This groundbreaking book, the most comprehen-sive survey ever assembled, takes America's richheritage of vernacular art out of the antiques arenaand the specialty museum and into today's artworld. A book that crosses over conventional arthistorical categories, American Vernacular presentshundreds of newly identified and never beforepublished objects, from carnival figures to reli-gious totems, from antique trade signs to the mostspectacular examples of carved canes.

This groundbreaking book, the most comprehen-sive survey ever assembled, takes America's richheritage of vernacular art out of the antiques arenaand the specialty museum and into today's artworld. A book that crosses over conventional arthistorical categories, American Vernacular presentshundreds of newly identified and never beforepublished objects, from carnival figures to reli-gious totems, from antique trade signs to the mostspectacular examples of carved canes. The bookreveals the powerful strains of imagination thathave shaped the American visual landscape andcontinue to nourish cutting-edge artists today.

Authors Frank Maresca and Roger Ricco have longbeen leaders in the effort to transform critical andpopular understanding of vernacular art. Theirearlier books American Primitive and American Self-Taught laid the groundwork for the current waveof interest in the subject. With the publicationof American Vernacular, the authors celebrate theemergence of vernacular art as a significant forcein the wider contemporary art scene today.

Preface by Frank Maresca and Roger Ricco

Introduction by Margit Rowell

Essay by Joseph Jacobs

ANIMALS AND DECOYS

CANES

CARNIVAL AND CIRCUS FIGURES

FIGURES AND FACES

RELIGION AND SYMBOLISM

SELF-TAUGHT AND OUTSIDER

TRADE STIMULATORS

UTILITARIAN

WEATHER VANES AND WHIRLIGIGS

Acknowledgments

Photography Credits

Collections

Biographies

Index of Artists