The Gladstone Collection of Baseball

30 SUMMER 2003 FOLK ART By Elizabeth V. Warren f the more than one hundred works of art displayed in the exhibition "The Perfect Game: America Looks at Baseball," and illustrated in the accompanying books,' approximately a third of the objects are identified with the credit line, The Gladstone Col- lection of Baseball Art. By far the most prominent assemblage of its type, the Gladstone Collection is the result of Millie and Bill Gladstone's lifelong love of baseball, their passion for art (especially folk art), and more than thirty years of very spe- cialized collecting together. Millie and Bill Gladstone SUMMER 2003 FOLK ART 31 UNTITLED (African-American baseball game) Artist unidentified United States c. 1930 Oil on canvas 16 23/12" As the Gladstones are both their collection is composed of three WOMAN'S HAIR COMB WITH natives of Brooklyn, it is not surpris- parts: paintings and sculpture by fine BASEBALL MOTIF ing that their first baseball art pur- artists, folk art, and important histori- Maker unidentified United States chases featured the Dodgers. "We cal baseball memorabilia (particularly c. 1870 started collecting in 1971," Bill material related to Brooklyn teams). Carved horn x 7/14 x recalls. "Millie saw an article in The Asking the Gladstones to iden- 7/12 Y." New York Times one Sunday about an tify a few favorite works of folk art in art gallery on Long Island that was their collection engenders some lively showing cartoons by Willard Mullin, discussion. After much give-and-take the man who created the 'Dodger and compromises on both sides, the Bum' character. So we packed up the eight objects illustrated here were kids and drove out there and bought selected for both aesthetic and senti- three cartoons."2 mental reasons. A visit to the Baseball Hall of The Boy with Ball and Bat is a Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, mutual first choice. The painting is New York (where Bill now serves as not only the oldest work of folk art in an active member of the Board of the collection (dated 1844), but it is Directors), introduced the Gladstones also the oldest known baseball paint- to the work of artist Dick Perez and ing. It was found by Millie at the to Frank Steele, co-owners of the White Plains Antiques Show seven- Perez-Steele art gallery, near teen years ago. Bill was on a business Philadelphia. Bill and Millie pur- trip at the time, but Millie had the chased all of the Perez paintings that dealer hold the painting until he could depicted Dodgers in the Hall of make it back so they could see it lc Fame, and went on to form a relation- together. r; 5 ship with Steele that would help The bat and ball may have shape their buying habits. From been painter's props (similar to the -Is Steele they learned that there was more commonly seen whips, hoops, more to baseball collecting than and pull toys that were often used to memorabilia, and they began to look indicate male gender in American for older, aesthetically pleasing folk portraiture); they do not neces- objects that they could afford. Today, sarily indicate that the child was actu- 32 SUMMER 2003 FOLK ART ally proficient at baseball, but they do entryway to the Gladstones' home a private residence in Northboro, show that the sport was common and serves as an introduction to the Massachusetts. enough for its symbols to be instantly collection inside. The Gladstones' acquisition of recognizable in a likeness. The Mandana Ball's Family Regis- the iconic Baseball Player Show Fig- painter probably had some artistic ter is another mid-nineteenth-century ure by Samuel Anderson Robb has training, but he could not be consid- work that depicts children with the already been detailed in this publica- ered a successful academic artist. By accoutrements of baseball. In a witty tion.3 Formerly in the collection of the time this picture was painted in play on the family name, fourteen- the Whitney Museum of American 1844, photography had been intro- year-old Mandana showed children Art, it is now a promised gift to the duced in America, and folk por- playing a ball game in front of a American Folk Art Museum and was traitists, who served mainly the sturdy brick structure while sur- included in the "American Anthem: middle class, were rapidly losing rounded by cartouches containing the Masterworks from the American Folk commissions to daguerreotypists. In names of all the Balls, including a Art Museum" exhibition as well as commissioning this painting, how- brother who died in infancy. The the National Gallery's recent show of ever, the boy's parents were buying Gladstones, who found the painting objects illustrated in the Index of what could not be provided by through an advertisement in the New- American Design. photographs of the time: size, color, town Bee, later tracked down Man- It has not been determined BASEBALL GAME WHIRLIGIG Artist unidentified and a work of art that would com- dana's family genealogy as well as whether the batter represented in this United States mand an important place in their par- the building shown in the center of sculpture was meant to be a generic Early twentieth century lor. The painting now hangs in the the register. The house still stands as ballplayer or a specific hero. Cer- Carved and painted wood with metal hardware 45 38'/z 22/12" • 4(ovviooty, ISCV L'L VrIeb 7,161. it, ELMINAS OSeAR1K RA LL 6r, y /S34 ikazde_ 4- igj6 Vt$ WARREN D .122.bkr_DAWA ad hr., 1.44-1 Z ,A IS'ON" /f.t,.26 • fr 43. 34 SUMMER 2003 FOLK ART tainly the face of the carving bears a strong resemblance to contemporary photographs of Michael J. "King" Kelly, the most popular player of the FAMILY REGISTER 1880s, and among the first to maxi- Mandana Ball (1841-1928) as Northboro, Massachusetts mize his popularity off the field 1855 well as on. In addition to the then Watercolor, pen and ink, and unheard-of salary of $2,000 that he tinsel on paper 14/12 12" earned in 1887 from the Boston Beaneaters, Kelly's contract also specified that he would receive $3,000 for the use of his picture.4 Samuel Robb (1851-1928) was one of the most well known and accomplished of the many nineteenth-century carvers of what are often called trade or Cigar Store figures. Like many show figure manu- facturers of his era, Robb was descended from a family of ship- carvers. As the demand for ships' figureheads and other decorations waned in the middle of the nineteenth century, the artisans turned to creating the herds of show figures that once populated urban streets. Robb trained with two other well- regarded carvers, Thomas Brooks and William Demuth, before open- ing his own workshop in 1876. He also received instruction in drawing at Cooper Union in New York City.5 Because this carving had been inscribed with Robb's name and address on the original wheeled base (which permitted the figure to be rolled indoors at night), it can be reliably attributed to the famed carver and dated to between 1888 and 1903, when Robb had a workshop at 114 Centre Street. Unfortu- nately, no such information can be attached to the small (fifteen inches tall) carving known affectionately by the Gladstones as "smiling" Base- ball Player because of the grin of pure happiness that enhances the figure's face. Possibly meant to be used as a countertop display, perhaps for a sporting goods store, the Glad- stones found the sculpture through the hard work ofcollecting—in this case, by contacting dealers who BASEBALL PLAYER specialize in folk art to ask whether Artist unidentified baseball material. They United States they had any c. 1910 were attracted to the piece partly Carved wood because its attenuated lines and x 6 x 3/12" 15 simple form reminded them of the work of early-twentieth-century sculptor Elie Nadelman, himself a collector of American folk art. SUMMER 2003 FOLK ART 35 While they have not been able tesy of power provided by a blowing two pitchers and two runners sliding to purchase much art at baseball auc- breeze. When the wind turned the into base among the intricately carved tions, where the focus is on col- wooden blade on the side of the box, motifs. In the early days of organized BOY WITH BAT AND BALL lectibles and memorabilia, the an internal mechanism made the baseball, women were welcomed as Artist unidentified United States Gladstones have occasionally been turntable on the box's surface rotate. spectators by club owners who felt 1844 able to find baseball-related material This caused the batter to swing and that the presence of ladies would help Oil on canvas at Americana and folk art auctions. the players to run around the bases. curb the rowdiness of the crowds. 23/12 19" The Box Office Sign, for example, The untitled painting of an Women dressed for the occasion, and was purchased at the auction of a African-American baseball game is this hair comb, probably made some- prominent collection of American another work of art that the Glad- time in the 1870s, was no doubt folk art held at Sotheby's in New stones had known about for a number meant to enhance a lady's baseball- York City. of years before they were able to buy viewing outfit. The sign painter, who included it. A poignant and important reminder The Gladstones put most of his name, Theo I.

Load more