Bauernmalerei or Tole painting is the folk art of decorative painting on tin and wooden utensils, objects and furniture. Typical metal objects include utensils, coffee pots, and similar household items. Wooden objects include tables, chairs, and chests, including hope chests, toyboxes and jewelry boxes.
The practice began in 18th century New England, and was also extensively carried on among German immigrants in Pennsylvania. A separate, related tradition occurs among Scandinavian countries and immigrants, including Norwegians, Danes and Swedes. German tole painting may concentrate more on metal and tin objects, while Scandinavian may concentrate more on wooden objects and furniture. Patterns in the two traditions vary slightly as well.
Modern tole painting typically uses inexpensive, long-lasting and sturdy acrylic paints. Good quality wooden work is sealed, primed and sanded before the decorative paint is applied.
The most beloved family objects tend to be high quality utensils or furniture, painted freehand with favorite patterns, colors or flowers, humorous themes, family in-jokes, or illustrations of favorite or family stories. The perceived value of a tolled utensil increases with its quality as a utensil, the quality of the art, and the personalization, the story, of the work.
An advantage of tole painting as a craft is that a bad painting can be sanded off and repainted. One of the signs of such repaintings is a black-backgrounded tole-painted object. Very often such objects are repainted, especially if the furniture or utensil is valuable and the painter is inexperienced.
- Learn to paint Bavarian folk art.
- Peasant Painting techniques.
- Society of Decorative Artists.
Bauernmalerei Artists
A fraktur is both a style of lettering and a highly artistic and elaborate illuminated folk art created by the Pennsylvania Dutch (also known as Pennsylvania Deitsch or Pennsylvanian German). Most Fraktur were created between 1740 and 1860.
Fraktur drawings were executed in ink and/or watercolors and are found in a wide variety of forms: the Vorschriften (writing samples), the Taufscheine (birth and baptismal certificates), marriage and house blessings, book plates, and floral and figurative scenes. The earlier Fraktur were executed entirely by hand, while printed text became increasingly common in later examples. Common artistic motifs in Fraktur include birds, hearts, and tulips, as well as blackletter and italic calligraphy.
- Menno Simons commemorative fraktur
- A wedding certificate fraktur.
- Curriculum about frakturs for free at Nebraska Folk Life.
- Fraktur history in 1750 at Explore Pa History.
- Sample of a fraktur alphabet at Fountain Pen Network.
Fraktur Artists
Scherenschnitte (shear-n-SNIT- a) which means "scissor cuts" in German is the art papercutting design. The art work often has symmetry within the design, and common forms include silhouettes, valentines, and love letters. The art tradition was founded in Switzerland and Germany in the 1500s and was brought to Colonial America in the 1700s by immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania.
- The history of Scherenschitte at Crafts-America.
- Learn more about scherenschitte at the Landis Valley Museum.
Scherenschitte Artists
Video by or of Scherenschnitt Folk Artists
Tour The Folk Museums
Moravian Stars. (German: Hermhuter Stern) are illuminated peices of Advent or Christimas decoration popular in Germany and in places in America and Europe where there are Moravian congregations. The stars take their English name from the Moravian Church; in Germany, they are known as Herrnhut stars, named for the Moravian Mother Community in Saxony, Germany, where they were first commercially produced.
Stiegel glass. Henry William Stiegel (May 13, 1729, probably at Cologne-January 10, 1785) was a German-American glassmaker and ironmaster. After arriving in Philadelphia in 1750 on a ship known as the Nancy, Stiegel moved to what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. An active lay Lutheran and associate of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, he donated the land on which Lutheran church in Manheim, Pennsylvania is now built.
Pennsylvania German Tombstone Art. Headstones are markers, normally carved from stone, placed over or next to the site of a burial in a cemetery or elsewhere.
Traditional Dutch wooden shoes. These clogs are made out of many different species of wood (willow, poplar, birch, beech, alder wood). They are associated with the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden (though Swedish clogs do not resemble Dutch clogs) as part of the touristic "Holland"/Sweden image, where they are seen as a form of national dress. Because of this, Dutch people are sometimes called cloggies, that is, clog-wearers. In Dutch, clogs are known as klompen. The traditional, all wooden clogs have been officially labelled as safety shoes, passing European standards for the CE mark with flying colours. Today, Dutch clogs are available in many tourist shops. Wearing clogs is considered to be healthy for the feet. Despite that fact, the Dutch don't use them much anymore for everyday use, but clogs are still used by people working in their gardens, farms, and by planters
- History of Wooden Shoes
- Debbie Overton's Wooden Shoes
- The legend of the wooden shoe
- How to make wooden shoes
Painting or mounting "hexing signs" dates back to the pre-Christian era in Europe, when symbols and designs derived from or pertaining to the runes first appeared on buildings to invoke magical powers, either to hex or bring about good fortune. Over time, the practice took on several new meanings, especially as the number of those recognizing the old Germanic pagan religions declined; for some, the practice came to be about art and tradition; for others, the sign-creating was less-ritualistic, but still about "good luck", especially for those concerned with good fortune in crop cultivation.
Today, artfully painted octagonal or hexagonal star-like patterns are a well-known sight on Pennsylvania Dutch barns in central and eastern Pennsylvania, especially in Berks County, Lancaster County and Lehigh County. However, the modern decoration of barns is a late development in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art. Prior to the 1830s, the cost of paint meant that most barns were unpainted. As paint became affordable, the Pennsylvania Dutch began to decorate their barns much like they decorated items in their homes. Barn decorating reached its peak in the early 20th century, at which time there were many artists who specialized in barn decorating. Drawn from a large repertoire of folk designs, barn painters combined many elements in their decorations. The geometric patterns of quilts can easily be seen in the patterns of many hex signs. Hearts and tulips seen on barns are commonly found on elaborately lettered and decorated birth, baptism and marriage certificates known as Fraktur.
Throughout the 20th century, hex signs were often produced as commodities for the tourist industry in Pennsylvania. These signs could be bought and then mounted onto barns and used as household decorations. Jacob Zook of Paradise, Pennsylvania claimed to have originated the modern mountable sign in 1942, based on traditional designs, to be sold in souvenir gift shops to tourists along the Lincoln Highway. Today many talented craftsmen are creating Jacob Zook's Hex Signs and using modern day materials and manufacturing techniques to preserve the outdoor life and to enhance the beauty of the signs. Many of these signs are available on E-Bay as well as other Web Based Stores. Most of the artists are carrying on the symbol meanings originally painted by Jacob Zook on his Hex Signs; each representing a protection or establishment of some quality of life. For example a Dove represents Peace and Contentment or a Horse Head is used to Protect Animals from Disease and Building from Lightning.
In recent years, hex signs have come to be used by non-Pennsylvania Dutch persons as talismans for folk magic rather than as items of decoration. Some view the designs as decorative symbols of ethnic identification, possibly originating in reaction to 19th century attempts made by the government to suppress the Pennsylvania German language.
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2 comments:
Thanks for including me in your scherenschnitte artist List!
~Joe
Your welcome Joe! Thanks for sharing your lovely work with the internet community.
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