Con Carino: Mexican Folk Art [2 volumes, signed]

Oettinger Jr, Marion

Published by San Antonio Museum of Art, 1986

About this Item

CON CARINO: MEXICAN FOLK ART, Marion Oettinger Jr, softcover, English language volume is illustrated with color and B/W photos, Spanish language version is text only, 1986. BOOK CONDITION: fine. The text block in both volumes is in fine condition with no tears, marks, or dog-ears. There is no bookplate nor signature of a prior owner. The author wrote an inscription and signed it on the title page (dated 1986). There is also a letter from the author included. This is not a library book nor a remainder. The wraps are in fine condition and simulate the bark paper (amate) from San Pablito, Puebla. 11 x 8 ½ and 10 ¾ x 7, 69 and 37 pages, 15 ounces together. XX [From the foreword] Folk Art is a useful term, but not a very precise one. It is used to denote a multitude of man-made objects whose functions are usually, but not always, known and by both named artists and anonymous ones. It comes from cultural traditions long past and from others that flourish in the contemporary world. It is claimed as the province of anthropologists, folklorists, archaeologists as well as art historians. It is treasured by some museums, abhorred by others, and shunned by many people raised on the dubious notion that there is High Art on the one hand, and Folk Art on the other. In the United States the Museum of Modern Art, which does not collect folk art, was among the earliest art museums to exhibit it. African, Oceanic, and Pre-Columbian folk art is collected avidly by many art museums today (although they may not call it folk art), but the folk art of post-conquest Latin America and North America is widely considered to be of questionable acceptability. Likewise, many pieces of early American furniture and other household items produced in Colonial times and later is purely "folk," if by this we mean objects made within a domestic setting by artisans trained outside a formalized system. During the past century the definition of art has broadened to encompass many classes of objects not formerly considered to be art. Indeed, serious critical attention given in recent years to new art forms such as performance art, minimal art, graffiti and other expressions, questions the very meaning of the term, art. No longer is the art object alone looked upon as the embodiment of artistic expression. Instead, the creative act itself and the artist's motivations become inextricable parts of the object. Moreover, contemporary criticism and art history have led us to "read" art objects from a different perspective in order to understand more fully and appreciate them. Viewing the object as a cultural artifact within a cultural context and with an understanding of its peculiar aesthetic (frequently quite different from our own), give us some of the aids required to appreciate more fully art that is foreign to our experience. By accepting folk art into our collections and featuring it with respect among time-honored collections of European, American, and Asian art, the San Antonio Museum of Art has taken a step chosen by very few art museums. We have done this with a resolve expressing our conviction that the aesthetic value of these objects and the creative genius they embody entitle them to the same level of acceptance and respectability we afford a Bierstadt painting, a Ming blue-and-white vase, a Jaina figurine, or a Texas quilt. We also believe that people benefit in many ways by expanding their visual horizons. Seller Inventory # 001614

Bibliographic Details

Title: Con Carino: Mexican Folk Art [2 volumes, ...

Publisher: San Antonio Museum of Art

Publication Date: 1986

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket

Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)