William Edmondson

WILLIAM EDMONDSON (1874 - 1951) Squirrel. Stone, circa 1940. Approximately 476x330x127 mm; 18 3/4x13x5inches. Provenance: purchased directly from the artist by the owner's lategrandmother, Nashville, circa 1940-45; thence by descent to thecurrent owner. The original owners of this squirrel had a pair thatguarded the front entrance of their Nashville home in the late1940s. This squirrel is a striking work by this important self-taughtsculptor, and an excellent example of the remarkable animals andfigures he carved out of stone. A native of Nashville and the sonof former slaves, William Edmondson opened a yard to carvetombstones from mostly reclaimed limestone curbstones in the early1930s. He first carved memorial figures of lambs and doves and thenmore expressive preachers, angels, rams, horses, lions, and otheranimals. Within the dimensions of the curbstone, Edmondson was ableto simplify the forms of animals and figures to convey great powerand character. He was "discovered" in 1934-35 by Sidney Hirsch ofVanderbilt University, and in 1936, his friends brought thephotographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe to visit and shoot Edmondson atwork. He was then brought to the attention of Alfred H. Barr, Jr.,and Edmondson became the first African-American artist to be givena solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1937.The Cheekwood Museum of Art in Nashville, with the largestcollection of Edmondson sculpture, organized a retrospectiveexhibition, which traveled nationally in 2000-2001.Bearden/Henderson pp. 349-352. Estimate $40,000-60,000

WILLIAM EDMONDSON (c.1870-1951) Squirrel limestone 13½ x 5 x 7½ in. (34.5 x 12.5 x 19 cm.) Provenance Acquired from the above by present owner, 1941. Exhibited Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville Art Gallery,American Negr Art:19th and 20th Centuries, 1941.