Until recently, American folk art was relegated to second-class status in the art world due to its “humble” origins. The painted chests, carved weathervanes and family portraits that today fetch six to even seven figures at auctions and private sales were considered simply “decorative” or “utilitarian,” the handiwork of artisans and craftsmen. Collectors had little time or interest in folk art, except perhaps as a bit of whimsy in a room full of Philadelphia Chippendale and other “serious” antiques.

Since the late 1970s, American folk art has gone from blue-collar to blue-chip. As is often the case, American artists who had studied in Europe focused attention on this indigenous artistic expression. As far back as 1908 Electra Webb, founder of Vermont’s Shelburne Museum, bought her first folk sculpture, a cigar store figure, when she was just 19. By the 1940s, she was buying from Edith Halpert, one of the most prominent folk art dealers in New York City. In the 1920s and 1930s, a handful of astute collectors, including Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and Juliana Force, the director of the Whitney Studio Club (the predecessor of the Whitney Museum), were drawn to American folk art and became avid collectors.

Marked by directness, originality and stunning simplicity, American folk art represents a period roughly from 1776 to 1900. The field is extensive, ranging from cigar-store Indians to ornamental eagles and roosters, but it is also finite. Unlike contemporary art, folk art comprises a limited number of works, yet new material does continue to surface on occasion. Although interest among collectors and curators has grown exponentially, the supply of great material has not. Consequently, competition for top pieces is keen.

Folk art tells the story of how Americans lived in towns and villages since Colonial times. Basic necessities of everyday life drove painters, wood and stone carvers, weavers, cabinetmakers and potters to create objects for daily use. For the most part, they were itinerant artisans who were hired on the spot to paint a family portrait or build and paint a chest. As most were not academically trained, their work was relegated to “low” rather than “fine” or “high” art.

In the early 1960s and ’70s, one could still browse in galleries and rural mom-and-pop antiques shops for authentic American folk art. New York had several galleries and an active group of dealers. “Fast-forward to 2006, and many of the small independent dealers in New York City have disappeared,” says Nancy Druckman, director of American folk art at Sotheby’s New York. “The balance has shifted to buying at auctions and big antique shows as new collectors enter the field at very high levels.”

Today these works are widely appreciated as a uniquely American art form: powerful examples of individual expression reflecting the singular talents of the artist. Not only have elaborately carved weathervanes and eagles for the thriving maritime trade or home decoration reached phenomenal new levels at high-end auctions, but excellent pieces of American folk art, regardless of medium, are fetching top prices. “The market has been smoldering for the past 15 or 20 years,” says New Haven, Connecticut, dealer Fred Giampietro. “Now we are waking up to $100,000 as common fare, while some pieces just hover around the million-dollar mark.”

The American Folk Art Museum, with its splendid new building in midtown Manhattan, has played a major role in spotlighting the inherent beauty of these everyday objects. “The American Folk Art Museum takes folk art very seriously as a significant art form of expression in all its manifestations,” says senior curator Stacy Hollander. “We set very high standards for the material, and our hope is that when people visit the museum, they re-evaluate preconceived notions they may have of folk art as something simple and not complex.”