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McClung Museum: Exhibition, The Sculpture of William Edmondson
Opening at the McClung Museum on the UT campus on Friday, January 13, is a special exhibition, The Sculpture of William Edmondson: Tombstones, Garden Ornaments, and Stonework.
Edmondson (1874-1951) was a Tennessee-born African American sculptor known in his lifetime for his carved grave markers for African American families and for a significant amount of yard art objects that embraced ideas from nature as well as animal and human forms.
Living in the Nashville area for his entire life, Edmondson started his own business in 1932 and quickly became known in local neighborhoods there for his creations. A photographer for Harper’s Bazaar, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, saw his works and photographed them, later showing the photos to Alfred Barr, the director of New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. In 1937, Edmondson received a one-man show at MOMA, the first solo show there by an African American artist. Some of Dahl-Wolfe’s photographs of Edmondson’s work can be seen in this exhibition.
The show features twelve of Edmondson’s sculptures in a scaled-down version of the original exhibition by the Cheekwood Estate and Garden in Nashville, Marin R. Sullivan, curator-at-large. This exhibition has been sponsored by the University of Tennessee Division of Diversity and Engagement.
McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture
1327 Circle Park Drive, Knoxville, on the UT Campus
Open Tuesday – Saturday 9 AM–5 PM
The exhibition runs from January 13, 2023, to May 14, 2023
Admission is FREE, but Registration is required
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