Lot Essay
From his birth in Maine in 1893, Earl Cunningham was attracted to the sea: this love of the ocean defined both his life and his paintings. Cunningham's images of ships and sea, remembered from journeys to Maine, New York, the Carolinas, Georgia, and particularly Florida, became his signature. In 1949 the artist settled in St. Augustine and opened an antiques shop called The Over-Fork Gallery. Here he spent the rest of his life painting shore-and-riverscapes which reflected his own unique vision of the world.
Since his death in 1977, Cunningham's work has received an overwhelming amount of attention and has cemented him as a major twentieth century American Folk artist. In 1986, The Museum of American Folk Art, New York, launched a national tour of his works. Since then his paintings have not only been shown throughout the country but a number of museums have also acquired his work, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution and the Abby Aldrich, Rockefeller Folk Art Center. Cunningham's paintings capture the memories of his lifetime, evoking romantic allusions of a once simple, serene moment in American history. In her review of the artist's work the renowned art critic Roberta Smith wrote, "Most wonderful of all may be the odd spatial illusions of these images...This means that Cunningham's bits of riotous terra ferma...seem suspended in a world of pure, highly reflective light, like so many forms trapped in beautiful amber. Cunningham's is a verdant earthly paradise, all the more amazing for being seen in a modernist monochrome lighted by Disney" (R. Smith, New Times, February 17, 1995, p. C30).
Since his death in 1977, Cunningham's work has received an overwhelming amount of attention and has cemented him as a major twentieth century American Folk artist. In 1986, The Museum of American Folk Art, New York, launched a national tour of his works. Since then his paintings have not only been shown throughout the country but a number of museums have also acquired his work, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution and the Abby Aldrich, Rockefeller Folk Art Center. Cunningham's paintings capture the memories of his lifetime, evoking romantic allusions of a once simple, serene moment in American history. In her review of the artist's work the renowned art critic Roberta Smith wrote, "Most wonderful of all may be the odd spatial illusions of these images...This means that Cunningham's bits of riotous terra ferma...seem suspended in a world of pure, highly reflective light, like so many forms trapped in beautiful amber. Cunningham's is a verdant earthly paradise, all the more amazing for being seen in a modernist monochrome lighted by Disney" (R. Smith, New Times, February 17, 1995, p. C30).