Earl Cunningham
Folk Artist 1893-1977
 Earl
Cunningham is recognized as one of the premier American folk
artists of all time. Despite this honor, Cunningham can also be seen
as a modernist painter. His art expresses an overall sense of
goodness, optimism and a utopian harmony. The depictions of the
world in Cunningham’s paintings were the world as he wanted to see
it and not an actual portrayal of his lifetime. For instance, there
are never any cities to be found in his works. He only painted small
towns. Like Norman Rockwell's
Saturday Evening Post magazine covers, Cunningham's images offer the
old and the ordinary as an antidote to change. Earl Cunningham was a self
taught artist and used bold vivid colors mixed with a flat
perspective. Cunningham often added incongruous details, "such as
flamingos in Maine and Viking ships in Florida," to his work.
Cunningham painted the American landscape of the Atlantic coast and
its intracoastal ecosystem with dock workers, fishermen, farmers,
wildlife and even American Indian tribes. As he traveled up and down
the coast he painted his reflections of the surroundings. His own
experiences informed his works, which celebrate the beauty of nature
and often depict dramatic storms or sunsets. Painted in the American
folk art style, his canvases are filled with images of birds, trees,
boats and the sea, and are a unique reflection of American history,
from Native American life to more modern times. Earl Cunningham was
born in Edgecomb, Maine near Boothbay Harbor, and from his birth was attracted
to the sea. This love of the ocean defined both his life and his paintings.
Cunningham left home at age 13 and supported himself as a tinker. He later
became a seaman and traveled the East coast of the United States in large ships
carrying goods to eastern ports. Earl Cunningham married Iva Moses, a piano
teacher on June 29, 1915. During World War I, he drove a truck for a
naval yard and visited Florida for the first time. For the next 10
years, the couple spent winters in Florida -- Tampa Bay, Cedar Key
and St. Augustine. In 1937, troubled by marital problems, Cunningham
left Maine and bought land in South Carolina, where he farmed and
raised chickens. |
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 During World War II, he became a chicken farmer in Georgia raising chickens for
the U.S. Army and many of his paintings were painted during that time.
Cunningham settled in St. Augustine in 1949, where he opened a curio
shop called the Over Fork Gallery. He displayed his paintings there,
although this artwork was not for sale. Earl Cunningham continued to
paint in relative obscurity. In his spare time, he painted genre
scenes, primarily landscapes of the places he saw during his
lifetime: Maine, New York, Nova Scotia, Michigan, North and South
Carolina, Georgia and Florida. A loner
from an early age and self-taught as an artist, Earl Cunningham
combines fact, fantasy and his own life experiences in paintings
filled with vibrancy and confidence of life itself. His work
reflects his own unique vision of the world and Cunningham's naïve
style speaks of joy and happiness. His glorious, vivid colors have
given him the reputation of being an American Primitive Fauve.
Although Cunningham identifies many locations in the titles of his
paintings and includes details that are specific to the place, such
as the small figures of golfers in the foreground of the painting
“Hilton Head,” the artist takes liberties with the actual appearance
of a place. The perspective in Cunningham’s paintings is often
distorted with multiple points of view. For example, “Gathering
Clouds Off Little River Inlet” and “Safe Harbor–Perkins Cove”
combine a bird’s-eye view of the landscape with side views of boats,
trees and houses. In “Sunrise at Pine Point Maine,” (shown above)
Cunningham uses viewpoint and spatial configuration to balance broad
areas of color with minutely rendered, quasi-descriptive detail.
Curtains in the windows of a building, an American flag, a
lighthouse, reflections in the water and a winding path are design
elements as well as emblematic notations. In 1961 he sent a painting
titled "The Everglades" to Jacqueline Kennedy. The painting is
currently on display at John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston |
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 It
appears, at first glance, that Cunningham was a naive painter. “The
painter was simple like a fox.” His idyllic scenes revolve around a
simpler time. If an observer did not know the dates in which the
paintings were completed, placing the works in the 1800s would not
be an inaccurate assumption. Although this would be incorrect, that
was the reason for Cunningham’s approach. These scenes are in
contrast to the modern innovations of the 1950s that were happening
all around him. Cunningham also is known for his daring use of
brilliant color. In “Blue Sail Fleet Returns” (above), Earl combines
bold shades of lavender, mauve, blue, rust, and olive and forest
greens. Such paintings as “Seminole Village, Deep in the Everglades”
and “The Twenty-One” feature intensely colored skies at sunset.
The Everglades represented a place of serenity to Cunningham, who
was aware of the impact of modern life on Florida's environment and
considered himself a conservationist. Like the places he painted,
Cunningham often depicted both general representations of birds and
specific species in his paintings. "Seminole Everglades," (very top)
painting with its dark shadows that evoke the murkiness of the
swamps, is populated by a wide variety of birds including flamingos,
wood ducks, owls and cranes. A unique point of view is paired with
these strange colors. There are also inaccurate proportions in many
of the paintings He wanted to create the illusion that size, or
proportion, is in the eye of the beholder. The more important an
object, the larger it should appear. This is how things seem in the
minds of those who are innocent and naive to the ways of the world.
Although this concept does not take away from the ability to enjoy
the subject matter of the paintings, it does represent a response to
American life as it was on the fast track towards a modern
transformation. |
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 Cunningham,
who had suffered from depression and paranoia, committed suicide
December 29, 1977. In 1969, collector Marilyn Mennello convinced Cunningham to
sell her a work; and in 1970, she made possible an exhibition of
selected paintings at the Loch Haven Art Center (now the Orlando
Museum of Art). In 1974, Cunningham's second museum exhibition,
"Earl Cunningham: American Primitive," opened at the Daytona Beach
Museum of Arts and Sciences. Years later,
after the artist's death in 1977, Ms. Mennello acquired 62 more of Cunningham's
works and then, together with her husband, Michael, set out to find as many more
as she could. Throughout his life, Earl Cunningham was not recognized as a
significant artist and he rarely sold a painting. It was his dream to have all
of his works displayed in a museum setting. In 1998
the City of Orlando opened the Mennello Museum of American Folk Art to
house the Mennello’s extensive collection of Cunningham's works. Prior to the establishment of the Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, Earl
Cunningham's paintings reached national prominence and were exhibited in one-man
exhibitions in thirty museums across the United States. His work is represented
in 10 major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian
American Art Museum, and the Abbey Aldrich Rockefeller Museum in Williamsburg,
Virginia. His paintings have also been displayed in several U.S. embassies as
part of the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies Program. In 2007,
Cunningham became the first folk artist to have a one-man exhibition at the
Smithsonian American Art Museum. |
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