Funk [Reprint 2020 ed.] 9780520328594

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F u n k by Peter Selz University Art M u s e u m University of California, Berkeley Exhibition d a t e s : April 18 M a y 29, 1967

Acknowledgments

W e a r e greatly indebted to t h e several

T h e idea for an exhibition of F u n k

artists who contributed s t a t e m e n t s on

a r t originated a n d w a s n u r t u r e d while

F u n k art. W e w a n t t o t h a n k Art in

H a r o l d P a r i s a n d I collaborated on

America;

a n article focused on this interesting a n d

California, Irvine; a n d t h e Los Angeles

curious p h e n o m e n o n , published in t h e

C o u n t y M u s e u m of Art for lending color

M a r c h 1967 installment of " W e s t Coast

plates t o t h e catalogue; a n d Alfred W .

R e p o r t " in Art in America.

Childs; E l m e r Schlesinger; t h e Dilexi

W h i l e it is

m u c h too early t o m a k e a n y claim for t h e

Gallery, S a n F r a n c i s c o ; a n d t h e Allan

historical or critical i m p o r t a n c e of this

Stone Gallery, N e w York, for special

art, it seems a p p r o p r i a t e a t least to

assistance. W e of course a r e m o r e t h a n

d o c u m e n t its occurrence. W e h o p e t h a t

g r a t e f u l to t h e various artists, p r i v a t e

this exhibition a n d its a c c o m p a n y i n g catalogue will in no w a y freeze or inhibit t h e free f u r t h e r d e v e l o p m e n t of F u n k . F r o m its inception t h r o u g h o u t its execution t h e work on t h e exhibition — including t h e selection of artists a n d specific w o r k s — w a s carried on jointly b y T o m L. F r e u d e n h e i m , S u s a n Rannells, B r e n d a R i c h a r d s o n , a n d myself. W e a r e p a r t i c u l a r l y g r a t e f u l to J. J. Aasen for sharing w i t h u s his considerable knowledge of N o r t h e r n California a r t a n d artists. D u r i n g t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e show we h a v e also profited greatly f r o m conversations with B r u c e Conner, F r e d M a r t i n , J a m e s Melchert, J a m e s Newman, and Thomas F. Parkinson.

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t h e A r t Gallery, University of

© 1 9 6 7 b y T h e R e g e n t s of t h e U n i v e r s i t y of C a l i f o r n i a . L i b r a r y of C o n g r e s s C a t a l o g N u m b e r 6 7 - 6 4 0 2 8 .

collectors, a n d galleries w h o m a d e their works available for our exhibition a n d w i t h o u t whose generosity this exhibition would not h a v e been possible. P. S.

Notes on F u n k

Mrs. Martin: What is the moral? Fire Chief: That's for you to find out. — Ionesco, The Bald Soprano

by Peter Selz

f u n k ( f u n k ) , v.i.; F U N K E D ( f u n k t ) ; F U N K ' I N G . [Of u n c e r t a i n origin; cf. tunk t o k i c k , also, in dial, use, t o shy, k i c k u p t h e heels, t h r o w t h e r i d e r (of a h o r s e ) . ] T o b e f r i g h t e n e d a n d s h r i n k b a c k ; t o flinch; as t o a t t h e e d g e of a p r e c i p i c e ; t o tunk Colloq. fashion.

to tunk

out, t o b a c k o u t in a c o w a r d l y

Colloq.

f u n k , v t . Colloq.

1. T o f u n k at; t o flinch a t ;

t o s h r i n k f r o m ( a t h i n g or p e r s o n ) ; as, t o a t a s k . 2. T o f r i g h t e n ; t o c a u s e t o f u n k , n. Colloq. fear; panic.

( a s t h e m e n of E t o n

DeQuincey.

' T h a t S a h i b ' s n i g h m a d w i t h funk.' 2. O n e w h o f u n k s ; a s h i r k ; a c o w a r d . 3

Webster's

tunk

flinch.

1. A s h r i n k i n g b a c k t h r o u g h

' T h e h o r r i d p a n i c , or tunk call i t ) . '

tunk

in a fight.

New International

(1909)

Kipling.

The definitions in Webster's Unabridged are not very helpful in an attempt to find out what F u n k 1 art is about. T h e quote from Ionesco at least gives us a clue to its anti-message content. When asked to define Funk, artists generally answer: "When you see it, you know it." They are probably quite right. The term itself was borrowed from jazz: since the twenties F u n k was jargon for the unsophisticated deep-down New Orleans blues played by the marching bands, the blues which give you that h a p p y / s a d feeling. Funk art, so prevalent in the San Francisco-Bay Area, is largely a matter of attitude. B u t many of the works also reveal certain similar characteristics of form — or anti-form. In the current spectrum of art, F u n k is at the opposite extreme of such manifestations as New York "primary structures" or the "Fetish Finish" sculpture which prevails in Southern California. F u n k art is hot rather than cool; it is committed rather than disengaged; it is bizarre rather than formal; it is sensuous; and frequently it is quite ugly and ungainly. Although usually three-dimensional, it is nonsculptural in any traditional way, and irreverent in attitude. It is symbolic in content and evocative in feeling. Like many contemporary novels, films, and plays, F u n k art looks at things which traditionally were not meant to be looked at. Although never precise or illustrative, its subliminal post-Freudian imagery

often suggests erotic and scatological forms or relationships; b u t often when these images are examined more closely, they do not read in a traditional or recognizable manner and are open to a multiplicity of interpretations. Like the dialogue in a play by Ionesco or Beckett, the juxtaposition of unexpected things seems to make no apparent sense. F u n k is visual double-talk, it makes fun of itself, although often (though b y no means all the time) it is dead serious. Making allusions, the artist is able, once more, to deprecate himself with a true sense of the ironic. F u n k objects, which are loud, unashamed, and free, may be compared to D a d a objects. Indeed Funk, like so m a n y authentic developments in recent art, is surely indebted to the D a d a tradition (how paradoxical that we can now speak of a Dada tradition!). Especially in works by artists like Bruce Conner do we find echoes of K u r t Schwitters' Merz collages and the Hanoverian's love for the trash which he rehabilitated. B u t Conner's fetishist death images, Wally Berman's inventive collages, or George Herms' mystic boxes are really only precursors of the present world of Funk, which is often just as non-formal and arbitrary, b u t much more flamboyant, humorous, and precise. Perhaps again it is Marcel Duchamp's stance t h a t is of the greatest importance here, his total absence of taste (good or bad) in the selection of his ready-mades, his indifference to form and indifference even to certain objects he created, especially those he made some thirty years after he officially ceased making art. Duchamp's

three small plasters of the early fifties, the Female Fig Leaf, apparently modeled from a female groin; the Object-dart,

its

phallic companion piece; and the Wedge of Chastity, with its touching inscription for his wife Teeny, are actually as Funk as can be. Jean Arp, one of the original leaders of Dada in Zürich, also comes to mind, particularly with his later biomorphic forms existing in the world between abstraction and figuration. But then, Arp's carefully modeled or carved sculptures have a pantheistic spirit which would be anathema to the irreverence of Funk. Closer, perhaps, are certain Surrealist objects, like Meret Oppenheim's fur-lined tea cup or Miro's Objet Poétique,

a stuffed parrot perched on his

wooden branch, surmounting a ball swinging freely on a string, adjacent to a dangling lady's leg, all supported b y a man's dented hat. Objects like these are, I think, real prototypes for the current Funk, especially in the similar irreverence, satire, and free association. Like Dada and Surrealism, Funk has created a world where everything is possible but Joan Miro. Poetic Object. ( 1936). Stuffed parrot

nothing is probable. There is also an

on wood perch, stuffed silk stocking with velvet

important difference in attitude in the

garter and paper shoe suspended in cutout

more recent approach. Dada set out to

frame, derby hat, hanging cork ball, celluloid fish and engraved map. 317/s x 11 7/K x 10 V4". Collec-

attack and combat the moral hypocrisy

tion, The Museum of Modern Art, N e w York.

of the public; Surrealism in its prodigious

G i f t of Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Matisse.

publications and manifestos and programs hoped to establish a new and irrational order based on the revolu-

Marcel Duchamp. Female Fig Leaf. 1951. Galvanized plaster. 3V2" high. Marcel Duchamp. Object-dart.

tionary but contradictory doctrines of Marx and Freud ; but Funk does not

1951. Galvanized

plaster with inlaid metal rib. 3Vi x 8 x 1". Marcel Duchamp. Wedge of Chastity. 1951-52. Galvanized plaster and dental plastic. 2 V2 x 3 1 2 "•

care about public morality. Its concerns are of a highly personal nature : the Funk artists know too well that a fraudulent morality is a fact of their world, and

t h e y h a v e n o illusions t h a t t h e y can

F u n k a r t has asserted itself strongly in

o f t e n rebellious life a m o n g t h e y o u n g e r

change it. If these artists express a n y -

N o r t h e r n California. T o b e sure, t h e

generation in California m a y h a v e

t h i n g a t all, it is senselessness, a b s u r d i t y ,

international a r t magazines a r e filled with

h a d a n i m p a c t on t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of

a n d f u n . T h e y find delight in nonsense,

idiosyncratic, sensuous, irrational,

F u n k . In t h e fifties t h e b e a t poets, with

t h e y a b a n d o n all t h e strait j a c k e t s of

a m o r a l , organic, visceral, a n d three-

their vociferous disregard of social mores

rationality, a n d w i t h a n intuitive sense

dimensional objects. T h e y seem t o t u r n

a n d taboos, were v e r y m u c h on t h e

of h u m o r t h e y present their own ele-

u p everywhere. Still, t h e r e is a h e a v y

scene. T h e s e poets not only wrote poetry,

m e n t a l feelings a n d visceral processes.

concentration of such objects in t h e San

b u t t h e y also p e r f o r m e d a n d entertained with it. T h e i r first public readings,

If t h e r e is a n y moral, "it's for y o u

F r a n c i s c o area. I t is here t h a t F u n k

t o find out."

s p r o u t e d a n d grew. In S a n F r a n c i s c o

in fact, took place a t t h e Six Gallery,

F u n k p r o b a b l y owes a considerable

A b s t r a c t Expressionism, originally u n d e r

successor t o t h e a p t l y n a m e d K i n g U b u

d e b t a n d m o m e n t u m t o t h e ingenious

t h e leadership of C l y f f o r d Still a n d

Gallery. W i t h K e n n e t h R e x r o t h pre-

use of o r d i n a r y s u b j e c t m a t t e r a n d

M a r k R o t h k o , soon took a n eccentric

siding as m a s t e r of ceremonies, M i c h a e l

c o m m o n objects on t h e p a r t of R o b e r t

direction — it w a s never really a b s t r a c t

M c C l u r e , Allen Ginsberg, G a r y S n y d e r ,

Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.

for a long time. Its chief protagonists

a n d Philip W h a l e n read their poems,

B o t h R a u s c h e n b e r g a n d J o h n s , like

a m o n g t h e painters t u r n e d t o w a r d a

a n d J a c k K e r o u a c , t h e n on t h e Coast, w a s there a n d recorded it soon t h e r e a f t e r

Schwitters b e f o r e t h e m , a t t e m p t

new lyrical figuration ( D a v i d P a r k ,

t o lead a r t b a c k t o life. W h i l e avoid-

R i c h a r d Diebenkorn, E l m e r Bischoff

in The Dharma

ing t h e tedious b a n a l i t y of m a n y

were t h e m o s t p r o m i n e n t m e m b e r s of a

r e a d t o t h e a c c o m p a n i m e n t of jazz,

P o p artists, t h e F u n k sculptors similarly

whole new school of B a y Area F i g u r a -

recalls in retrospect t h e s i m u l t a n e o u s

s h a r e a general a n t i - c u l t u r a l a t t i t u d e

tive p a i n t e r s ) , or, even when t h e y

a n d wholesale rejection of t r a d i t i o n a l

p o e t r y a n d m u s i c recitations in Zurich's

r e m a i n e d superficially a b s t r a c t , t h e y did

aesthetics. T h e y t o o e n j o y a n d o f t e n

C a b a r e t Voltaire ( D a d a ' s b i r t h p l a c e )

n o t exclude symbolic forms. W i t t y ,

— b u t in S a n F r a n c i s c o it was new a n d

exploit t h e v u l g a r i t y of t h e c o n t e m p o r a r y m a n - m a d e e n v i r o n m e n t a n d speak in a visual vernacular. U n l i k e P o p art, however, t h e F u n k artist t r a n s f o r m s his s u b j e c t m a t t e r w h e n a n d if h e m a k e s use of subjects a t all. H e is n o t satisfied w i t h s i m p l y n a m i n g things a n d instead of a complete confusion of a r t a n d life, t h e F u n k artist uses images m e t a phorically a n d his work expresses t h e sense of a m b i g u i t y which is t h e chief characteristic shared b y all artistic expressions of our century. Moreover, in c o n t r a s t t o P o p a r t which as a whole w a s passive, a p a t h e t i c , a n d accepting, t h e F u n k artist belongs to a new generation which is confident, potent, a n d 5

o f t e n defiant.

Bums.

T h e b e a t poetry,

zany, a n d unexpected breast f o r m s a n d

f u l l of excitement, a n d helped bring

bulges c a n b e discovered in H a s s e l

a b o u t a kind of free environment in which

S m i t h ' s canvases, a n d d r a m a t i c a n d

F u n k , itself a c o m b i n a t i o n of s c u l p t u r e

disquietingly sensual, o f t e n phallic,

a n d painting, could flourish. A l r e a d y

configurations in F r a n k Lobdell's h e a v y

in t h e early fifties there were p r o g r a m m e d

impastos. Between 1957 a n d 1965

events (similar t o t h e later " h a p p e n -

when Lobdell was on t h e f a c u l t y of t h e

ings") in San Francisco, a n d as early as

California School of F i n e Arts (now

1951 a n exhibition u n d e r t h e title

t h e San F r a n c i s c o Art I n s t i t u t e ) ,

" C o m m o n Art A c c u m u l a t i o n s " w a s

Arlo Acton, J e r r o l d Ballaine, J o a n Brown,

held. B r u c e Conner a n d his friends in

William Geis, R o b e r t H u d s o n , J e a n

t h e R a t B a s t a r d Protective Association

Linder, a n d William W i l e y were a m o n g

p u t together e p h e m e r a l conglomerations,

his students. M a n y of t h e F u n k artists

combining all kinds of u n c o m b i n a b l e

began as painters, a n d m u c h of F u n k

things, called t h e m " F u n k , " a n d d i d n ' t

art, a l t h o u g h three-dimensional, r e m a i n s

care w h a t h a p p e n e d to t h e m .

m o r e closely related to recent traditions

T h e a r t scene in S a n F r a n c i s c o with its

in p a i n t i n g t h a n in sculpture.

peculiar general lack of s u p p o r t for

O t h e r aspects of t h e free-wheeling a n d

t h e artist m a y h a v e also sustained t h e

growth of this highly personal art. Here

primarily in bronze, others have trans-

organs placed in neat plexiglass boxes.

the artist has not yet become a popular

formed pottery into pure Funk: James

Jerrold Ballaine and Gary Molitor are

idol and, as in N e w Y o r k in the forties,

Melchert's ceramic pipes, socks,

using plastics, molded or cut and shaped

there are only a handful of successful

and globular, bumpy, suggestive objects;

by machine, which give their suggestive

galleries, a paucity of collectors, and

Manuel Neri's funny, brightly glazed,

images a hard-edged, shiny, and ultra-

meager sales; art has not become a status

child-like loops; Arneson's sexed-up

clean appearance; Don Potts' construc-

symbol. Harold Paris, who has himself

telephones; or Gilhooly's zoo, fired in the

tions are most carefully carpentered;

achieved considerable renown, recently

kiln because, as he writes, ". . . animals

M e l Henderson has created an environ-

explained this situation in his article

just seem right when done in clay."

ment in which forms suggesting snakes,

on Funk by saying:

Kenneth Price, who worked with Voulkos

entrails, or pipelines present a highly

in Los Angeles, has brought the useless

polished appearance (and are all the

pot into the realm of high funk with his

more disconcerting for that reason), as

In San Francisco and the Bay Area

beautifully crafted egg forms from

does Sue Bitney's Family

artists live among a citizenry whose chief

which germinal shapes extrude, shapes

artistic concerns are opera and topless.

which evoke divergent but related associ-

The serious artists, galleries, and mu-

ations in different spectators. M a n y

seums founder in this "Bay" of lethargy

of the Funk artists have recently

and social inertia. The artist here is

turned toward a greater formality in

aware that no one really sees his work,

their work. Even the idea of permanence

and no one really supports his work.

has occurred to them. Although neat-

So, in effect he says "Funk."

ness or sloppiness is not the issue here,

In Los Angeles art is consumed ciously—

a bargain-table

vora-

commodity.

But also he

is free. There is less pressure to "make The casual, irreverent, insincere

it."

Cali-

care in execution and more precision,

fornia atmosphere, with its absurd

partly due to a limited amount of recog-

elements — weather, clothes,

nition enjoyed b y the artists, and partly

dipping,"

hobby craft,

"skinny-

tissue, do-it-yourself

facilitated by the use of new materials—

sun-drenched

mentality, Doggie Diner, perfumed

toilet

— all this drives

all kinds of plastics, including fiberglas, vinyl, epoxy, and the polyester resins.

the artist's vision inward. This is the

Jeremy Anderson now enamels his

Land of Funk.2

redwood sculptures; Arlo Acton uses

Perhaps it is possible that K a r l Shapiro was right when he said that San Francisco is ". . . the last refuge of the Bohemian remnant." In 1959 Peter Voulkos came north from Southern California, where he had achieved an important reputation not only for the extraordinary quality of his ceramic sculpture but also for his highly funky endeavor to make useless

6

there is a general trend toward greater

pots. While Voulkos himself now works

shiny metal instead of old pieces of lumber; Robert Hudson's sculptures have consistently become more precise and

Portrait

made of colorful fabric and brightly painted wood. Much of the work currently assumes this greater interest in a wellmade finished product. But the imagery, the attitude, the feeling remain funky just the same: the same attitude of irony and wit, of delight in the visual pun, the same spirit of irreverence and absurdity prevail, even when dexterity and careful workmanship are more apparent in the finished sculpture. In fact, this precision of finish only enhances the ironic quality of the work. Alfred Jarry knew precisely what he was doing when he had King Ubu enter the stage exclaiming " M e r d r e ! " [sic.]. And, although no one has ever deciphered the meaning, what could be more perfectly composed and more readily

clear-cut; and Jean Linder's sexual

felt than:

furniture looks increasingly antiseptic.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

M o w r y Baden, whose sculpture previously had a rough and hairy finish, now produces a smooth fiberglas object like the Fountain;

and Harold Paris,

when not building his enigmatic, ritualistic rooms, makes little rubber

'David Gilhooly prefers to spell it Funck, while William Wiley seems to alternate funk with Phunk. "Harold Paris, "Sweet Land of Funk," Art in America, March 1967.

f F u n k 9 sbA Obs. Also 4 fonk, 4-7 f u n k e , 7 f o u n c k . [ C o r r e s p o n d s t o M D u . vonke ( D u . v o n k ) , O l I G . f t t n c k o ( M H G . vunke, m o d . G e r . j f a M / v ) \vk. niasc., spark; the Kng. w o r d m a y h a v e been a d a p t e d from I Hi., or it m a y represent an O E. *funca. The existence of t h e ablaut-var. M H G . vanke, m o d . G e r . dial, fanke, renders it u n l i k e l y t h a t t h e w o r d is a diminutive of the sb. represented in Cloth, by fön (gen.fztnins^üre.] 1. A spark. ( T h e sense in the quots. from R . Brunne is quite uncertain.) c. 1330 R. B R U N N E Chron. (1810) 172 pat was not worth, n fonk. Ibid. 21 r pe kyng an oth suore, He suld him venge on Steuen.. & of |-o fourtene monkes .. Be beten alle fonkes. 1390 G O W E R Con/. I I I . 18 Of lust that ilke firy funke Hath made hem aS who saith half wode. 1393 L A N G L . p. PI, C. vii. 335 For al the wrecchednesse of this worlde and wicked dedes Fareth as a fonk of fuyr that ful a-myde Teme.se. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 182 2 Funke or lytylle fyyr, igniculus, foculus. 2 . Touch-wood. Cf. PUNK, SPUNK. 1673 [see 3 ] . 1704 E . W A R D Dissenting Hypocrite 3 5 Burn it as Funk, or keep 't as Fodder. 1721 B A I L E Y , Punk, a fungy Excrescence of some Trees dress'd to strike Fire on. 1754 G O O C H in Phil. Trans. X L Y I I I . 817 They gather an excrescence, growing, .upon oaks, and call it Funk, which impregnated with nitre, is used as a match to light pipes. a 1825 in F O R B Y Voc. E. A nglia, Funk, touch-wood. 3 . Comb., as f u n k h o r n , ? a horn case containing touchwood. 1673 C H A N S O N in Col. St. Papers, Amer. fy IV. Ind. (1889) 538 A flint and ' founck horn,' which a man had put in his pocket the day before to strike fire in the night.

Punk,

sb.- Obs. [f. F U N K v.1] A strong s m e l l or stink ; a l s o , t o b a c c o s m o k e . 1623 W . C A P P S in P. A. Bruce Econ. Hist. Virginia^ 1896) I. 136 Betwixt decks there can hardlie a man fetch his breath by reason there ariseth such a funke in the night that.it causes putrefaction of bloud. a 1700 B. E. Diet. Cant. Crc'c, Punk, Tobacco Smoak ; also a strong Smell or Stink. 1725 AVw Cant. Did. s. v., What a Funk here is ! What a thick Smoak of Tobacco is here ! Here's a damn'd Funk, here's a great Stink. fig. 1659 D. P E L L Impr. Sea 491- note, I would either run out of the stinke of swearing, or make them to run out of the ship that should, .make such a filthy funke in it. F u n k ( f a g k ) , sb.3 slang. [ F i r s t m e n t i o n e d as Oxford s l a n g ; p o s s i b l y , as L y e suggests, a. F l e m i s h fonck ( K i l i a n ) , the origin of w h i c h is u n k n o w n . ] 1 . C o w e r i n g f e a r ; a state o f p a n i c or shrinking terror. Blue funk: see B L U E a. 3 . 1743 LYE in Junius' Etymologicum s.v., Funk vox Academicis Oxon. familiar i s . to be in a funk . vett. Flandris fonck est Turba, perturbatio . in de fonck siin, Turbari, tumultuari, in perturbatione versari. 1765 E. S E D G W I C K in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. C01 tint. App. 1. 390 Poor T o d d . , is said to be in a violent funk. 1785 G R O S E Diet. I'ulg. Tongue s. v., I was in a cursed funk. 1 8 2 7 D E ( ^ U I N C K Y in Black UK Mag. X X I . 204 The horrid panic or ' f u n k ' ( a s the men of Eton call it,1 in which Des Cartes must have found himself. 1 8 3 9 S I R C. N A P I K R 9 Apr. in \ V . N . Bruce Life iv. ( 1 8 8 5 ) 1 2 7 Funk is the order of the day. 1 8 6 1 T

H U G H E S Tom Brown at Oxf. xliv, There is no sign of anything like funk amongst our fellows. 1874 M . C O I L I N S Transmigr. II. xi. 183 With all my heroism, I was in a frightful funk. 2 . One w h o funks; a coward. i860 in B A R T L E T T Diet. Amcr., Funk . . 2 a coward. x888 Daily Tel. 13 Apr. 5/2 The public opinion among youth would..dub a ' fellow ' a ' funk

I Funk

FOQK), sbA Sc. and north, [f. F U N K V / > ] 1. A kick. 1808-80 in J A M I E S O N . 1838 J . H A L L E Y in Life (1842) 145 He placed his hand .. unluckily just on the spot where Mr. Pony is rather touchy. Sundry vehement funks .. were the immediate consequence. 2 . I l l - h u m o u r , passion. 1808-80 J A M I K S O N s. v.. In a funk, in a surly state, 1or in a fit of passion. Loth. 1892 Northnmbld. Gloss, s. v., The gaffer's in a fine funk ] Funk f»gk;, v. slang. [perh. a. F . dial. funkier = O V .funkier, fungier:—L. *fumicare (It. ftvnicare •, fumigare, i.fumns s m o k e . (FUNK sb.'1, though a p p . f. this vL>., is recorded earlier. "1. trans. T o b l o w s m o k e u p o n (a p e r s o n ) ; t o a n n o y w i t h §moke. 1699 W. K I N G Funnetry iii. 56 What with strong smoke, and with his stronger breath, He funks Basketia and her son to death. 1719 D ' U R F E Y Pills VI. 303 H e . .with a sober Dose Of Coffee funks his Nose. 1753 S M O L L K T T Ct. Fathom (1784 119/1 He proposed that we should retire into a corner, and funk one another with brimstone. 1785 G R O ^ K Diet. Vulg. 'Tongue s. v., To funk the cobbler, a school boy's trick, performed with assa fcetida and cotton, which are stuffed into a pipe, .and .the smoke is blown, .through the crannies of a cobler's stall. 1835 M A R R Y A T Jae. Faithfi xxv. Do look how the old gentleman is funking Mary, and casting sheep's eyes at her through the smoke. 1840 B A R H A M Ingol. Leg., Spec!re Tapping!on, An arrangement happily adapted for the escape of the noxious fumes up the chimney, without that unmerciful ' f u n k i n g ' each other, which a less scientific disposition of the weed would have induced. b . T o s m o k e a pipe, t o b a c c o ) . + A l s o , t o b l o w ( t o b a c c o s m o k e ) on (a person^. a 1704 T. B R O W N Inscript. Tobacco-box Wks. 1730 I . 65 Since Jove . . Gives us the Indian weed to funk. 1733 Revolution Politicks it. 67 When the King was upon his Trial, {lid not the Soldiers funk Tobacco in on the King as he sat, to offend him. 1764 T. B R Y D G E S Homer Trarest. (17971 II. 54 Where a round dozen pipes they funk, And then return to town dead drunk. 1791 H U D D E S F O R D Salinas. 114 A pipe I did funk. c . intr. T o smoke. 1829 H. M U R R A Y N. Amer. I. iv. 211 T h e grain having funked for six and twenty weeks in the ship's hold. 1832 W. S T E P H E N S O N Gateshead Local Poems 29 At Jenny Brown's she'd smoke and funk. 1855 B R O W N I N G Fra Lippo 174 My straw-fire flared and funked. X 8 6 O B A K T L K T T Diet. Amer. s. v., When the smoke puffs out from a chimney place or stove, we say 'it funks'. 2 . T o causo an offensive s m e l l . 1708 M O T T E I ' X Rabelais iv. xxxii. 92. 1829 B R O C K E T T N. C. fiords, Funky to smoke or rather to cause an offensive smell. H c n c e F i r n k i n g ppl. a. 1700 S. P A R K E R Six Pkilos. Ess. 54 Many a funking Boor may have had his Pipe lighted by a Flash. Funk (FOQK), v.- slang. [ B e l o n g s t o F U N K 1. intr. T o flinch or shrink t h r o u g h fear; to* s h o w t h e w h i t e f e a t h e r t r y t o b a c k out o f a n y t h i n g . 1737-9 H . W A L P O L E Lett. (1886) 1 . 1 5 T h e last time I saw him here [Eton!, was standing up funking over against a conduit to be catechised. 1813 L D . C A M P B E L L Let. Apr. in Life (1881) I. 295, I funk before Ellenborough as much as ever. I almost despair of ever acquiring a sufficient degree 'of confidence before him to put me in possession of my faculties. 1847 Illustr. Lond. News 27 Nov. 360/2 It occurred to me that the change of temperature would be ; disagreeable, and I rather funked. 1848 L O W E L L Bigloiv P. Ser. 1. ix. Poems 1890,1!. T37 T o Funk right out o' p'lit'eal ' strife aint thought to be the thing. 1885 R U N C I M A N ^ ' / ^ T E R I «V Sh. 79, I hope you will not think I am funking.

2 . trans. T o fight s h y of, w i s h or try t o shirk or e v a d e (an undertaking, d u t y , etc.). A l s o , to funk it 1857 K I N G S L E Y Two Y. Ago I I I . 103 He'll have funked it, when he comes to the edge, and sees nothing but mist l8& H l - , j A M E S / ^ r ' L a d > * l v ' Not that he liked g o o d - b y e s - h e always funked them. 3 . i o fear, be afraid o f (a p e r s o n ) . 1836-48 B D. W A L S H Aristoph., Knights 154 The rich men fear him, And he is funked by all the poorer cl«