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Edgar Tolson

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Name
  
Edgar Tolson


Edgar Tolson httpssmediacacheak0pinimgcom736xf45988

Born
  
June 24, 1904
Lee City, Wolfe County, Kentucky

Known for
  
Woodcarver, folk artist

Notable work
  
"Fall of Man" cycle, carvings portraying the story of Adam and Eve

Died
  
1984, Campton, Kentucky, United States

17. A GIFT OF NATURE


Edgar Tolson (1904–1984) was a woodcarver from Kentucky who became a well-known folk artist.

Edgar Tolson Edgar Tolson Edgar Tolson 19041984 Pinterest Edgar

He was born in Lee City, Wolfe County, Kentucky as the fourth of eleven children and educated through the sixth grade. He worked as a carpenter and stonemason and was married twice, fathering eighteen children in all. From his youth, woodcarving was always a hobby of his. Although Tolson began working in the tradition of the Appalachian woodcarvers before him, after suffering a stroke in 1957, he became a full-time woodcarver and artist, and his subject matter grew increasingly idiosyncratic.

Edgar Tolson Edgar Tolson Artist Fine Art Prices Auction Records for Edgar Tolson

Tolson first came to national attention through the Grassroots Craftsmen, an initiative of Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty that helped Appalachian craftspeople to sell their works. Ralph Rinzler of the Smithsonian Institution was impressed by Tolson's figures, and included them in the 1971 Festival of American Folklife. University of Kentucky professor Michael Hall also became Tolson's primary dealer at this time, and his work was included in the 1973 Whitney Biennial.

Edgar Tolson American Folk Art Cooperstown Edgar Tolson Kentucky Gothic

Tolson is best known for his "Fall of Man" cycle, a series of carvings portraying the story of Adam and Eve.

Edgar Tolson Edgar Tolson Works on Sale at Auction Biography

He died in Campton, Kentucky in 1984.

The Edgar Tolson Folk Art Library at Morehead State University is named after him.

References

Edgar Tolson Wikipedia


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