Works of Art and Americana

Washington explored the pyramids at Teotihuacan and was forever changed when he picked up (and took home) a volcanic rock that seemed to call to him. The rock lay in his studio for five years until he had a revelation and created, Young Boy From Athens . As Washington figured out those crayon marks along the sidewalks of Gloster, he figured out that Young Boy was within that volcanic rock. And the revelation hit hard! After, Washington declared, “I reached the conclusion that it was sculpting that I was supposed to do.” Washington taught himself to sculpt. He made his own tools and had no interest in traditional methods—he worked directly onto stones that inspired him. Life—genesis, growth, affirmation, fertility and freedom—was the single focus of Washington’s work. Washington would sculpt a bird hatching from an egg, or sperm chasing an egg, and sometimes, more playfully, he would carve a mammal being hatched from an egg (something that does not occur in nature). A patron, who upon seeing a recent work of Washington’s in which a rabbit was hatching from an egg, exclaimed, “A rabbit does not come from an egg!” Washington replied, “Doctor, all life comes from an egg.” He would also sometimes carve symbols from his practice of Freemasonry into his work (Washington was a 33rd degree Mason). Paul Karlstrom (West Coast Regional Director Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art) wrote, “What is so impressive about artists such as Washington is the perfection with which fundamental humanism, generosity of spirit, and depth of emotion are embodied in their simple and humble forms. It is this quality that emanates from Washington’s sculptures of birds and other small creatures. What sets them apart from a host of other animal sculptures is the inexplicable, yet undeniable, spirit in the stone.” Almost immediately after creating, Young Boy From Athens , and finding his true craft, Washington received numerous awards, accolades, purchases and commissions. He readily attracted the attention of many museums, galleries and the art patrons and philanthropists, John H. and Anne Gould Hauberg. In 1989 the Bellevue Art Museum held a major retrospective entitled, “The Spirit in the Stone: The Visionary Art of James W. Washington, Jr." In 2008 for the inaugural exhibition of the Northwest African American Museum, Washington was honored along with Jacob Lawrence in “Making a Life, Creating a World: Jacob Lawrence and James W. Washington, Jr.” James W. Washington, Jr.’s work is represented in numerous private and pub- lic collections, including The Smithsonian, The Whitney, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Seattle Art Museum. Selected sources: Paul Karlstrom, The Spirit in the Stone: The Vi- sionary Art of James W. Washington, Jr., Seat- tle: University of Washington Press, 1989; Regina Hackett, "James Washington: Secrets in Stone," American Artist, November 1977; De- loris Tarzan Ament, Iridescent Light: The Emergence of Northwest Art, Seattle: Univer- sity of Washington Press, 2002; Romare Bear- den & Harry Henderson, A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present, New York, Pantheon Books, 1993. Sculpture is more divine, and more like Nature, / That fashions all her works in high relief, / And that is Sculpture. / This vast ball, the Earth, / Was moulded out of clay, and baked in fire; / Men, women, and all animals that breathe / Are statues, and not paintings. —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Hungry Gull | Woodblock Print | 1977 | 7 3/8" L x 5 5/8" H Washington working in his studio. Photo: Jerry Gay/ The Seattle Times © used with permission