Details

Title

Beast with Wings

Artist/Maker

Ulysses Davis (American, 1914–1990)

Date

ca. 1988

Medium

Painted yellow pine, metal and plastic beads

Dimensions

39 x 4 1/4 x 11 inches

Credit

Gift of James E. Allen in memory of Ulysses Davis

Accession #

1991.351

Location

Currently not on view

Ulysses Davis’s meticulously carved wooden sculptures are remarkable for their diverse range of subject matter and expressive intensity. The Savannah artist “whittled” wood in between customers at his barbershop, which he owned and operated for many years. By the time of his death, Davis had created more than 300 carvings inspired by history, politics, fantasy, and religion. This reptile, which swallows a snake, is an example of the zoological creatures of Davis’s imagination, which he called “Created Beasts.” He explained that most were from dinosaur days.

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