Pennsylvania: 1940s. Original drawing on ruled notebook paper (194 x 124 mm = 7.6" x 5") preserved in 11" x 14" frame with museum glass and 8-ply archival mat (edges frayed and with some light browning as is true with almost all surviving examples of this artist's work). Very good. Item #4448

EMBLEMATIC AMERICAN OUTSIDER ART, CREATED BY A "VILLAGE WITCH," A TOTAL RECLUSE WHO EXISTED IN COMPLETE ANONYMITY ON THE EXTREME FRINGES OF SOCIETY.

YEARS AFTER HER DEATH, IN THE ABANDONED HOUSE IN WHICH SHE HAD LIVED FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS -- WITHOUT ELECTRICITY OR RUNNING WATER -- WAS FOUND A HUGE COLLECTION OF EXTREMELY PERSONAL "NAIVE" DRAWINGS. THE FREAKISH 2002 DISCOVERY WAS RECOGNIZED AS A MAJOR MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN OUTSIDER ART. INDEED, IN A REVIEW OF THE 2003 NEW YORK OUTSIDER ART FAIR IT WAS PRONOUNCED THAT "THE MOST ARRESTING FIND THIS YEAR IS PEARL BLAUVELT."

The discovery was made by two artists, Dennis and Donna Corrigan, who had purchased the old post-and-beam house, located "in the middle of nowhere" in the Poconos of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Underneath boxes of moldy antique books, fabric scraps, and broken pieces of furniture, they found a wooden box crammed with what initially appeared to be heaps of worthless paper. Closer examination by the new owners revealed the significance of their discovery: the box contained more than 800 imaginative drawings of various scenes of life, real and imaginary, American and otherwise, some of which are multi-layered and defy the so-called "rules of optics," depicted as if from multiple perspectives simultaneously. In a 2020 New York Magazine review of an exhibition of Blauvelt's works, Johanna Fateman described the drawings as "faithful to their own rules of proportion and perspective."

The drawings date from the 1940s and obsessively chronicle the inner life of a woman who during her lifetime was described as the "Village Witch." In their announcement of the discovery, the Corrigan’s related that several of the drawings were laced together with shoestrings in primitive book form, while others were contained in dime-store notepads or old school composition books, as here.

Blauvelt's interior world must have been very rich indeed: again and again she returned to depicting what "real life" on the outside must have looked like to her. Through her drawings, almost all of which bore titles of her own invention, she catalogued the material world and the spiritual world, often merging the two realms into strange and wonderful compositions.

Our highly imaginative drawing seems to be unique in her oeuvre. Boldly labeled "Sprite the Fairy," the butterfly-winged figure seems to hover above mushrooms, flowers, and thick leaves. The fairy's right hand is raised, from which issues swirling vapors. The drawing features Blauvelt’s signature "x-ray vision" perspective: beneath the fairy’s dress can be seen the ribcage, sternum and spine, as well as the left thigh bone.

Almost nothing was known about the former occupant of the dilapidated house. In the course of their research the new owners determined that Pearl Blauvelt was born in 1893 and had moved there with her father in the early 20th century. By the mid-1970s she was declared incompetent and was moved to a mental facility in Pennsylvania where she resided until her death in 1987.

Her work is included in major permanent and private collections including the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Collection abcd (Paris), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Museum of Everything (London), the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia), and Gerhard and Karin Dammann Collection (Switzerland). She has received posthumous solo exhibitions at Andrew Edlin Gallery (NYC), Kerry Schuss Gallery (NYC), John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan).

PROVENANCE: D. & D. Corrigan -- Andrew Edlin Gallery (NYC) -- Private Collection (USA) -- Steven S. Powers Gallery (NYC) -- Private Collection (USA) -- Eldritch Oculum -- Michael Laird Rare Books.

LITERATURE: Dennis Corrigan and Donna Corrigan, "Pearl Blauvelt: The Village Witch" in: Raw Vision (2002), No. 39, pp. 52-56. John Yau, "A Bird's-Eye View of Heaven" in: Hyperallergic, posted online May 6, 2012. Gerhard Dammann, "Making their own Money: Painted Banknotes by Raimundo Camilo, Pearl Blauvelt and Other Outsider Artists" in: Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences (Nov. 2018), Vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 15-17. Christian Rattemeyer, Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection: Catalogue Raisonne (MOMA, 2009) pp. 93-94 (six drawings). Ken Johnson, Review of the New York Outsider Art Fair in: The New York Times, Jan. 24, 2003.

Price: $2,800.00