John Folinsbee, Slate Quarry, Bangor

Quarries, slag heaps, bridges, and other man-made features of the Pennsylvania landscape were primary subjects for Folinsbee for much of his career. The Bangor Quarry near Allentown was among the largest and oldest of the quarries in Pennsylvania’s “slate belt,” which provided slate for roofing and paving projects across the United States. 

Angular masses, block-like planes, and an array of forms in blue-toned earth color the quarry’s rock face. The curves of the draglines that seem to drape across the deep space of the composition lend a sense of energy to the mining operation, from which the building blocks of our modern cities came. 

Folinsbee was born in Buffalo and studied briefly at the Art Students League in New York before settling in New Hope in 1916. His work is in the collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Rhode Island School of Design, the National Academy of Design, and Woodmere, among many others.