Lot 180: Selma Burke (1900-1995)

Selma Burke (1900-1995)
Mother and Two Children
signed 'Selma Burke' (on the base)
wood
60 in. (152.4 cm.) high

Washington, D.C., Park Lane Gallery, n.d.

Corporate collection, Pennsylvania.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Born in Mooresville, North Carolina, Selma Burke demonstrated a nascent interest in sculpture from childhood. Upon completing school in 1924, she moved to Harlem where she worked as a nurse and produced sculpture in her free time determined to become a full time artist. Her talent and resolve were acknowledged in 1935 when she was awarded a Rosenwald Foundation Fellowship and the following year when she was a recipient of a Boehler Foundation Fellowship. These grants allowed her to study in Paris with Aristide Maillol and in Vienna with Michael Povolny. She continued her studies when she returned to New York, graduating with her Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University in 1941. A tireless advocate and educator, she taught at the Harlem Community Art Center before founding the Selma Burke Art School in New York and also the Selma Burke Art Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was the recipient of the Pearl S. Buck Foundation Women's Award in 1987.

The present work, which was completed in 1972, was carved from the trunk and branch of a black walnut tree removed from the artist's back yard in 1955.