The Beginning of Life in the Yellow Jungle

Thornton Dial, Sr., The Beginning of Life in the Yellow Jungle, 2003, plastic soda bottles, doll, clothing, bedding, wire, found metal, rubber glove, turtle shell, artificial flowers, Splash Zone compound, enamel, and spray paint on canvas on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Partial gift of Debbie Simon and Tim Grumbacher and museum purchase, 2020.80
Thornton Dial, Sr., The Beginning of Life in the Yellow Jungle, 2003, plastic soda bottles, doll, clothing, bedding, wire, found metal, rubber glove, turtle shell, artificial flowers, Splash Zone compound, enamel, and spray paint on canvas on wood, 75 x 112 x 13 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Partial gift of Debbie Simon and Tim Grumbacher and museum purchase, 2020.80

Artwork Details

Title
The Beginning of Life in the Yellow Jungle
Artist
Date
2003
Location
Dimensions
75 x 112 x 13 in.
Credit Line
Partial gift of Debbie Simon and Tim Grumbacher and museum purchase
Mediums
Mediums Description
plastic soda bottles, doll, clothing, bedding, wire, found metal, rubber glove, turtle shell, artificial flowers, Splash Zone compound, enamel, and spray paint on canvas on wood
Classifications
Subjects
  • Allegory — life
Object Number
2020.80
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2020.80

Artwork Description

"When I start making something, I gather up the pieces I want to work with," Thornton Dial once explained. "Everything I pick up be something that done did somebody some good in their lifetime. . . . When you make things beautiful out of another person's ideas, it make the world more beautiful."

Dial mastered the art of speaking through objects--he gathered, combined, and painted them to create artworks that ask us to look closely and think carefully. Here, he invokes a jungle landscape, a place where survival can be hard. In Dial's junglescape, wild and urban realms are indistinguishable: plastic cups and bottles are plants, rubber gloves and rags are vines. The entire scene is conjured from something found, repurposed, and reimagined.

Across nine decades in Alabama, Dial experienced racism and oppression firsthand, but he discovered that he could speak freely through artmaking. Dial's critiques of race relations were often somber, dark in color and mood. Yet here, warm hues shower the day in optimism; polarized divisions of black and white give way to a sunny palette of possibility.

Works by this artist (23 items)

View all artworks
Loïs Mailou Jones, Les Fétiches, 1938, oil on linen, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Mrs. Norvin H. Green, Dr. R. Harlan, and Francis Musgrave, 1990.56
Les Fétiches
Artist
Date1938
oil on linen
On view
Loïs Mailou Jones, Suriname, 1982, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 2006.24.6
Suriname
Artist
Date1982
acrylic on canvas
Not on view
Loïs Mailou Jones, Jardin du Luxembourg, ca. 1948, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Gladys P. Payne in honor of Alice P. Moore, 1990.7
Jardin du Luxembourg
Artist
Dateca. 1948
oil on canvas
Not on view
Loïs Mailou Jones, Shapes and Colors, 1958, watercolor on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 2006.24.21
Shapes and Colors
Artist
Date1958
watercolor on paper
Not on view