David Butler’s sculptural pieces made from cut and hammered tin and found objects were designed to move, with spinning pinwheels and waving flaps set in motion by the wind. The weathered texture of the polychromatic paint on the metal of these whirligigs and kinetic sculptures recalls how they were made for the outdoors, as Butler added them to his fence and attached them to freestanding posts in the yard, and even used them as screens on his windows. Reflective details provided another element that shifted with the time of day and the weather, and the window screens also cast elaborate shadows in his house when the sun shone through. Along with cutout hearts and stars, biblical scenes, icons such as the Statue of Liberty, and local animals such as roosters and fish, Butler made more fantastic depictions of dragons and multi-headed monsters.
Butler never created these objects with the intention that they would leave his property, which he intended to beautify with his handmade decorations. As he stated in 1983, “I make things to put in the yard and I paint them, so I can look out my window and always see pretty things.” He was born in 1898 and grew up in the small town of Good Hope, Louisiana, just west of New Orleans along the Mississippi River. His father was a carpenter, and his mother was a Baptist missionary. She died when he was still young, and he dropped out of school to help care for his seven siblings. He later moved to Patterson, Louisiana, working in sawmills, on the railroads, and in other jobs. After an injury in 1962, he retired, and his wife died in 1968. Enhancing his home became a way to channel his energy, as he had enjoyed drawing since he was a child. His work comes from a tradition of yard shows in the American South, a practice that some scholars connect to the spirituality and symbolism of African funeral rituals brought to the country by enslaved people.
Butler came to wider attention through a 1976 show at the New Orleans Museum of Art and then in the 1982 exhibition Black Folk Art in America, 1930–1980 at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. This led to many of his works being stolen from his yard, and until he died, in 1997, he maintained that he had no interest in marketing his work.
Allison C. Meier, 2025
Text written as part of “Rethinking Biography,” an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
