The carver's art at the ship's prow: a superbly illustrated new book rescues the figurehead sculptor's legacy from the misnomer of 'folk art'.(The Shipcarver's Art: Figureheads and Cigar-Store Indians in Nineteenth-Century America)(Book review)

From: Apollo | Date: February 1, 2006| Author: Hunter, Richard | Copyright information

The Shipcarver's Art: Figureheads and Cigar-store Indians in Nineteenth-Century America

RALPH SESSIONS

Princeton University Press, $75

ISBN 0 691 12081 1

On both sides of the Atlantic, commercial figureheads, cigar-store carvings and showground figures have for far too long been dismissed under the category 'folk-art', giving the impression of an unsophisticated and naive art form. In his new book, Ralph Sessions has finally put this mi...