size: 16" x 20"
Provenance: Anne K. Wardwell; Mr. & Mrs. Sumner and Helen Johnston; Joe
Wetherell; Raymond Saroff and Howard Rose; Peter Brams
Exhibitions: The Playhouse, Boothbay, ME 1963; Farnsworth Art Museum,
Rockland, ME, July 16 - October 11, 1998; The Center for Intuitive and
Outsider Art, Chicago, IL, February 5 - April 10,1999
Literature: “Painter Makes Primitives of Early Boyhood Scenes” KENNEBEC
JOURNAL, February 18, 1966, Ruth Henderson
The Kennebec Central Railroad was a narrow gauge line that ran for five miles
and connected Randolph to the National Veterans Home in Togus, Maine (the
nation’s first veterans home).

Ontario Stoneware Face Jug
Ontario
Circa: 1880
Size: 9" (oah)
Provenance: Ron Korman, Robert
Girourd, Peter Brams
With its dripped manganese glaze, this
rare life-sized face jug is quite wild. The
rich reddish/purple color and wavy
patterning over the hand-built face is
striking.
Handle on back is missing and the ears
are chipped.

Eight is Enough
Iowa
Concrete and polychrome
Circa: 1920-1930
Size: range from 4 1/4" (h) - 7 1/4" (h)
A family of eight concrete dolls.
Found as a group in Iowa, these
“dolls” are unique and mysterious.
Sensational surfaces.

Howard Rackliffe (American, 1917–1987)
Acadian Cliffs
Mixed media on board
Circa: 1968
Size: 21 1/2" (h) x 27 1/2" (w)
Rackliffe’s work is currently the focus of a
centennial retrospective at the New Britain
Museum of American Art.
Rackliffe’s works are represented in the
collections of the Barnes Foundation; New
Britain Museum of American Art; Portland
Museum of Art; and The Farnsworth Museum.

Wild Folk Art Pipe by Richard Wessel, 5th OVI
Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia
Circa: 1865
Size: 9" (w) x 5" (h)
Provenance: Norman Flayderman
An over the top Civil War carved pipe—using
the natural form of the root, Wessel carves a
recumbent lion, panther, lizard and a snake.
Along the body, in relief carved letters, he
states, “This / Root was / Found on / the Banks
of / the Potomac / Near / Harpers Ferry, This
Pipe was / Made By / R. Wessel / A Member / of
/ the 5 OVI / C.A.”
In addition to the animals, Wessel carves and
wax fills an American Flag with the motto, “E.
Pluribus Unum.”

Northern Plains Speaker’s Staff
probably Sioux
Ash with brass tacks
Circa: 1840-1860
Size: 34 1/4" (h)
Beautifully designed with an
overall flat, lizard pattern—the
handle as stylized eagle talons.
Maintaining an exceptional
surface.

Eastern Woodlands Ash Burl Maple Syrup Ladle
Ash burl
Circa: 1800-1820
Size: 40" (oal)
Dark patina exhibiting an extensive use history.

Tattoo You, You and You
San Francisco Bay Area
Reverse painting on glass, paper
Circa: late 1980’s-early 1990’s
Size: 20" (w) x 10 1/2" (h) (sight)
Provenance: Aarne Anton, Peter Brams

Rare Stoneware Monkey Spill Vase
Signed “H. Stell”
York County, Pennsylvania
Circa: 1860-1870
Size: 7" (h) x 6" (w)
Provenance: Robert Girourd, Peter Brams
Henry Stell appears in the 1850 census as
being a potter and living with the Knisely
family.

Maple Burl Civil War Folk Art Carved Pipe,
“The Union and The Constitution Must & Shall
be Preserved”
Circa: 1864
Size: 6" (w) x 3 1/2" (h)
Provenance: Norman Flayderman
A massive pipe with bold, high relief carvings
of crossed cannons and guns with a heart
centered above a star. “The Union and Constitution
Must & Shall be Preserv’d” frames the
upper most part of the pipe, while the owners
initials, “MB” are carved below.

"A Woman's Touch"
Folk Art Carved & Painted Cane
Circa: 1860
Size: 33 1/4" (oal)
The whole in high relief—a large
bird's claw, followed by acorns
wrapped with a rose, which leads to
a woman's forearm and hand, a
rattlesnake wraps a branch and then
another rose, and a turtle near the
end.

The Family Homestead
Folk Art Painted Tintype
Circa: 1870
Size: +/- 7" x 10" (outsized)
Unusual for the amount of people
within one tintype and for being outside
of the studio. The folk art painting over
it, with the symmetrically placed
flowers in the foreground is great.

Circus Cherub
Circa: 1880
Size: 14" (w) x 25" (h)
Provenance: Frederick Fried, Frank Maresca,
Peter Brams
A fragment of a circus wagon figure made
more mysterious and artful through
incidence and age.

Deco Diva
Mahogany
Circa: 1920-1930
Size: 11" (h)
Provenance: Marvill Collection

Yosemite
Signed: “A. Gomer”
Oil on masonite
Circa: 1940-1950
Size: 23 1/2" (w) x 14 1/4" (h)
Provenance: Peter Brams

Rare Ash Burl Reversible Tazza/Bowl
Ash burl
Circa: 1720-1740
Size: 13" (d) x 4" (h)
A recent discovery of an early, undocumented
form. An ingenious two-for-one—a tazza for
serving cheese or pie on one side and when
flipped over a bowl for fruit or nuts.

The Unknown Soldier
Folk Art Painted Tintype
Circa: 1861-1865
Size: +/- 7" x 10" (outsized)
A striking portrait of an Union soldier.

Steven Powers (1968 -)
Broken Branches
Oil on panel
2017
Size: 11" (h) x 14" (w)

Steven Powers (1968 -)
Broken Branches II
Oil on panel
2017
Size: 11" (h) x 14" (w)

S T E V E N S . P O W E R S
W A L K T H E
W A L K
T H E
T A L K
T A L K
PHILADELPHIA ANTIQUES & ART SHOW
A P R I L 2 1 - 2 3 , 2 0 1 7
W O R K S O F
A R T
& a m e r i c a n a
360 Court Street #28, Brooklyn, NY 11231 | 718.625.1715 or 917.518.0809 | stevenspowers.com | member: ADA