Ellinger, David Y. "Folk Art of Rural Pennsylvania, Index of American Design, Penna Project WPA"

David Y. Ellinger.  Folk Art of Rural Pennsylvania, Index of American Design, Penna Project WPA.   Frances Lichten and Austin Davison II editors. 

1946.  Fifteen loose silk screen prints on artist board.  Plate edges and/or margins time-toned and/or browned.  With original artist board portfolio cover.  Three inch portion of the bottom of portfolio paper spine missing.   Else, fine condition. 

A very colorful publication of fifteen plates of decorative Pennsylvania folk art motifs by David Y, Ellinger issued in the mid 20^th century.  Ellinger (1913-2003) specialized as an illustrator and painter of Pennsylvania folk art.  Growing up in Trappe, Pennsylvania, Ellinger drew on his experiences living in the country and his exposure to Pennsylvania folk art.  Ellinger studied at the Barnes Foundation and became a close friend of Albert Barnes. During the 1930s he worked for the WPA as part of Federal Art Project and then later for the Index of American Design which issued this work.  Examples of Ellinger’s work can be found at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the America Folk Art Museum.  An exhibition of his life and work was held at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania from February to April 2022.    

Each color plate has on the verso the example(s), with descriptive text, from which the color illustration was taken and/or certain elements used to create the printed image.   

List of plates:

• Introduction by the editors. 
• Plate 1.  “From a Box 1777.” 
• Plate 2.  “From a Sgraffito Plate 1810.” 
• Plate 3. “From Ceramics and Illuminated Writings 1773 to 1811.”
• Plate 4. “From a Sgraffito Plate made by Georg Hubener 1789.”
• Plate 5.  “From a Dower Chest 1804.”
• Plate 6.  “From Stove Plate, Cake Mold, Fractur Painting and Ceramics.”
• Plate 7. “From a Song Book 1829.”
• Plate 8. “From a Sgraffito Plate Dated 1816.”
• Plate 9. “From Book Plate in Bible Belonging to Catharina Guth.”
• Plate 10.  “From Wood Carving and Birth Certificates 1782-1819.”
• Plate 11.  “From Slipware Plate Late 18^th Century.”
• Plate 12.  “From a Baptismal Certificate 1841.” 
• Plate 13.  “From a Dower Chest c. 1790.”
• Plate 14.  “From a Sgraffito Plate 1812.”
• Plate 15.  “From Late 18^th Century Decoration on Paper.”