Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Folk art museum in Williamsburg, United States.
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum is an art museum in Williamsburg, Virginia, dedicated to American folk art and housing paintings, sculptures, and handcrafted objects. It sits within the Colonial Williamsburg historic area and shares a building with the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum.
The museum opened in 1957 and grew from a donation by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, who had been collecting American folk art since the early 20th century. Over the following decades, additional gifts expanded what she had started.
The works on display come from self-taught artists who worked outside formal art schools and drew from everyday life. Visitors can see carved figures, painted furniture, and textile pieces that reflect the habits and surroundings of ordinary people across different parts of America.
The museum is inside the ticketed area of Colonial Williamsburg, so access goes through the main entry points of the historic site. Visitors who want to see both museums in the same building should set aside enough time for both collections.
The watercolor 'The Old Plantation', made around 1790 by John Rose, shows enslaved people dancing and playing music in South Carolina and is considered one of the earliest surviving images of African American life. It is one of the most referenced works in the entire collection.
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