Attributed to “MR. DINES.” Figure of a Centaur. Utica, New York, circa 1860

Carved poplar, original painted decoration, 22 ¼ x 9 ½ x 24 ½ inches.

This figure ranks as a masterpiece of American Folk Art, and one of the last icons of this caliber remaining in private hands.

A possible identification of “Mr. Dines” may be the John M. Dines aged 42 a wagon maker apparently born in France who is listed in the 1860 Federal Census in Utica’s 5^th ward.

Provenance:

Found in Utica, New York;

Adele Earnest, Stony Point, NY, 1974;

The Guennol collection of Mr. and Mrs. Alastair B. Martin, Katonah, NY;

David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, Woodbury, CT;

Austin T. Miller American Antiques Inc, OH;

Important Private Collection

Exhibited:

“Folk Sculpture USA,” The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, 1976, traveled to The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, 1976.

“The Guennol Collection,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 1982.

On long term loan, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, 2013 to the present

Published:

Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr., Ed., Folk Sculpture USA (Brooklyn Museum, 1976), no. 24, p. 17.

Adele Earnest, “American Folk Art,” The Guennol Collection, Volume II (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982), pp. 230-232.

Notable Acquisitions (Woodbury, CT: David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, 2011), cover.

Celebrating American Folk and Decorative Arts, (Catalogue 19, 2013 Austin T. Miller American Antiques Inc., Cover.