Monumental Carved and Black-painted Bust of an African American Man

Description:

Monumental Carved and Black-painted Bust of an African American Man, possibly Upstate New York, c. 1850-60, the yellow pine torso with bold carved facial and body details, from the waist to the top of the head, old black tarry pitch surface, ht. 43, wd. 29 in.

Provenance: Ricco/Maresca, New York.

Literature: Illustrated in Roger Ricco and Frank Maresca, American Vernacular, New Discoveries in Folk, Self-taught, and Outsider Sculpture (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2002),p. 114.

Note: The figurehead was found in Upstate New York and may have been mounted on the bow of a Hudson River schooner.
The Marvill Collection
Estimate $8,000-12,000


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