Contemporary Folk Art: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum opens today at the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington.
Beast Going through the Grass, by Ulysses Davis, is one of seventy works in the show made by self-taught artists.
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Contemporary Folk Art: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum opens today at the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington.
Beast Going through the Grass, by Ulysses Davis, is one of seventy works in the show made by self-taught artists.
Ulysses Davis, a railroad worker and barber from Savannah, Georgia, developed his wood-carving skill on his own over a period of more than fifty years. He carved portraits of historical and biblical figures, realistic animals, and fanciful portraits of African tribal leaders, as well as dragon-like beasts. Despite persistent pleas from art collectors and dealers, Davis refused to sell his works during his lifetime, making very few exceptions. "They are part of me," he insisted. He called them his "treasure," and said, "If I sold these, I'd be really poor."
Source: Tom Patterson. Contemporary Folk Art: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (New York and Washington, D.C.: Watson-Guptill Publications, in cooperation with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2001).
Pictured: Ulysses Davis, 1913–1990, Beast Going through the Grass, about 1984–1985, carved and painted wood with rhinestones, 35 1/8 x 9 5/8 x 6 3/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson.