JAKOBSEN, KATHY
(1952–)
has painted her memories of growing up in Dearborn Township, Michigan, but some of her strongest works are views of New York, where she moved in 1978. Shewrote and illustrated the book
My New York,
which included landmarks such as the Plaza Hotel, events such as the Sixth Avenue flea market, and cutaway views of building construction and underground pipes. Jakobsen is also interested in broader American subjects; she illustrated the book,
This Land Is Your Land,
honoringWoody Guthrie’s song.Jakobsen, the daughter of an artist, was interested in art as a child but began to paint seriously in the mid-1970s, doing fraktur. She was discovered by RobertBishop, a former director of the Museum of American Folk Art, who was then associated with the Henry Ford Museum in Greenfield Village, Dearborn. Heencouraged her to come to New York, where he arranged for gallery representation.Jakobsen works in oils on canvas, having first photographed the scenes she plans to paint. Her bright colors reflect her cheerful view of American life: “I paint theway I would like it to be.” Of her 600 or more paintings, many were commissioned and many have been sold in print editions. Jakobsen had a 25-year retrospective atthe Housatonic Museum of Art (Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1991). Her paintings are in the American Folk Art Museum (New York) and American Museum (Bath,England).
See also
Robert Bishop; Fraktur; Painting, American Folk
.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ketchum, William C. Jr.
American Folk Art of the Twentieth Century.
New York, 1983.Kogan, Lee. “Review of
My New York.”
Folk Art,
vol. 18, no. 3 (fall 1993): 76.Rosenak, Chuck, and Jan Rosenak.
Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists.
New York, 1990