Lady with Muffc. 194015 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 6 3/4 " (39.4 x 16.5 x 17.1 cm)LimestoneGift of Ralph Esmerian2013.1.540Standing figure of woman holding oblong object, possibly muff, between hands. Wearing low-cut dress that trails to ground behind, blockish hair with texture chiseled into stone.1547693970P1.2001.344William EdmondsonSculptureCopyright for this work is under review. NashvilleNashvilleUnited StatesTennesseeThree Dimensional WorksNashvilleanthology
Folk Art Magazine, Spring 1995, "William Edmondson," Jack Lindsey, ill. p. 43.William Edmondson held jobs as a railroad worker, hospital janitor, porter, and stonemason’s helper in his hometown of Nashville. After leaving his job as a hospital orderly in the late 1920s, Edmondson experienced a vision in which God commanded him to carve tombstones. The artist recalled, “…I was out in the driveway with some old pieces of stone when I heard a voice telling me to pick up my tools and start to work on a tombstone. I looked up in the sky and right there in the noon daylight, He hung a tombstone out for me to make. I knowed it was God telling me what to do.” Inspired by this revelation, Edmondson carved tombstones using a handmade hammer, a chisel, and recycled limestone blocks. It was not long before he started exploring other forms, particularly figurative sculpture. Deftly pared down to virtually abstract geometric shapes, the forms in this sculpture of a woman wonderfully contrast with the variegated texture the artist worked into the limestone surface. Edmondson’s chisel (a recycled railroad spike) created a chip-carved texture in the bob-cut hairdo. This lady’s dress is delicately carved to emulate patterns in fabric. The simple shift has a raised, shorter hemline in front to expose shapely legs—a lovely and flirtatious device Edmondson employs to show some flesh in several of his feminine sculptures. It is also a risky sculptural solution, considering he is forcing more weight to bear on the lower half of his stone sculpture. William Edmondson, who lost his hospital job at the onset of the Great Depression, claimed to have experienced a heavenly vision in the early 1930s, citing a disembodied voice instructing him to gather his tools and begin to work on a tombstone. As he poetically testified: “I looked up in the sky and right there in the noon daylight, He hung a tombstone out for me to make.” A devout member of the United Primitive Baptist Church, Edmondson promptly complied with this divine directive, and soon the yard behind his house began to fill up with limestone tombstones and sculptures. He regularly referred to his works as “miracles.” Lady with Muff is one of several similar female forms he carved, each with a distinct personality. The figure is fashionably attired in a scoop-neck gown that goes from mid-length in the front to floor-length in the back, and she clasps what appears to be a muff. The contours of her bobbed hair echo the curve of her hemline. The interplay of the deeply incised hair and patterned gown with the smoothness of the face, arms, and legs demonstrates skillfully crafted contrasts. With the large head, the fullness of the hair, and the chunky hands in relation to the smallness of the body, facial features, and shoes, the artist displays his characteristic liberty with scale.
Valérie Rousseau, “Lady with Muff,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgP1.2001.34419351945 2013 1 54 William Edmondson held jobs as a railroad worker, hospital janitor, porter, and stonemason’s helper in his hometown of Nashville. After leaving his job as a hospital orderly in the late 1920s, Edmondson experienced a vision in which God commanded him to carve tombstones. The artist recalled, “…I was out in the driveway with some old pieces of stone when I heard a voice telling me to pick up my tools and start to work on a tombstone. I looked up in the sky and right there in the noon daylight, He hung a tombstone out for me to make. I knowed it was God telling me what to do.” Inspired by this revelation, Edmondson carved tombstones using a handmade hammer, a chisel, and recycled limestone blocks. It was not long before he started exploring other forms, particularly figurative sculpture. Deftly pared down to virtually abstract geometric shapes, the forms in this sculpture of a woman wonderfully contrast with the variegated texture the artist worked into the limestone surface. Edmondson’s chisel (a recycled railroad spike) created a chip-carved texture in the bob-cut hairdo. This lady’s dress is delicately carved to emulate patterns in fabric. The simple shift has a raised, shorter hemline in front to expose shapely legs—a lovely and flirtatious device Edmondson employs to show some flesh in several of his feminine sculptures. It is also a risky sculptural solution, considering he is forcing more weight to bear on the lower half of his stone sculpture. William Edmondson, who lost his hospital job at the onset of the Great Depression, claimed to have experienced a heavenly vision in the early 1930s, citing a disembodied voice instructing him to gather his tools and begin to work on a tombstone. As he poetically testified: “I looked up in the sky and right there in the noon daylight, He hung a tombstone out for me to make.” A devout member of the United Primitive Baptist Church, Edmondson promptly complied with this divine directive, and soon the yard behind his house began to fill up with limestone tombstones and sculptures. He regularly referred to his works as “miracles.” Lady with Muff is one of several similar female forms he carved, each with a distinct personality. The figure is fashionably attired in a scoop-neck gown that goes from mid-length in the front to floor-length in the back, and she clasps what appears to be a muff. The contours of her bobbed hair echo the curve of her hemline. The interplay of the deeply incised hair and patterned gown with the smoothness of the face, arms, and legs demonstrates skillfully crafted contrasts. With the large head, the fullness of the hair, and the chunky hands in relation to the smallness of the body, facial features, and shoes, the artist displays his characteristic liberty with scale.
Valérie Rousseau, “Lady with Muff,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org