Marion Perkins Accomplishments

There are many well respected self-taught artist that change the world of art however; Marion Perkins never received sculpting lessons from an art school. He was an ordinary man born in Arkansas that developed beautiful pieces that are admired by the world today. He is well known for his talents in sculpting and in writing. He was raised by his aunt due to his parents’ tragic demise. He never let that affect him from being one of the greats. As an African American man, he is admired by aspiring artists and writers today. His art flourished during the time of the infamous “Great Depression”. His most famous piece is Man of Sorrow, and is made of Marble. Marion Perkins was born in 1908, his exact birth date has never been recorded. He was born on his grandparents’ farm in Marche, Arkansas. Around the age of eight he moved to Chicago, Illinois with his aunt following

In 1947 IBM, purchased “Figure at Rest”. In 1948 he received his first award from the Art Institute of Chicago for “Ethiopia Awakening”. He was the winner of a Rosenwald Fellowship of twenty-four hundred dollars in its final years. After losing his job at the United States Postal Service (USPS), for not signing the required loyaly oath during President Harry S. Truman’s administration. This gave him the opportunity to tour New York. There he visited a number of different museums, and interact with other artists. There he became close friends with Theodore Wade. In 1951 he created his most famous piece “Man of Sorrows”. “The head’s simplified, protruding eyes are shut tight; the pursed lips are both hidden and defined by a short stubby beard; the hair is veined with smoothly carved thorns. Christ’s contained expression of agony is arresting.”(Sculptor Marion Perkins) It is currently at the Art Institute of Chicago, and won first place in the “Chicago and Vicinity” serious along with the Pauline Palmer Purchase