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FRIDAY OCTOBER 14, 2022 • VOL. 52, NO. 41
“Hear Me Now: The Black Potters Of Old Edgefield, South Carolina” Now Open At The Met Important Exhibition Adds Great Insight To Ceramics Field The landmark exhibition “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina” recently opened at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Focusing on the work of African American potters in the19th-century American South, in dialogue with contemporary artistic responses, the exhibition presents approximately 50 ceramic objects from Old Edgefield District, South Carolina, a center of stoneware production in the decades before the Civil War. It will include monumental storage jars by enslaved potter and poet David Drake, alongside rare examples of the region’s utilitarian wares, as well as enigmatic face vessels whose makers were unrecorded. Considered through the lens of current scholarship in the fields of history, literature, anthropology, material culture, diaspora, and African American studies, these vessels testify to the lived experiences, artistic agency, and material knowledge of the enslaved peoples of this area. The exhibition is made possible by Kathryn Ploss Salmanowitz, The Met’s Fund for Diverse Art Histories, the Terra Foundation for American Art, Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, and the Henry Luce Foundation. It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “As the first exhibition from The Met’s American Wing to highlight the work of enslaved makers, this project marks a pivotal moment in the museum’s efforts to tell a more inclusive and expansive story of
This work by Dave (later recorded as David Drake, ca. 1801–1870s), Stony Bluff Manufactory (ca. 1848–67), Old Edgefield District, South Carolina jug, 1853, alkalineglazed stoneware, H. 14. in. (37.5 cm) is inscripted “Lm / June 10 1853,” courtesy of collection of Glenn Ligon.
artistic expression, both past and present. These remarkable vessels help tell untold histories, while also raising complex questions regarding the collecting, display, and interpretation of objects made by enslaved individuals,” said Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met. “Displayed alongside the 19th-century works are contemporary works that reflect the spirit of, or were directly inspired by, Edgefield traditions. Taken together, along with the scholarly publication, audio guide, and upcoming public programs, this exhibition celebrates the creative practices of all artists on display as enduring tools of communication and activism.”
population and was inextricably linked to the demands of a lucrative plantation economy. “Hear Me Now” sheds light on the many contributions and lived experiences of the hundreds of men, women, and children who labored within slavery’s system of oppression by presenting a fuller picture of the region’s
Haddon Heights To Celebrate Halloween Attention all lovers of Halloween! The time has come to visit the Haddon Heights Antiques Center to check out the October special sales display featuring vintage Halloween and assorted spooky delights. Rivaling only Christmas with the number of dedicated collectors, Halloween is a holiday that blends nostalgia for childhood memories of dressing in costume to collect candy and a certain fascination for all things creepy and scary. Shoppers will find a little of both in the sales display. From happy jack o’lanterns and not-so-scary ghosts to menacing witches and werewolves, there will The work of an unrecorded potter, probably Thomas M. Chandler Jr. (1810-1854), Phoenix Stone Ware Factory (ca. 1840), Old Edgefield District, South Carolina watercooler, ca. 1840, alkaline-glazed stoneware with iron and kaolin slip, H. 31 1/4 in (79.4 cm), is in the collection of the High Museum of Art (1996.132), photo by Michael McKelvey/courtesy of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga.
s t o n e w a r e production. The exhibition opens with a display of 12 monumental masterpieces by Edgefield’s bestknown artist, David Drake, The work of an unrecorded potter, Old Edgefield known as Dave, District, South Carolina, face jug, ca. 1850–70, alka- who signed, line-glazed stoneware with kaolin, H. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 dated, and incised cm), courtesy of The Chipstone Foundation (2012.3), verses on many of photo by Gavin Ashworth. his jars, even though literacy among enslaved people was crimiExhibition Overview In the decades before the Civil nalized at the time. The verses bear War, a successful alkaline-glazed witness to the joys, traumas, and stoneware industry developed in lived experience of enslavement, Old Edgefield District, a clay-rich echoing the prose of abolitionists area in the western most part of such as Frederick Douglass and South Carolina. From the begin- Harriet Jacobs. Among the highlights is a selecning, enslaved African Americans were involved with all aspects of tion of 19 regional face vessels, this labor-intensive industry. The ceramic vessels embellished with stoneware they made, durable, hand-modeled facial features in impervious, utilitarian vessels of high relief. Also referred to as face varying sizes and forms essential jugs, the emergence of these vesfor food preparation and storage, sels coincides roughly with the supported the area’s expanding 1858 arrival of a slave ship illegally
transporting more than 400 captive Africans, some 50 years after the transatlantic slave trade had been outlawed in the United States. More than 100 of these individuals were sent to Edgefield, where many were put to work in the potteries. Growing evidence suggests that this late arrival of captive Africans served as a catalyst in the re-emergence of African-inspired art, religion, and culture in the region. Face vessels bear a close resemblance to minkisi, or ritual objects, which were important in West-Central African religious practices where ritual experts used kaolin as a sacred substance to facilitate communication between the living and the dead. Kaolin inserts are found in Edgefield face vessels, suggesting similar spiritual meanings. Speaking to Edgefield’s continued resonance, and offering connections to an otherwise fragmented past, the contemporary pieces in “Hear Me Now” include works by Black artists who have responded to or whose practice resonates with the Edgefield story, such as Simone Continued on page 4
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Simple Goods Early Country Antiques And Primitive Goods Show Set For Nov. 5 Country Show Takes Place In Berlin, Ohio The Simple Goods Early Country and Primitive Goods Show is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Heritage Community Center located at 3558 U.S. Route 62 in Berlin, Ohio. The show consists of over 50 booths. All Continued on page 11
In This Issue SHOPS, SHOWS & MARKETS . . . . . . . . . starting on page 3 SHOPS DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . on page 4 EVENT & AUCTION CALENDAR . on page 6 AUCTIONEER DIRECTORY . . . . on page 6 AUCTION SALE BILLS . . starting on page 7
FEATURE RESULTS: Horst Auctioneers September 17 Sale - Page 2
CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . .on page 11