Mary Ann Willson

[4] What information is available is derived from two anonymous letters, one of which accompanied the portfolio acquired by the Harry Stone Gallery, and a short biography included in Richard Lionel De Lisser's Picturesque Catskills, Greene County, which was first published in 1894.

The couple purchased a few acres, built a log cabin and, apparently with the aid of her neighbors, Brundage farmed the land while Willson painted pictures, "which she sold to the farmers and others as rare and unique works of art.

According to Lipman, Willson "was simply endowed with a teeming imagination, a bold taste for primary color and geometric design, and a total lack of inhibition, a combination which adds up to a style close indeed to that of modern abstract art.

"[3] Significantly, as Karlins has noted, there was speculation at the time of the exhibition that the watercolors were forgeries and the supporting documentation "concocted ... in order to benefit from the growing market for folk art.

"[5] Karlins ultimately concluded, however, that because Willson's career is documented in De Lisser's 1894 publication and works attributed to the artist are recorded in the collection of Theodore Cole, the exhibited watercolors were authentic.