Where Life Comes From

Ulysses Davis, Where Life Comes From, ca. 1950-1990, carved and stained wood, 11 3⁄4 × 2 3⁄4 × 4 3⁄4 in. (29.8 × 7.0 × 12.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson, 2016.38.23

Artwork Details

Title
Where Life Comes From
Artist
Date
ca. 1950-1990
Location
Dimensions
11 3⁄4 × 2 3⁄4 × 4 3⁄4 in. (29.8 × 7.0 × 12.1 cm)
Credit Line
The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson
Mediums Description
carved and stained wood
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure
  • Allegory — life
Object Number
2016.38.23
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2016.38.23

Artwork Description

Davis often fashioned his own tools, and learning on his own, he became a highly skilled carver. He tackled time-honored challenges of whittling, from the common walking cane to more flashy endeavors like the “ball in cage,” an esteemed technique among whittlers that demonstrates painstakingly acquired skills. The carver removes wood from a solid block bit by bit, until it results in a sort of visual magic trick: a sphere trapped inside a rectangular cage. Davis carved Sputnik just after the Soviet Union launched the first Earth-orbiting satellite—Sputnik 1—beating the United States to this space age feat and deepening Cold War tensions between these nation-rivals.
(We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection, 2022)

Works by this artist (9 items)

View all artworks
Ulysses Davis, Untitled (Hart/Heart), ca. 1950-1960, carved wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2015.48
Untitled (Hart/​Heart)
Artist
Dateca. 1950-1960
carved wood
On view
Ulysses Davis, Sputnik, ca. 1957, carved and stained wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson, 2016.38.22
Sputnik
Artist
Dateca. 1957
carved and stained wood
On view
Ulysses Davis, Where Life Comes From, ca. 1950-1990, carved and stained wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson, 2016.38.23
Where Life Comes From
Artist
Dateca. 1950-1990
carved and stained wood
On view
Ulysses Davis, Headhunter, ca. 1950-1990, carved and painted wood and rhinestones, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson, 2016.38.20
Headhunter
Artist
Dateca. 1950-1990
carved and painted wood and rhinestones
On view

More Artworks from the Collection

Browse All Artworks
Jesús Moroles, Lapstrake I, 1980, Georgia gray granite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alton and Emily Steiner, 2002.82
Lapstrake I
Artist
Date1980
Georgia gray granite
Not on view
John Safer, Chandelle, 1969, revised 2013, Lucite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2007.23
Chandelle
Artist
Date1969, revised 2013
Lucite
Not on view
Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Shell), early 1930s, mixed media: paperboard, paper, shells, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, 1985.64.37
Untitled (Shell)
Artist
Dateearly 1930s
mixed media: paperboard, paper, shells
Not on view
Emery Blagdon, The Healing Machine, ca. 1955-1986, mixed media, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and gift of Dan Dryden, friend of Emery Blagdon, the Kohler Foundation, Inc., and John E. and Douglas O. Robson, from the Margaret Z. Robson Collection, VR.2014.49.GRP
The Healing Machine
Artist
Dateca. 1955-1986
mixed media
On view