150747259Clark Coe18471919ClarkCoehttps://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/2550/fullClark Coe, a farmer and basketmaker from Killingworth, Connecticut, who also sold ax handles in nearby New Haven, constructed a large, ingenious assemblage of articulated outdoor figures in a clearing next to a stream on his property; only a handful of them still exist. The creation of the fantastic animated environment, known locally as the Killingworth Images, is thought to have begun with Coe’s desire to amuse a disabled nephew or to entertain his grandchildren. A waterwheel powered the original group of approximately forty figures. Coe assembled the individual parts of each figure from old barrel staves, carved tree trunks and natural limbs, and driftwood, and embellished them with paint, nails, discarded clothing and ribbon, and scraps of metal. Following Coe’s death in 1919, a man named Parmalee took over the property and attempted to manage the recreational environment with donations he received. By the end of the following year, however, he abandoned the project. Like other fragile folk forms, the figures fell into disrepair; the environment was dismantled and stored by the Killingworth Historical Society and eventually sold as individual figures in the 1960s.Lee Kogan, "Musician With Lute," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 362.(1847–1919)MadisonKillingworthMadisonKillingworthMadisonKillingworthClark Coe