William Edmondson (1870-1951)

Birdbath Sculpture w. female figures front and verso, c. 1940

Nashville, Tennessee

Media:  Carved Tennessee Limestone

Dimensions:  32 x 27 x 13 inches

More images of Edmondson sculpture

William Edmondson, the child of freed slaves, is among the most acclaimed of sculptors in America.  Like so many Black men of his times, he started adulthood as a menial laborer, yet he became the first Black artist to be given a one person exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.  His classic works are timeless, simple yet sophisticated, beautiful and intuitively Brancusi-like.  Most of his work now resides in the major museums of this country.  Whatever the artist touched, his fundamental religious beliefs, his simple straightforward style, and his inner visions were added to the stone.

Exhibition History:

William Edmondson: Tennessee State Museum Retrospective, 1981-Nashville, TN Illustrated p. 87, in exhibition catalog.

Cheekwood Museum of Art, 1999, Nashville, TN, Illustrated in The Art of William Edmondson, catalogue number, 55, p200.     (Excerpt from entry- Birdbaths remain Edmondson's most technically demanding and visually complex works of art. Seen in this, possibly Edmondson's best birdbath, is the stunning bows that surround the caryatid.)

Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY

Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

The Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, Orlando, FL, 2000-01

Reflections From a Looking Glass

John Balsley, Don Baum, “Snowflake” Bentley, Orly Cogan, Don Colley, Eric Daigh, Henry Darger, Mark Dennis, William Edmondson, Lee Godie, Cameron Gray, Aristotle Georgiades, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Rick Hards,  Irene Hardwick-Olivieri,  Alicia Henry, Hernandez de Luna, Kahn/Selesnick,  Leonard Koscianski,  Keith Kostecki, ,  Martin Mull, Jan Petry, David Sharpe, Hollis Sigler,  Sueng Wook Sim, Elizabeth Shreve, Simon Sparrow, Bill Steber, Bill Traylor, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Chris Ware, Albert Zahn and Mary Lou Zelazny

Exhibition Dates:  January 6 – February 18, 2012

Opening Reception:  Friday, January 6, 6:00 – 8:00 P.M.

Weary, 2011

Aristotle Georgiades

Re-purposed wood ladder

39 x 52 x 22 inches

2012, the beginning of a New Year, and an opportunity to look both back at our past and forward to one’s future.  Reflections From A Looking Glass attempts to do just that.  Carl Hammer Gallery is pleased to present artists we haven’t seen in a while, but who, nevertheless, have had an instrumental role in helping to determine who we are today.   The process of looking back provides us with the refreshing opportunity of a re-introduction of some familiar faces not seen in the gallery’s recent programming.  Like opening a bottle of one’s favorite wine, uncorking work by many gallery favorite vintages including  Mark Dennis, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Rick Hards and Hollis Sigler highlight the group.

It is also especially rewarding re-examining some very early works of (all classic names to Chicago) artists like Don Baum, Henry Darger, Lee Godie, David Sharpe, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Chris Ware, Karl Wirsum and Mary Lou Zelazny, and to savor once again the brilliance of the early bodies of work by each of these artists.

Finally, we are thrilled to welcome Irene Hardwick-Olivieri back to the gallery after several years of absence from us.  She is scheduled for a gallery exhibition in the spring of 2013.  Equally energizing to our “new artists” list is the inclusion of Artistotle Georgiades’ “repurposed” sculpture pieces which exude a strong sense of animate spirit, grace and elegance. 

It is reward enough to be surrounded by the likes of the above list of artists.  Our mission is to continue on in the spirit of that which they collectively represent to us and in the communication of the invention of the visual language we call art that they offer up to the world at large.