Images(2)

Watermelon Trade Sign

Date1960

Artist Miles Burkholder Carpenter (1889 - 1985)

MediumOil paints on elm wood with a natural grapevine stem, the object set upon a painted iron and wood hand cart and accompanied by an empty, painted, wooden coca-cola crate

DimensionsOther (melon only): 17 x 36 x 17in. (43.2 x 91.4 x 43.2cm) Weight (melon only): approximately 110 pounds (49.9 kg) Other (hand cart only): 13 x 39 x 23in. (33 x 99.1 x 58.4cm) Overall (crate only): 12 x 18 1/2 x 4 1/8in. (30.5 x 47 x 10.5cm) Overall (assembled dimensions): 28 5/8 x 23 x 42in. (72.7 x 58.4 x 106.7cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1973.706.1,1-3

DescriptionA solid three-dimensional oblong of elm wood painted with wavy, alternating light- and dark-green stripes in simulation of a watermelon's outer rind. A short strip of natural grapevine is inserted at one end to suggest a stem. The whole rests upon a conventional hand cart that is painted dark red. For display purposes, the cart has traditionally been propped upon the empty coca-cola crate that was acquired with the melon, presumably perpetuating the artist's/seller's way of displaying the carving.

The carved and painted watermelon is in three parts 1) the melon 2) the painted iron and wood hand cart on which it rests, and 3)a commercially produced painted wooden Coca-Cola crate
Label TextMiles Carpenter owned a sawmill, an icehouse, an outdoor movie theater, and a roadside vegetable and fruit stand. The onset of World War II slowed work at the mill, prompting Carpenter to begin creating decorative carvings out of odd bits of leftover wood. In 1960, he shaped and embellished a chunk of elm wood to resemble a giant watermelon, placing his creation on a handcart and setting it beside his produce stand, where he occasionally propped it up on a wooden Coca-Cola crate as a seasonal advertisement. Carpenter enjoyed describing the incredulous reactions of passing motorists who mistook his carving for real fruit. When passing through Waverly in 1972, a curator at the museum spied the 110 pound melon and negotiated its purchase for the collection directly from Carpenter.

InscribedInscribed in pencil on a small oval area that was left unpainted at one end of the melon is: "M. B./CARPENTER/WAVERLY, VA./1960".

See the separate work sheet in the file regarding the wording painted onto the empty coca-cola crate associated with the Watermelon.
ProvenanceAcquired directly from the artist in 1973.

Exhibition(s)