william edmondson (c. 1874–1951) was an african-american folk art sculptor who was the first african american to have a solo exhibition (1937) at new york city’s museum of modern art (moma). he was born in davidson county, tennessee, the son of freed slaves, and moved to nashville at the age of 16. he worked on the railroad and then as a janitor at nashville woman’s hospital, becoming a stonemason's assistant and learning to carve limestone. he primarily used limestone of varying colors and textures to create his sculptures, or what he called 'miracles'. his works are mainly inspired by relig…
A chart of william m. edmondson's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.
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