Unidentified, IOOF Lodge Hall Carving, 20th century, carved and painted wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., 1998.84.42
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Artwork Details
- Title
- IOOF Lodge Hall Carving
- Artist
- Unidentified
- Date
- 20th century
- Location
- Not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr.
- Mediums Description
- carved and painted wood
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Object — written matter
- Figure — head
- Fantasy
- Object Number
- 1998.84.42
Artwork Description
This carving was made to hang in an Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) lodge. The Odd Fellows date back to twelfth-century England, when people of the same trade formed unions for political or economic influence. In small towns, there were not enough people of any one trade, so groups of people from “an odd assortment of trades” joined together (The Odd Fellows Web site U.K.). The earliest recorded evidence suggests that the first Odd Fellows meeting was held in 1748 in a London tavern. Today, there are many Odd Fellows lodges around the world, from Iceland to Venezuela to New Zealand.
