American Perspectives

Everyone has stories to tell from both the private and mutual experiences encountered throughout their lifetime. American folk and self-taught artists capture these stories in powerful visual narratives that offer firsthand testimonies to chapters in the unfolding story of America from its inception to the present. 

American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection showcases over 80 stellar works of folk and self-taught art. Beautiful, diverse, and truthful; the art illuminates the thoughts and experiences of individuals with an immediacy that is palpable and unique to these expressions. American Perspectives includes assemblages, needlework, paintings, pottery, quilts, and sculpture; these artworks held meaning in the makers’ worlds filtered through their own perceptions.​

The artworks are organized into four sections—Founders, Travelers, Philosophers, and Seekers—that respond to such themes as nationhood, freedom, community, imagination, opportunity, and legacy. Evocative visual juxtapositions and accessible contextual information further reveal the vital role that folk art plays as a witness to history, carrier of cultural heritage, and a reflection of the world at large through the eyes, heart, and mind of the artist.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Image credit: The Comfort of Moses and the Ten Commandments, 1988, Richard Dial. The collection of the American Folk Art Museum, NYC NY