The Painted Screens of Baltimore

An Urban Folk Art Revealed

Elaine Eff

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Hardback

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English

University Press of Mississippi
30 October 2013

History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900; Folk art

Series: Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World Series

Painted screens have long been synonymous in the popular imagination with the Baltimore row house. Picturesque, practical, and quirky, window and door screens adorned with scenic views simultaneously offer privacy and ventilation in crowded neighborhoods. As an urban folk art, painted screens flourished in Baltimore, though they did not originate there--precursors date to early eighteenth-century London. They were a fixture on fine homes and businesses in Europe and America throughout the Victorian era. But as the handmade screen yielded to industrial production, the whimsical artifact of the elite classes was suddenly transformed into an item for mass consumption. Historic examples are now a rarity, but in Baltimore the folk art is still very much alive.

The Painted Screens of Baltimore takes a first look at this beloved icon of one major American city through the words and images of dozens of self-taught artists who trace their creations to the capable and unlikely brush of one Bohemian immigrant, William Oktavec. In 1913, this corner grocer began a family dynasty inspired generations of artists who continue his craft to this day. The book examines the roots of painted wire cloth, the ethnic communities where painted screens have been at home for a century, and the future of this art form.

By: Elaine Eff
Imprint: University Press of Mississippi
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 254mm, Width: 254mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 1.597kg
ISBN: 9781617038914
ISBN 10: 1617038911
Series: Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World Series
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 30 October 2013
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Elaine Eff, Baltimore, Maryland, is the authority on painted screens. A curator and filmmaker, she has chronicled and conserved living culture as the folklorist for the city of Baltimore and the State of Maryland.

Reviews for The Painted Screens of Baltimore: An Urban Folk Art Revealed

The Painted Screens of Baltimore: An Urban Folk Art Revealed is a stunningly beautiful book that traces the history of painted screens in Baltimore. Elaine Eff profiles three generations of screen painters and lovingly shows how these artists crafted a unique identity for their city. Eff's majestic portrait of a city, its people, and their art will forever stand as a model study for the fields of American art and folklore. -William Ferris, author of The Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists An un-ironic (thank God) treasure-trove of amazingly researched information that elevates the most Balto-centric one-time row house kitsch to its proper place in art history. -John Waters