Imperial Valley in Imperial County near Karboul Mounds California

Joseph E. Yoakum, Imperial Valley in Imperial County near Karboul Mounds California, 1966, colored pencil and ballpoint pen on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.223
Copied Joseph E. Yoakum, Imperial Valley in Imperial County near Karboul Mounds California, 1966, colored pencil and ballpoint pen on paper, 11 7⁄8 x 17 7⁄8 in. (30.3 x 45.3 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.223

Artwork Details

Title
Imperial Valley in Imperial County near Karboul Mounds California
Artist
Date
1966
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
11 7⁄8 x 17 7⁄8 in. (30.3 x 45.3 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums
Mediums Description
colored pencil and ballpoint pen on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — valley — Imperial Valley
  • Landscape — California — Imperial County
  • Landscape — mountain — Karboul Mounds
Object Number
1986.65.223
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1986.65.223

Artwork Description

Joseph Yoakum was born in 1890 with both African American and Native American ancestry and in his own words, "was born knowing how to draw." He joined the circus when he was a young boy, caring for the horses. He loved life on the road and worked for a number of the big railroad shows, including Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West and the Ringling Brothers circus. After serving in World War I, Yoakum led an itinerant life until settling near family in Chicago in the late 1930s. Yoakum said a dream led him to drawing the many landscapes he had seen, which he did in in a stylized fusion of the real and the fantastic. Of them he said, "My drawings are a spiritual unfoldment."