Elephant

Elijah Pierce, Elephant, ca. 1978, painted and carved wood, pebbles, plastic, and rhinestone, 17 1⁄2 × 4 × 11 7⁄8 in. (44.5 × 10.2 × 30.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson, 2016.38.60

Artwork Details

Title
Elephant
Artist
Date
ca. 1978
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
17 1⁄2 × 4 × 11 7⁄8 in. (44.5 × 10.2 × 30.2 cm)
Credit Line
The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson
Mediums Description
painted and carved wood, pebbles, plastic, and rhinestone
Classifications
Subjects
  • Animal — elephant
Object Number
2016.38.60
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2016.38.60

Artwork Description

Elijah Pierce was a lay preacher who understood the power of making his sermons visible, which he did by carving parables, moral tales, and tributes into bas-relief wood panels and small sculptures. One year he carved this small elephant as a gift for his wife’s birthday. She was so taken with it, he promised her an entire zoo. For Pierce, the carved and painted animals evoked stories, sometimes beasts from the Book of Genesis, other times creatures from the folktales of his youth.
(We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection, 2022)

Works by this artist (5 items)

View all artworks
Elijah Pierce, Christ Carrying the Cross, ca. 1972, carved, painted and varnished wood with glitter mounted on painted corrugated cardboard with paper collage, painted stones and glitter, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.260
Christ Carrying the Cross
Artist
Dateca. 1972
carved, painted and varnished wood with glitter mounted on painted corrugated cardboard with paper collage, painted stones and glitter
On view
Elijah Pierce, Peace with Honor, 1973, painted wood, glitter, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of David L. Davies, 1992.37.4
Peace with Honor
Artist
Date1973
painted wood, glitter
Not on view
Elijah Pierce, Elephant, ca. 1978, painted and carved wood, pebbles, plastic, and rhinestone, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson, 2016.38.60
Elephant
Artist
Dateca. 1978
painted and carved wood, pebbles, plastic, and rhinestone
Not on view
Elijah Pierce, Your Life Is a Book and Every Day Is a Page, 1973, carved and painted wood with glitter, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.261
Your Life Is a Book and Every Day Is a Page
Artist
Date1973
carved and painted wood with glitter
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

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Lapstrake I
Artist
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John Safer, Chandelle, 1969, revised 2013, Lucite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2007.23
Chandelle
Artist
Date1969, revised 2013
Lucite
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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