OAK PARK, IL.- On Thursday, August 12, Toomey & Co. Auctioneers will conduct its first ever Folk, Outsider & Self-Taught Art + Americana sale with over 250 lots featuring ceramics, woodcarvings, sculpture, paintings, drawings, prints, collages, quilts, and more. A range of works by notable artists in these overlapping fields will be presented in the auction, with a large offering of property from the Collection of Governor Jim Thompson (Chicago, Illinois).

Toomey & Co.’s Aron Packer, Senior Specialist for Contemporary & Outsider Art, is acting as Head of Sale and brings decades of experience curating this genre of material. Vice President & Senior Specialist John P. Walcher helped to bring in material and compose the auction. Logistical details for the sale and bidding instructions are provided below the highlights.

Highlights of Folk, Outsider & Self-Taught Art + Americana on August 12

Folk Art & Americana

The auction boasts three impressive, late-19th century stoneware items from Southern Illinois’ Anna Pottery / Wallace & Cornwall Kirkpatrick: a Centennial jug (estimate $30,000-50,000) and two pig flasks (each $3,000-5,000). In addition to Folk landscapes, still lifes, and portraits from the 19th and early 20th centuries, the sale has a circa 1802 silk on silk needlework picture designed and painted by Samuel Folwell and worked by Anna Greer, showing members of the Greer-Wray family of Philadelphia in a landscape with mausoleum ($8,000-12,000).

Woodcarvings include two by Carl Hallstammar, including one of Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, as well as Emil Janel’s realistic Bodybuilder and an American Folk Art over life-size Native American figure (highest $1,500-2,500). Other woodworking of note consists of a marquetry pedestal with a hinged lid and an array of figurative adornments, a tall case clock with pyrography, a fretwork Black Forest Medieval building facade, and various Tramp Art “Crown of Thorns” frames (highest $1,500-2,500). On the whimsical side, the auction has a Snap Wyatt sideshow banner, American Folk Art tattoo flash drawings, and stamp collages by O.P. Lodmell (highest $1,500-2,500).

Throughout the sale, there are several Americana lots, in particular, some patriotic and military themed items from Governor Thompson’s collection: a WWII figural group of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima, Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeves, a pair of Liberty bookends, a WWI needlework of the American flag, Naval ephemera from the U.S.S. Illinois, and a Civil War-era carved wooden mirror with an eagle, flags, and shield (highest $800-1,200). Another quintessentially American art form represented is quilting, with a diverse regional selection up for bid in varying styles (highest $300-500).

Folk, Outsider & Self-Taught Art

Several Folk/Outsider works from Chicago are on offer in the auction, including drawings and paintings from two beloved street artists: portraits and still lifes from self-proclaimed French Impressionist Lee Godie (highest $3,000-5,000) and perspective renderings of the Chicago skyline from underground musician Wesley Willis (highest $1,000-2,000). Along with two molding sand sculptures, Mr. Imagination has three mixed media compositions in the sale; his Memory Shoe and policeman Wilbur Rouson’s Memory Assemblage are both impressive versions of Memoryware (higher $600-800). William Dawson also has two found object sculptures in the auction plus five paintings (highest $1,000-2,000).

Many Folk/Outsider works from the Midwest and South are also in the sale. African-American artists include: Ohio’s Elijah Pierce with a carved wood Buzzard with Chicks sculpture ($800-1,200); Mississippi blues musician James “Son Ford” Thomas with a Head of a Man bust ($1,000-2,000); Louisiana’s Clementine Hunter with a female portrait ($3,000-5,000), David Butler with two painted tin yard art lots (higher $500-700), Prophet Royal Robertson with four mixed media drawings (each $1,000-2,000), and Willie White with three marker on paper drawings (each $300-500); Alabama’s Jimmy Lee Sudduth and Mose Tolliver with multiple wood panel paintings (highest $1,000-2,000); and Miami’s Purvis Young with three works (highest $1,500-2,500). White Southern Folk/Outsider Art in the auction is led by 15 lots from Georgia Baptist minister and celebrity artist Howard Finster, two signs from Missouri’s Jesse Howard, and drawings by West Virginia railroad man S.L. Jones (highest $1,000-2,000).

Work by Chicago self-taught artists in the auction includes: Tony Fitzpatrick’s mixed media drawing with collage, The Oil Beast; two drawings by Charles Steffen; three works by Lee Groban; and a carved pyrography frame with painting on board by Polish immigrant Bruno Sowa (highest $2,000-3,000). Other Illinois self-taught artists in the sale are Stephen Warde Anderson, Eileen Doman, and George Colin. The auction has two oil paintings by Milwaukee’s Bernard Gilardi (higher $1,500-2,500), whose celebrity collectors include Maurizio Cattelan, David Byrne and Fred Armisen. Finally, works on paper from Georgia’s eccentric St. EOM and Sweden’s Mana Lagerholm will be available (highest $600-800).

Preview and Bidding with Toomey & Co. Auctioneers

Folk, Outsider & Self-Taught Art + Americana on Thursday, August 12 will start at 12:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time. The sale will be held at Toomey & Co. Auctioneers, 818 North Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois. Preview runs from Thursday, August 5 through Thursday, August 12. Those who wish to preview or attend the auction in person must make an appointment by emailing info@toomeyco.com; virtual preview is available by request. Clients are required to wear masks on the premises regardless of vaccination status. Bidders may also participate by phone (708-383-5234) or leave absentee bids (info@toomeyco.com). The catalog is posted online at toomeyco.com and early registration is recommended. Alternatively, bids may be placed via two real-time, third-party platforms (LiveAuctioneers and Invaluable).

Upcoming Auctions and Consignments

Toomey & Co. Auctioneers will close its summer schedule with two sales: Modern Design + Post-War & Contemporary Art on Thursday, August 26 and Fine Art + Furniture & Decorative Arts on Wednesday, September 15. Consignments are now invited for upcoming auctions.