Earl Cunningham
(1893-1977)

Died aged c. 84

Earl Cunningham was born in Maine in 1893. He moved to St. Augustine in 1949 where he developed as a self-taught American folk artist. His work included paintings of early 20th century schooners and portrayals of Seminole Indian life that he infused with images of Viking ships. Cunningham’s work went largely unappreciated during his lifetime. Not until 1986 when his works were exhibited through a partnership between the center for American Art and New York University was his ability as a folk artist recognized. Earl Cunningham died in 1977. Mr. Cunningham’s work may be seen at the Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, 900 E. Princeton St., Orlando, Florida. For over thirty years, the museum has received more than 300 Cunningham paintings.

OpenPlaques

Earl Cunningham (1893–1977) was a twentieth-century American folk artist. Cunningham was a self-taught artist who painted mostly landscapes of the coasts of Maine, New York, Nova Scotia, Michigan, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. He used vivid colors, flat perspective, and a few recurrent themes. He added incongruous details, "such as flamingos in Maine and Viking ships in Florida," to his work. Cunningham was born in Edgecomb, Maine, the third of six children. He left home at age 13 and made a living as a tinker and peddler. About four years later, he began to paint and sell pictures of boats and landscapes. He obtained a license to work as a river and coastal pilot, and worked on sailing ships along the eastern seaboard of the United States. He married Iva Moses, a piano teacher on June 29, 1915. He continued to paint and he and his wife split the next eighteen years between Florida and Maine, where they had a farm. They divorced between 1936 and 1940. In 1940 he sold the farm in Maine and bought a farm in Waterboro, South Carolina. During the Second World War, he raised chickens for the United States Army. Cunningham moved to Saint Augustine, Florida in 1949 and opened an art gallery and curio shop. In 1961 he sent a painting titled "The Everglades" to Jacqueline Kennedy that is on display at John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. In 1969, his work began to attract serious notice, and in 1970 was exhibited at the then Loch Haven Art Center in Orlando. His reputation continued to grow, and a large number of his paintings were shown at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach, Florida in August 1974. His art continued to draw attention long after his death on December 29, 1977 (he committed suicide at age 84). He was inducted into the Florida Artist's Hall of fame on June 2, 2003. His works were on display beginning August 10, 2007 at the Smithsonian American Art Gallery in Washington, D.C., the first stop on a national tour.

DbPedia

Wikidata Wikipedia