Untitled

Simon Sparrow, Untitled, ca. 1968-1983, glitter, molded plastic, jewelry, shell, beads, and found objects on wood; artist-made painted wood frame, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson, 2016.38.69
Simon Sparrow, Untitled, ca. 1968-1983, glitter, molded plastic, jewelry, shell, beads, and found objects on wood; artist-made painted wood frame, 33 × 35 in. (83.8 × 88.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson, 2016.38.69

Artwork Details

Title
Untitled
Artist
Date
ca. 1968-1983
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
33 × 35 in. (83.8 × 88.9 cm)
Credit Line
The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson
Mediums Description
glitter, molded plastic, jewelry, shell, beads, and found objects on wood; artist-made painted wood frame
Classifications
Subjects
  • Abstract
Object Number
2016.38.69
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2016.38.69

Artwork Description

Simon Sparrow was born in West Africa to a Yoruban father and Native American mother, and raised in the Great Smoky Mountains, where his maternal grandfather lived among the Eastern Band of Cherokees. Sparrow felt a deep connection to the natural world and began a spiritual journey when he was just a boy. He preached the Pentecost and called himself a child of God, noting: “You is saved by God, by the Son, by the Holy Ghost. Not by no religion. Religion is man-made.” Sparrow’s shimmering works center on faces and creatures surrounded with geometric forms conveying, as he explained, the spiritual essences of the ancestors.
(We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection, 2022)

Works by this artist (314 items)

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Henry Wolf, Portrait of a Lady, 1906, wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1973.130.228
Portrait of a Lady
Artist
Date1906
wood engraving on paper
Not on view
Henry Wolf, Mrs. Alexander Campbell, 1913, photomechanical wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1973.130.282
Mrs. Alexander Campbell
Artist
Date1913
photomechanical wood engraving on paper
Not on view
Henry Wolf, Mrs. Deborah Franklin, 1898, wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1973.130.160
Mrs. Deborah Franklin
Artist
Date1898
wood engraving on paper
Not on view
Henry Wolf, Miss Eleanor Gordon, 1908, photomechanical wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1973.130.238
Miss Eleanor Gordon
Artist
Date1908
photomechanical wood engraving on paper
Not on view

Exhibitions

Media - 2016.38.43R-V - SAAM-2016.38.43R-V_2 - 126225
We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection
July 1, 2022–March 26, 2023
Smithsonian American Art Museum
We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection traces the rise of self-taught artists in the twentieth century and examines how, despite wide-ranging societal, racial, and gender-based obstacles, their creativity and

More Artworks from the Collection

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Edward Sachse, Smithsonian Institute, ca. 1855, hand-colored lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Al Marzorini in honor of Harry Lowe, 2019.23
Smithsonian Institute
Artist
Dateca. 1855
hand-colored lithograph
Not on view
Image Not Available
Marching As to War
Artist
Daten.d.
color etching
Not on view
Image Not Available
Pharoh’s Horses
Artist
Unidentified (British)
Daten.d.
engraving
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Image Not Available
(Famous Paintings, portfolio) A Pathetic Ballad
Artist
Daten.d.
Not on view