Possibly intended as a toy, this simplified horse with metal grommets for eyes and actual horsehair for a tail was found in upstate New York. Populist objects such as this inspired many American modernist artists who collected weathervanes, carousel figures, decoys, and other carvings, often lumped together as “folk art.” This was an era when handwork was celebrated and democratic ideals made heroes of untrained artists. Modernists who no longer sought direction from examples of academic art found that these simpler objects both predicted and affirmed their desire for abstraction in avant-garde painting and sculpture. Elie Nadelman numbered among the American modernists most closely associated with collections of “folk art.” While Nadelman never saw this particular little red pony, his own streamlined bronze horse is on view nearby.