Date: Fri 18-Dec-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: SHIRLE

Quick Words:

Sloton

Full Text:

Folk Art Comes Into Its Own At Slotin w/cuts from disk

Rita Easton

BUFORD, GA. -- Following three preview sessions, a November 14 and 15 folk art

auction held by Slotin was hailed as the largest ever held selling folk art

exclusively. The event featured 650 lots, with 200 bidders in the audience in

addition to three and four phones busy at all times with absentees.

Held at the North Atlanta Trade Center, a party atmosphere prevailed, with

complimentary food and drinks. A record $375,000 was realized.

"We had to add extra phones because there was so much activity," auctioneer

Steve Slotin noted. "We had some top quality pieces by very important American

self-taught artists, and the good stuff sold for very good prices because

that's what people want to collect now. They want the masters. They want the

artists that are in the travelling folk art exhibits and the books. Bidders}

really aggressively tried to buy [those] works. "I would say that the buyers

were divided," he continued. "About half were dealers who will resell the

pieces, and the other half were collectors who'll hang onto them. This is

probably the best group ever put together for a folk art auction."

Slotin claimed the gross as "a new record in the folk art field."

Consignors included Chuck and Jan Rosenak, who are the authors of The

Encyclopedia of 20th Century Folk Art, a book which Slotin feels catapulted

the art to the popularity it enjoys now, and Dr A. Everette James, a major

collector of folk art.

The starring lot was a work by Thornton Dial, a large construction on canvas

measuring 60 by 48 inches, representing a naked woman with a tiger, bringing

$10,000.

Two plaques by Elijah Pierce went to the same buyer at $9,000 and $8,000; a

Howard Finster rendering of a symbolic scene, a boot next to a ragged tree

stump and an axe, four feet wide, reached $9,500; and a rare framed carved

wood ram by Ulysses Davis, with typical "sparkles" scattered on the surface,

with dimensions of 14 by 12 inches sold at $6,000.

Clementine Hunter's work was represented with several pieces, ranging from

$2,700 to $3,300; and Georgia potter Lanier Meaders' important double-face

rock tooth jug with two handles realized $3,000, while a single-sided example

reached $2,000, going to a private buyer.

Slotin's is the first auction ever to offer the work of deceased

Spanish-American artist Felipe Archuleta. A 27 inch high by 66 inches long

wood carving of a leopard by Archuleta brought $7,000; a 17 by 14 inches

rendering of angels by Sister Gertrude Morgan sold at $5,500, while a

fan-shaped work by the same artist featuring an image of a bear went out at

$4,500; and a Steve Ashby ten by ten inch wood carving and found materials of

a woman serenely sitting on a toilet garnered $5,500.

A large, carved wood, 18 inches high Uncle Sam by Edgar Tolson realized

$5,000; and four Eddie Arning pieces, all approximately 21 by 16 inches,

ranged from $3,500 to $3,750.

"Arning spent time in a mental hospital," Slotin noted, "and he read

magazines; he would paint paintings from the advertisement. We actually have

the exact ads that he copied in paintings, and historical information to go

with them."

Prices quoted do not reflect a required ten percent buyers premium.