Triumph of the Egg

Jeremy Anderson, Triumph of the Egg, 1970, assembled, painted and shellacked wood, fiberglass and sand, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak, 1983.92.1
Copied Jeremy Anderson, Triumph of the Egg, 1970, assembled, painted and shellacked wood, fiberglass and sand, 20 x 16 x 6 3⁄4 in. (50.8 x 40.6 x 17.1 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak, 1983.92.1

Artwork Details

Title
Triumph of the Egg
Artist
Date
1970
Location
Dimensions
20 x 16 x 6 3⁄4 in. (50.8 x 40.6 x 17.1 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak
Mediums
Mediums Description
assembled, painted and shellacked wood, fiberglass and sand
Classifications
Subjects
  • Fantasy
  • Figure — fragment — arm
  • Object — foodstuff — egg
Object Number
1983.92.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1983.92.1

Artwork Description

The title of this piece probably refers to Sherwood Anderson's 1921 "The Triumph of the Egg." In the short story, the narrator tells how the egg spoils his family's hopes for success, first as chicken farmers and later as restaurateurs. The triumph of the egg is the continuous cycle of "the chicken and the egg," which leads the narrator to ponder the meaning of life. Jeremy Anderson (no relation to the author) depicts a human hand coming out of a speckled egg. Keeping the story in mind, we might suspect that the eggshell in this piece imprisons a person and that the hand calls for help or searches for an escape. The sculpture may also be a metaphor for Anderson's birth, since the short story was published the same year the artist was born.