We recently chatted with Houston-based antiques dealer Peggy McClard (www.peggymcclard.com) to learn what she’s seeing in the antiques market these days. A collector and dealer for 30 years, McClard has always been passionate about Americana and folk art, particularly silhouettes, folk portraits, and smalls.

One of McClard’s strongest categories right now, in terms of sales, is watercolor folk portraits. “The watercolor portraits from 1800 to 1850, particularly of children, are really popular,” says McClard, who explains that watercolor was used on smaller portraits of the era (anything less than 8 by 10 inches) because it yielded greater detail than oil.
 
Both curiosity and sentiment play a role in the popularity of portrait collecting. “I think collecting portraits is a way to romanticize early times,” says McClard. “Today, we love to look at the portraits and imagine how people lived in the past.” Details—such as the furniture that can be glimpsed in a portrait, or the clothing worn, or even a letter clutched in a hand—lend great appeal to portraits.
 
With the smaller portraits, particularly those measuring 5 by 6 inches or smaller, collectors have more possibilities in display. “They can be grouped on a wall in a small area, placed on easels, or displayed in a cupboard,” says McClard. The price range for small, early-19th-century watercolor portraits ranges from $650 to $3,500, she says.
 
When looking at watercolor folk portraits, McClard pays attention to condition and also looks for clues to the identity of the sitter, as well as biographical info about the artist; she writes up the latter two and gives the information to her customers.
 
To learn more about folk portraits, check out these books: A Loving Likeness: American Folk Portraits of the Nineteenth Century, by Marna Anderson (The Gallery at Bristol-Myers Squibb, 1992); American Folk Portraits: Paintings and Drawings from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, by Beatrix Rumford (New York Graphic Society, 1981); and American Folk Painters of Three Centuries, by Jean Lipman (Hudson Hills Press, 1980).
 
Also, visit the Web sites of museums with folk portrait collections, such as the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, at Colonial Williamsburg (history.org/history/museums), and the American Folk Art Museum (folkartmuseum.org).
 
Photo courtesy of Peggy McClard