Holstien [sic] and Proud Owner

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Artist/Maker C. Lavern Kelley (American, 1928 - 1998)

Date1987

MediumWhite pine with enamel paint and plastic

DimensionsOverall: 12 3/4 × 7 1/4 × 18 in. (32.4 × 18.4 × 45.7 cm)

Credit LinePurchased with funds donated by D. Roger Howlett, Class of 1966

Object number1989.22

On view

DescriptionC. Lavern Kelley spent his life working on his family’s farm twenty miles south of Cooperstown, NY. His work primarily consists of wood carvings depicting the farmers, animals, and farm equipment typical of 1940s and ’50s rural America. His work is inspired by the agricultural community that shaped his life. Although carving and modeling were hobbies from a young age, it wasn’t until the 1980s when Kelley was in his late fifties that his wood carvings began to be considered of artistic value, to his own surprise. Hamilton College’s Emerson Gallery, the predecessor to the Wellin Museum of Art, became one of the first institutions to exhibit Kelley’s work in 1989. His work gained popularity and regard for its folk art character and resonant evocation of mid-century American farm culture. Kelley’s carving are now considered a later incarnation of the American Regionalist style exemplified by the work of Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Grant Wood (SOURCE: Wellin Museum permanent collection label, Summer 2016).

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Additional Details

Alternate Titles Holstein and Proud Owner

Exhibition History 2024-2025
Clinton, NY. The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College. "Menagerie: Animals in Art from the Wellin Museum," September 7, 2024 –June 8, 2025 (no cat.).

2017
Livingston Manor, NY (Catskill Art Society), Lavern Kelley, Farmer/Artist: A Retrospective, July 1 - 30, 2017 (cat., illustrated p. 48);

2015
Cooperstown, NY (Fenimore Art Museum). "Lavern Kelley: The Art of the Farm," September 19 - December 31, 2015 (no catalog);

2012
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Archive Hall: Art and Artifacts," October 6, 2012 - August 2013 (no catalog);

1989
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "A Rural Life: The Art of Lavern Kelley," February 12 - March 26, 1989 (cat. no. 183, illus., cover).

Provenance February 1989: Hamilton College (Fred L. Emerson Gallery), purchased from Gallery 53 Artworks, Cooperstown, NY

Published References William Salzillo, A RURAL LIFE: THE ART OF LAVERN KELLEY (exh. cat. Clinton, NY, Fred L. Emerson Gallery, 1989), illus., cover, cat. no.183.

Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, Friends of Art Newsletter, vol. 1, no. 3, April 1990, "Acquisitions"

Inscribed Title inscribed on top of base: HOLSTIEN {sic} AND PROUD OWNER