To commemorate Morris Hirshfields birthday (April 10, 1872-July 26, 1946), the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) recently announced a major gift of five masterworks by the artist, from the estate of Maria and Conrad Janis, son of legendary art dealer and gallerist Sidney Janis, comprising one of the most significant groups of Hirshfield paintings donated to an institution in recent years. The announcement also coincides with the museums publication of the proceedings from its 2023 symposium inspired by the artist and his complex interchange with American modernism. Titled Unexpected Partners: Self-Taught Artists and Modernism in Interwar America, the symposium was organized as part of the programming for the exhibition Morris Hirshfield Rediscovered that was held in 2022-23, which featured over 40 of the artists paintings as well as archival material that traced the painters brief but sensational career. Together, these gifts of art and the proceedings further solidify the American Folk Art Museums leadership and commitment to the care, preservation, and study of Hirshfields work and legacy. The museums holdings by the artist consist of nine works. The significance of these gifts is further enhanced by the rarity of Hirshfield paintings and the relatively small body of work he produced, which positions the museum as the worlds largest institutional repository of his work. These five recent gifts include Zebra Family (1942), Cat and Kittens on the Carpet (1943), Nude with Cupids (1944), Harp Girl (1945), and Christmas Tree and Angels (1946). Sidney Janis was an early champion of Hirshfield who helped introduce his work to a wider audience in the early 1940s, who would go on to play a major role in New Yorks mid-century art world, including his pivotal role in the promotion of Abstract Expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, and many more. Several of the works in this group were acquired by Sidney Janis directly from the artist in the mid-1940s and remained within the Janis family collection for decades. Sidney Janis other son, Carroll Janis, and his wife, Donna, also made a gift to AFAM of a remarkable Hirshfield painting, titled Girl with Flowered Dress (1945), in 2006. Additionally, the museum received an exceptional Hirshfield painting titled View (1945) as part of a larger collection bequest from the estate of Audrey B. Heckler, a former museum trustee, which was announced earlier this year. Robert Rentzer, Morris Hirshfields nephew, also recently gifted the museum a bird encyclopedia that served as source material for Hirshfield and provides further insight into Hirshfields creative process. The announcement of this unprecedented gift and the publication of the proceedings from our groundbreaking symposium showcase AFAMs commitment, as the nations museum of folk and self-taught art, to be a leader in the field and make lasting contributions to the study and preservation of Morris Hirshfields legacy, in addition to the wider milieu of self-taught art, stated Jason T. Busch, Becky and Bob Alexander Director & CEO of the American Folk Art Museum. Forget about the stories of modern art you have heard in the past. They almost certainly exclude self-taught art and the pivotal role it played in American modernism of the 1930s of 40s. A former tailor and slipper maker living in Brooklyn, Morris Hirshfield provides a vibrant example of this phenomenon. His wildly stylized paintings of women, animals, and landscapes were internationally recognized in the 1940s yet largely forgotten after his death. Until now. In conjunction with AFAMs retrospective of the artist and my accompanying book, Master of the Two Left Feet, Unexpected Partners approaches Hirshfield as a vital entry point to consider the wider dialogue between self-taught art and the modernist avant-garde. Leading scholars and curators present cutting-edge work on an international range of artists and cultures. Recovering largely forgotten histories, Unexpected Partners expands the history of 20th century art and our knowledge of the visual past, added Richard Meyer, Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor in Art History, Stanford University. Morris Hirshfield Rediscovered was curated by Richard Meyer, Robert, and Ruth Halperin, professor of Art History at Stanford University. Susan Davidson served as curatorial advisor to the exhibition. Valrie Rousseau, the American Folk Art Museums Curatorial Chair and Senior Curator of 20th-Century & Contemporary Art, was the shows coordinating curator. The publication of Meyers study of Hirshfield, Master of the Two Left Feet (MIT Press, 2022), accompanied the exhibition. Following the presentation at AFAM, the exhibition traveled to Stanford Universitys Cantor Arts Center. Unexpected Partners: Self-Taught Artists and Modernism in Interwar America was made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art. Additional support was provided by the Department of Art & Art History at Stanford. American Folk Art Museum staff contributions to the publication: the proceedings are edited by Margarita Snchez Urdaneta, AFAMs former Director of Publications and Editorial, and Mathilde Walker-Billaud, Curator of Programs and Engagement, with the support of Andreane Balconi, Digital Asset Manager, and Mitra Parineh, copy editor. The publication was designed by Kate Johnson, Director of Design. For more information, visit www.folkartmuseum.org.