The Last Folk Hero: A True Story of Race and Art, Power and Profit [Hardcover]

Andrew Dietz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2006

The lives and works of blue-collar, African American artists Thornton Dial and Lonnie Holley are documented in this true story of outsider art, ego, exploitation, and race. Following the interaction between Dial, an illiterate factory worker with creative genius, his comrade-in-arts Holley, and Bill Arnett, a wealthy, white, and infamous art patron, this account details the obsessions and exploitations found in the soap-opera world of modern art. Congressmen, business tycoons, movie stars, academics, and the cultural elite all play roles in a story where the distinction between hero and villain evaporate amid the twisted motivations of the art market.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If readers haven't heard of Bill Arnett, the Atlanta art collector-dealer-patron whom Dietz reports on in this book, they'll certainly have an opinion about him by the time they close its covers. A self-made art expert who traveled the world and amassed a collection for himself, Arnett developed an interest in rural African-American folk art made by self-taught men such as Thornton Dial and Lonnie Holley, both from Alabama. In the late 1980s, Arnett offered these artists what they believed were staggering amounts of money for their work. But in the early 1990s, people began to wonder whether Arnett's deals weren't just another example of a rich, white art dealer taking advantage of poor, uneducated black artists. Arnett's deal with Dial drew, and continues to draw, particularly strong fire since Dial is illiterate, Arnett owns Dial's house and maintains complete control over the artist's dealings with the public. Dietz chronicles a number of episodes surrounding Arnett and his folk artists, including various museum shows and accompanying disagreements, leaving readers to make their own assessment of whether Arnett is a visionary champion of a new artistic frontier or simply a wealthy hoarder who thinks everyone's against him. (Apr.)
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Review

"Powerful and poignant...a true life folk tale of creative genius that triumphs against all odds." —Paul Hemphill, author, Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams

"William Faulkner, meet Tom Wolfe....a splendid, surreal portrait of an art world gone mad."  —John Helyar, author, Barbarians at the Gate

"The Last Folk Hero is the 'perfect storm' of art world literature."  —Richard Polsky, author, I Bought Andy Warhol

"Intriguing true story....Well-researched."  —The Indianapolis Star

"Lots of fun to read."  —Anniston Star

"It reads entertainingly and populates the outsider art phenomenon with a cast of real and memorable characters."  —San Francisco Chronicle

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Ellis Lane Press (April 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977196801
• ISBN-13: 978-0977196807
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,089,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Folk Art Gets Its Wings, March 21, 2006

By 

Rock Robster (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Folk Hero: A True Story of Race and Art, Power and Profit (Hardcover)

Three years ago, through several seemingly chance events, Andrew Dietz was introduced to an assemblage sculpture of his late mother-in-law, Lenore Gold, in an out-of-the-way art warehouse owned by one of Atlanta's most provocative art dealers. Understanding the details behind the sculpture, how it came to involve his late mother-in-law, and how it came to reside in the warehouse on Atlanta's west side led Andrew down a rabbit hole of discovery. The deeper he went, the stranger the familiar and urbane environment of the art world seemed to become. THE LAST FOLK HERO represents the recounting of the strange tale Mr. Dietz discovered.

So what happens when visionary, yet non-credentialed, black artists from the rural south and their rich, (possibly rightfully so) paranoid white patron are thrown into the crucible of international politics, the national media, the 1996 Olympics, and the rarified high society of art dealers, critics, and tastemakers in Atlanta, Birmingham, Houston, Boston, New York, and Washington DC? The answer seems to be fortunes made and lost, accusations, prevarications, fornications, epithets regarding fornication (both commands and expression of surprise), the creation of art, and the relentless pursuit of truth and beauty. While the magnitude of the quality and influence of the art may still be debated, the debates and arguments are still being engaged in great, sometimes enormous, ways.

Personally, I do not profess fanatic appreciation for the arts. Generally, I like what appeals to my aesthetic senses (visual arts are decorations in my house), and when someone tells me that something is art I tend to use what many in the art world would describe as Philistine sensibilities to judge one way or the other. However, I do appreciate a good story, particularly when it involves themes of power, exploitation, and corruption, and most especially when it involves my hometown of Atlanta and the surrounding culture of the South. Once I started reading this story, I could hardly put it down. Since reading the book, I have scoured the internet looking for resources on Thornton Dial and Lonnie Holley, two of the books main artistic protagonists. I now plan to attend the Gee's Bend Quilters exhibition at the High at the end of March. I can honestly say that the book has opened up a whole new world for me, one that I gave little consideration to in the past.

In the end, THE LAST FOLK HERO compelled me to us ask what art and exploitation really are and to whom the beholden eyes belong that makes the final determination. This is not a story about good versus evil; rather, it's more like ambiguous intentions pitted against ambiguous intentions. Ultimately, we're left to wonder who the real heroes and villains are and if anyone could ever really tell the difference. Mr. Dietz does not attempt to provide any answers. He has left it open for a candid world to decide.

The sculpture of Mr. Diet'z late mother-in-law, an assemblage entitled "Finally Getting Wings Above the 41st Floor" by acclaimed folk artist Lonnie Holley, stands on a pedestal now in Atlanta's High Museum of Art.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True-story page-turner!, March 16, 2006

By 

J. Tomko - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Folk Hero: A True Story of Race and Art, Power and Profit (Hardcover)

A friend gave me an advance copy of this book and told me I wouldn't be able to put it down - he was right! Dietz is a terrific writer and he gives an insightful look behind the scenes of the art world. I am not an art student or collector, but I still found the book absolutely fascinating. Dietz draws compelling portraits of a completely unique cast of characters - and he does so fairly and even-handedly, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions about the wheelings and dealings. Finally, Dietz is simply a terrific story-teller. He pulls you in with the stories of the incredible struggles that the artists survived in their youth. But Dietz does not neglect the incredible humor is this story: imagine a few white art patrons, some African-American Folk Artisits (including some lovely lady quilters from an isolated small town that they pick up along the way), a camera crew and JANE FONDA, all on a bus tour on the back roads of Alabama! This actually happened, and Dietz tells the story in grand, good-humored fashion.

READ THIS BOOK! You won't be disappointed.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, July 7, 2006

By 

K. Deutsch (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Folk Hero: A True Story of Race and Art, Power and Profit (Hardcover)

Andrew Dietz brilliantly captures the layers of race relations, exploitation, white liberalism and the dynamics of individual egos. As Lonnie Holly captured in his piece "Mystery of the White in Me" (the artist and a photo of this piece are featured in the book), Dietz's exploration of the line between artist promotion and exploitation demonstrates that nothing is as black and white as it appears.

As a reader that knew little of the history and politics of folk art, it did take me a while to get drawn into the book (I was hampered by the fact that a house guest started reading my first copy and was so drawn in to the story that I let him take it with him), but once I got to the third chapter I could not put it down.