Elijah Pierce (1892–1984) was a 20th-century wood carver. He began carving at a young age using a pocket knife. He first started carving animals because of his prior life of growing up on a farm. Pierce was honored in 1982 with a

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...

for his art and influence in the woodcarving community.

Early life

Pierce was the youngest son in his family, born on a farm in

Baldwyn, Mississippi Baldwyn, officially the City of Baldwyn, is a city in Lee County, Mississippi, Lee and Prentiss County, Mississippi, Prentiss counties, Mississippi, United States. It is located in the northern part of the Tupelo micropolitan area. Founded in ...

, on March 5, 1892. His father was formerly enslaved, and was sold away from his mother by the age of four. Pierce began woodcarving at the age of seven, when his father gave him his first pocketknife. His uncle, Lewis Wallace, taught him how to carve more complex pieces. Pierce would give away his carvings to other children at his school. As a teenager, Pierce decided he did not want to work as a farmer like his father. He began to hang out at the local barbershop, and this is where he found another passion of his. In 1908, he began barbering as a trade, eventually becoming a renowned barber. A spiritual man, he earned a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

preacher's license in 1920. He left the South and worked itinerantly across the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

valley, settling in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, in 1923 to work as a barber.

Artistry

Many of Pierce's carving were done for his wives. In the 1920s, Pierce made an entire zoo of wood carved animals for his wife, Cornelia. Each animal represented a different story, sometimes referencing the beasts of Genesis, or animals from folktales of his youth. Pierce's favorite work of his own was the ''Book of Wood'', quite literally a large wooden book that Pierce carved into. The book portrayed the story of Jesus. The ''Book of Wood'' was the first type of carving Pierce ever made differing from his typical small sculptures. He would go on to make many more carvings similar to the ''Book of Wood'', each with its own story and universal theme.

Accomplishments

Pierce's work was discovered by the mainstream art world in the early 1970s, and was included in exhibitions at galleries such as the

Krannert Art Museum The Krannert Art Museum (KAM) is a fine art museum located at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Champaign, Illinois, United States. It has of space devoted to all periods of art, dating from ancient Egypt to contemporary photography ...

, the

Phyllis Kind Gallery Phyllis Barbara Kind ( Cobin; 1933–2018) was an American art dealer active in Chicago and New York. She promoted the work of the Chicago Imagists and outsider artists. Early life and family Phyllis Kind was born Phyllis Barbara Cobin in The B ...

of New York, the

National Museum of American Art The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

, and the

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...

. His work is in the collection of the

American Folk Art Museum The American Folk Art Museum is an art museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, at 2 Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street. It is the premier institution devoted to the aesthetic appreciation of folk art and creativ ...

, and in the permanent collection of the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

. In 1973, Pierce won first prize in the International Meeting of Naive Art in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. He was a recipient of a 1982

awarded by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. That year's fellowships were the first bestowed by the NEA. In 1991, he was inducted into the National Barber Museum Hall of Fame. Pierce is generally regarded and commemorated as one of the greatest and most influential woodcarvers from within the past few centuries. The Martin Luther King Jr. Performing and Cultural Arts Complex in

, named the Elijah Pierce Gallery in his honor. The

Columbus Museum of Art The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (its name until 1978), it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. The museum collec ...

has over 300 pieces of his work. Much of Pierce's work and influence was not appreciated until after his death.

Personal life

Pierce was born to a formerly enslaved father. His uncle, Lewis Wallace, taught him how to develop his talent for woodcarving. Pierce married his first wife, Zetta Palm, and had a son with her. Palm died during the birth of their son. In September 1923, Pierce would marry Cornelia Houeston, his second wife. At the age of 61, Houeston died of cancer in 1948. In 1949, Pierce would marry his third and final wife, Estelle Green. Pierce remained distant from his only son. Pierce died on May 7, 1984, at St. Anthony's Hospital in Columbus, of an apparent heart attack.

References

External links