American Folk Art forged its identity when  itinerant painters emerged to document both rural, small-town and city personages and city life. Often referred to historically as "limners" or "primitive" painters, folk artists produced works not on academic conventions, rather bold styles, symmetrical elegance, with a deep connection to their subjects. 

More than just quaint historical records, premier 19th-century American Folk Art paintings are celebrated today as the indigenous aesthetic precursors to American Modernism. The stark graphic contrasts one sees in Folk Art painting portrayals, and the omission of nuanced and toned colors, directly foreshadowed hard- the hard-edge bold geometric shapes, and skewed representation of modernist painting. 19th century folk artists travelled and lived throughout the Northeastern United States, often capturing genuine likenesses of community leaders, families, and children, as well as rural settings.