Tramp Art Box

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Card One Transcription

Side 1
Tramp Art Box (jewel box?) 101 b
6 x 11 x 8 1870 60s John Gordon
Kind of folk art made by tramps after Civil War. Made from cheap material: cigar boxes, etc.
I like this one for it strives high up—padded velvet interior, gesso painted exterior
2 bows, spiral cord, padded, plush, gold velvet, i.e. expensive
$35

Side 2
-temptation to see this as love object
-great play on inside/outside
-mechanistic/human
-metaphysical/pragmatic
-Buddhist/Hindu temple architecture
-I see architecture, not design at play, therefore the whole wriggles
-corrugated and textured, like light
-after Folk Art Museum SF show of Tramp Art, seeing this as superior thanks to John Gordon

Card Two Transcription

Side 1
-This crinkled surface could harbor a mechanistic view of the world the maker was adjusting to as the work done is a kind of therapy
-The “tramps” could be soldiers who could not re-enter society after what they had seen.
-Not like normal, bloody war the impersonal killing of kin and brothers was new, serious, rational on the surface, and sense less underneath
-The love dimension of this box gives hope

Side 2
-It is a masterpiece of its genre
-The carefully framed use of spiral string poignancy
-two, golden bows at either end in the same golden color
-gold and silver, not Folk
-still with John Gordon’s inventory no.

Card Front

Card Back

Card One Transcription

Side 1
Tramp Art Box (jewel box?) 101 b
6 x 11 x 8 1870 60s John Gordon
Kind of folk art made by tramps after Civil War. Made from cheap material: cigar boxes, etc.
I like this one for it strives high up—padded velvet interior, gesso painted exterior
2 bows, spiral cord, padded, plush, gold velvet, i.e. expensive
$35

Side 2
-temptation to see this as love object
-great play on inside/outside
-mechanistic/human
-metaphysical/pragmatic
-Buddhist/Hindu temple architecture
-I see architecture, not design at play, therefore the whole wriggles
-corrugated and textured, like light
-after Folk Art Museum SF show of Tramp Art, seeing this as superior thanks to John Gordon

Card Front

Card Back

Card Two Transcription

Side 1
-This crinkled surface could harbor a mechanistic view of the world the maker was adjusting to as the work done is a kind of therapy
-The “tramps” could be soldiers who could not re-enter society after what they had seen.
-Not like normal, bloody war the impersonal killing of kin and brothers was new, serious, rational on the surface, and sense less underneath
-The love dimension of this box gives hope

Side 2
-It is a masterpiece of its genre
-The carefully framed use of spiral string poignancy
-two, golden bows at either end in the same golden color
-gold and silver, not Folk
-still with John Gordon’s inventory no.

Tramp Art Box

Tramp Art Box

Card One Transcription

Card Two Transcription

Card One Transcription

Card Two Transcription

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