Object Details
- Artist
- Elijah Pierce, born Baldwyn, MS 1892-died Columbus, OH 1984
- Exhibition Label
- 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)
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson
- ca. 1978
- Object number
- 2016.38.60
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Sculpture
- Folk Art
- Medium
- painted and carved wood, pebbles, plastic, and rhinestone
- Dimensions
- 17 1/2 × 4 × 11 7/8 in. (44.5 × 10.2 × 30.2 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Animal\elephant
- Record ID
- saam_2016.38.60
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7b3913d56-97aa-405e-9944-d3e56ba741e2
