Acupuncture Pitchfork Style

John William ("Uncle Jack") Dey, Acupuncture Pitchfork Style, ca. 1974, model airplane enamel on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.12
Copied John William ("Uncle Jack") Dey, Acupuncture Pitchfork Style, ca. 1974, model airplane enamel on wood, 23 x 36 in. (58.5 x 91.5 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.12

Artwork Details

Title
Acupuncture Pitchfork Style
Artist
Date
ca. 1974
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
23 x 36 in. (58.5 x 91.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
model airplane enamel on wood
Classifications
Subjects
  • Animal — horse
  • Landscape — farm
  • Animal — bird
  • Figure group
  • Object — other — sign
  • Architecture Exterior — domestic — farmhouse
Object Number
1997.124.12
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1997.124.12

Artwork Description

In this painting, "Uncle Jack" Dey combined his memories of the Maine landscape with imagined characters to create a surreal, confusing world. A man with a ladle hangs from a kite string over a vat of "Mince Pie Mix with Rum," while a woman in a short blue dress attacks him with a pitchfork. Dey filled the sky with blackbirds to emphasize the ominous activities of this woman and her "exotic pies." (Tom Patterson, Contemporary Folk Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2001)

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