The sculptor Leslie Garland Bolling (September 16, 1898September 27, 1955) was born in

Surry County, Virginia Surry County is a county (United States), county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 6,561. In 1652, Surry County was formed from the portion of James City County, Virginia, Jame ...

, United States on September 16, 1898, the son of Clinton C. Bolling, a blacksmith, and his wife Mary. His carvings reflected everyday themes and shared values of the Black culture in the segregated

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

in the early 20th century. Bolling was associated with the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

and is notable as one of a few African-Americans whose sculpture had lasting acclaim.

Early life

Leslie Bolling's parents were Clinton C. and Mary Bolling. He was born in

Dendron, Virginia Dendron is a town in Surry County, Virginia, United States. The population was 251 at the 2010 census. Sculptor Leslie Garland Bolling was born in Dendron, as was mayor of Hopewell, Virginia, Curtis W. Harris. Geography Dendron is located at ( ...

, a small community in Surry County. His father was a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

. Bolling spent two years from 1916 to 1918 attending Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, which is now

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...

and was an institution for upward mobility of African-American youth. Bolling did not have any formal training in art or sculpture although Hampton did have a small arts museum. In 1919 during the

Red Summer Red Summer was a period in mid-1919 during which Terrorism in the United States#White nationalism and white supremacy, white supremacist terrorism and Mass racial violence in the United States, racial riots occurred in more than three dozen ...

of race riots, he enrolled in the Academic Department at

Virginia Union University Virginia Union University is a private historically black Baptist university in Richmond, Virginia. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Richm ...

, a

historically black university Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. In addition to normal academic courses, he also took ''Manual Training'', a course which included both freehand drawing and

mechanical drawing {{Technical drawingsMechanical systems drawing is a type of technical drawing that shows information about heating, ventilating, air conditioning and transportation around the building (Elevators or Lifts and Escalator).blacksmithing. After graduating from VUU in June 1924 Bolling began working as a

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...

at the Everett Waddey Company stationery store. Four years after graduation from VUU, in 1928, Bolling married Julia V. Lightner, his first wife. They did not have any children.

Artistic work

Bolling said he grew up near lumbering operations and was always around trees. Reportedly he enjoyed

whittling Whittling may refer either to the art of carving shapes out of raw wood using a knife or a time-occupying, non-artistic (contrast wood carving for artistic process) process of repeatedly shaving slivers from a piece of wood. It is used by many as ...

which would have provided him significant experience with carving various kinds of wood. His carving seems to have been an enjoyable and somewhat profitable hobby, but he viewed himself as a porter or messenger by occupation. His hobby seems to have taken a serious turn about the time he produced some early figures for a group exhibition sponsored by the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

. About 1928 these first figures attracted the interest of Carl Van Vechten, a patron of the Harlem Renaissance movement. He began teaching wood carving to black youth in Richmond about 1931. He taught at the Craig House Art Center in Richmond until 1941. By 1938 Bolling and others had obtained

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

sponsorship for the Craig House. It was the only WPA sponsored art center in the segregated South for black youth. His work began to achieve broader recognition as a result of the National Negro Exhibition of 1933 at the Smithsonian. Bolling participated in a number of art tours between 1934 and 1940, managed by the

Harmon Foundation The Harmon Foundation was established in 1921 by wealthy real-estate developer and philanthropist William E. Harmon (1862–1928). A native of the Midwest, Harmon's father was an officer in the 10th Cavalry Regiment. The Foundation originally s ...

to showcase the artistic work of African-Americans. Reflecting the growing significance of his sculpture, in January 1935, Bolling was honored when the then segregated Academy of Arts in Richmond, now the

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the su ...

produced a one-man show of his carvings. This was followed by a show at the New Jersey state museum. Thomas Hart Benton was interested in his work and visited the extended show. He described Bolling's works as sculptures that "show real merit, and a new kind of form." In 1936 he exhibited at the Texas Centennial Exhibition. This was followed by a show at the William D. Cox Gallery in New York in June 1937 of 17 pieces including the recently completed sculpture series ''Days of the Week'' which he had begun in 1933. In 1940,

Alain Locke Alain LeRoy Locke (September 13, 1885 – June 9, 1954) was an American writer, philosopher, educator, and patron of the arts. Distinguished in 1907 as the first African-American Rhodes Scholar, Locke became known as the philosophical architect ...

included a photograph of Bolling's work in ''The Negro in Art''. Bolling carved a bust of

Marian Anderson Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897April 8, 1993) was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to Spiritual (music), spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throu ...

following an appearance by her in Richmond. ''Science and Mechanics'' magazine sponsored a competition in 1942 which Bolling entered and won. The last known exhibition during his life was a show at State Teachers College at Indiana in 1950. Bolling's sculpture was included in contemporary books surveying African-American art. His carving was discussed at length in 1940 by E. J. Tangerman. In 2006, the

Library of Virginia The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and i ...

produced an exhibition of Bolling's work and included material related to 30 of his pieces.

Later life

Bolling left Richmond in the early 1940s and moved to Pennsylvania. In 1948 he married Ethelyn M. Bailey, his second wife. After moving to New York City he was represented by the Cox Gallery. Bolling died in New York on September 27, 1955. His body was returned to Richmond, Virginia for burial.

List of sculptures

It is believed Bolling carved more than 50 to 80 pieces during the two decades he was active. Many of them appear to have been lost. In 2006, the Library of Virginia was able to account for just 30 of his wood sculptures. Following is a partial list of his sculptures. *''Days of the Week'', composed of seven sculptures created between 1932 and 1937 relating typical weekly activities of African-Americans in the first half of the 20th century. Three of these are currently missing with no known photographs. **''Aunt Monday'': A woman doing laundry in a large wooden tub. **''Sister Tuesday'': A woman ironing wrinkles out of a shirt. **''Mama on Wednesday'': A woman stitching and repairing holes and tears on clothing. **''Gossip on Thursday'': Two women chatting over a fence. **''Cousin on Friday'': A woman scrubbing floors. **''Cooking on Saturday'': A woman crouching down to pull a turkey out of the oven, presumably to be used on Sunday. **''Parson on Sunday'': A male preacher preaching from his pulpit. Mo-1941-4-1213

*''Fish Man'' (1935): A fish vendor mid-stride, looking for customers. *''Despair'' (C. 1935): A nude figure of a woman in quiet sadness. *''The Shot Putter'' (C. 1935): A nude figure of an athlete competing in shot put. *''Red Cap'' (1937): showing a

moving baggage. *''At Work'' (1937): A possible self-portrait, it depicts a man hammering away at a wooden cart. *''

'' (1940): A bust of the renowned contralto. *''President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt'' (1940): Twin carvings that depict the President and First Lady. *''Woman Cooking'' (1942): Depicts a woman picking up a coffee pot from on top of a stove.

References

External links

*
VCU Libraries ''Through the Lens of Time: Images of African Americans from the Cook Collection of Photographs'' – Leslie Bolling
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolling, Leslie Garland African-American sculptors American woodcarvers Sculptors from Virginia People from Surry County, Virginia 1898 births 1955 deaths Hampton University alumni Virginia Union University alumni Harlem Renaissance 20th-century American sculptors American male sculptors 20th-century African-American artists 20th-century American male artists