Encyclopedia of American Folk Art Available to Purchase

The phrase “American folk art” conjures up in my mind a painting called The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks, which I know was inspired by a famous prophetic text of Isaiah. I learn here that Hicks (1780‐1849) was a Pennsylvanian Quaker and carriage painter by trade, whose artwork was rediscovered in the 1930s. In his lifetime Hicks executed over 60 versions of The Peaceable Kingdom. In later versions an element of tension is introduced by the rather troubled facial expressions of the animals, which experts have seen as indicative of deep divisions within the American Society of Friends, which...