- William Edmondson

William Edmondson was born in Davidson County, Tennessee c.1874. By 1890, he had moved to Nashville, where he lived and worked on 14th Avenue South. In his late fifties, he began carving tombstones for two African-American cemeteries, Mount Ararat and Greenwood.
"Funerary practices had long provided a traditional outlet for southern black culture, and Edmondson first emerged as an artist within this framework. A devoted member of the United Primitive Baptist Church, Edmondson often credited his artistic energy and purpose to divine vision. His earliest efforts were gravestones, sometimes composed of several stacked geometric elements, sometimes also incorporating bird or animal forms. From this traditional context, Edmondson's carvings soon showed the influence of popular imagery in lambs, doves, and other forms. He expanded his repertory to include preachers, women, famous figures, and creatures of his imagination." (quote source: The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture)

(photo source: Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century: An American Anthology, Museum of American Folk Art, New York © 1998)
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