An unparalleled introduction to American folk art, accompanying a major traveling exhibition. A handsome and insightful survey of American folk art, this book includes paintings, sculptures, furniture, and household objects made by untrained—or minimally trained—folk artists in New England, the Midwest, and the South between 1800 and the 1920s. This richly illustrated volume includes rare and very fine portraits, radiant still lifes and landscapes, a mature version of The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks, playful animal sculptures and trade signs, and ornately painted German American furniture. With newly researched texts by leading scholars, this publication makes an important contribution to the field. "The message of the introductory essay by Richard Miller, a former curator at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Williamsburg, Virginia, is that the complete story of American art has not been told because folk art, the vernacular art of the common man, has been ignored by art historians and relegated to the last galleries in museums after the story of mainstream academic American art has been told. The author points out that more vernacular art than mainstream art was produced. The essays and the catalog entries put the collection in context, giving facts of the artists’ lives and footnoting the research that has identified an artist’s hand or regional traditions. The catalog provides an armchair tour, with thought-provoking essays and an informative catalog that footnotes sources of the latest research.” –Antique Digest

"[A Shared Legacy] focuses on the folk art of New England and the Midwest from 1800 to 1925. Carousel animals, illustrated family histories, a sculpture of a smoking lady once outside a tobacco shop, and a huge set of carved wooden dentures made to advertise a dentist are among the objects on view. . ."
-HYPER ALLERGIC