Amidst the political and economic landscape of the early 20th century, “outsider” artists – those with no formal training, often marginalized in some way from society – turned ordinary objects into decorative art.
John Morgan is curator of "Anonymous American." More photosThe mostly unsigned works became known as trench, tramp and prison art. So called because they are popularly attributed to soldiers, hobos and inmates, the artists didn’t always rightly belong to those groups. Still, perhaps they did have something in common.
“When people have time and nothing to do they create,” posits John Morgan, Sweet Briar College assistant professor of studio art. “The other thing is I totally believe there’s an artist in everybody.”
Morgan, a longtime collector, is curating an exhibit of folk, tramp, trench and prison art. Many of the works are from his own collection and that of SBC art professor Joe Monk. Each piece is from the outsider tradition, most by unnamed artists. “Anonymous America” opens Sept. 7 and runs through Dec. 3 in SBC’s Anne Gary Pannell Art Gallery. Admission is free and open to the public. There will be a reception and gallery talk with Morgan from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Sept. 14.
The exhibit also includes quilts, several belonging to nationally known quilt historian Merikay Waldvogel, who will be at Pannell Gallery from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 21 for "
A Quilt Road Show."
Morgan also collects quilts, particularly contemporary crazy quilts and similar forms that take random turns in their designs. Nonconformity is one of the qualities that drew him to collect hundreds of pieces of tramp, trench and prison art over the past 25 years.
“The interesting thing to me as a trained artist was the kind of imagery they used, the rawness of the work, and also the unusual use of the material,” Morgan said.
Tramp artists carved geometric shapes from discarded cigar boxes or fruit crates, gluing them together into ornate boxes, picture frames and furniture. Although widely associated with hobos who exchanged their works for meals and lodging, most tramp art is more likely the work of itinerant “chip” carvers.
Although trench warfare in World War I gave rise to the term trench art, it was civilian artisans and soldiers behind the lines, convalescing from wounds, or in enemy prison camps who fashioned artillery shell casings into beautifully decorated lamps or vases.
Prisoners passed countless hours gluing burnt wooden matchsticks into veneers over found wood to decorate items such as table tops or jewelry boxes. “They’re very elaborate and, what would be the word? Obsessive,” Morgan said.
His collection also includes colorful boxes and purses that prisoners wove out of cigarette packs.
Morgan, who has an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, is a painter and spent two years as a U.S. Army illustrator. He also does assemblages in shadow boxes and is always on the hunt for found objects at flea markets and antique shops. On these trips he still finds outsider art to add to his collection, he says.
“I was at Lynchburg Flea Market and I found two beautiful pieces of trench art,” he said recently, noting it survives for a reason. “Just like the tramp and [prison] art, when you have a movement like that, the good stuff, the really beautiful stuff people keep, and the stuff that’s bad ends up in a fireplace, so when you come across a piece it’s usually a pretty nice piece.”
Among the folk art works in “Anonymous America” are carved figurines, “memory jugs,” metal-worked figures, dolls and more.
Gallery hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday through Friday with evening hours until 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. For more information or to schedule a tour, contact the director of SBC galleries at
rmlane@sbc.edu or (434) 381-6248.
Prisoners painstakingly glued burnt matchsticks into elaborate veneers to decorate boxes and other items.
Geometrical designs are often found in tramp art, as in these “chip-carved” wooden boxes.
