Joseph Garlock (1884–1965) was a self-taught American folk artist whose remarkable body of work was only discovered decades after his death. Born in Russia in 1884, he immigrated to the United States in 1904 and settled in New York City’s Lower East Side before later moving to Bloomfield, New Jersey. Throughout his life, Garlock worked in various trades, including as a cobbler, grocer, and single vehicle bus line that ran along Bloomfield Avenue into the center of Newark. Despite his lack of formal artistic training, he began painting and sculpting in 1949 at the age of 65, following his retirement.
Garlock’s art was often created using found and repurposed materials such as lumber, tin cans, awning fabric, and tree branches. His works spanned paintings, wood carvings, and assemblages, each signed and dated—an unusual practice among artists. His first known artwork, a painting on a tin pie plate, depicted his daughter Rose’s Woodstock, NY weekend cabin. Over the next 15 years, he produced hundreds of pieces, driven by a passion he referred to simply as his “hobby.” However, due to aging and health issues, including palsy, he ceased creating art in 1965.
For decades, Garlock’s work remained largely unknown. It wasn’t until 2000—five years after his daughter Rose’s passing—that his family discovered a significant collection of his artwork stored in a woodshed on her rural property.
Since 2001, the James Cox Gallery at Woodstock has represented Garlock’s work, helping to elevate his posthumous reputation. His art has since garnered regional, national, and international attention, securing representation in some of the finest folk and outsider art galleries in the U.S. Among other institutions, The Museum of American Folk Art has also acquired Garlock’s work for its permanent collection.
Joseph Garlock: An Immigrant’s Gift to America from James Cox Gallery at Woodstock on Vimeo.
Click HERE to view full Exhibition Catalog “Joseph Garlock Paintings and Sculpture” The Cecille R. Hunt Gallery, Webster University, St. Louis, MO. October 11 – November 7, 2003.
Click HERE to view Exhibition Brochure “Joseph Garlock: An Immigrant’s Gift to America.” James Cox Gallery, Woodstock, NY. 2015.