Images(2)

BOY WITH FROG

DateJanuary 20-25, 1973

Artist/Maker Eddie Arning (1898 - 1993)

OriginAmerica, Texas, Austin

MediumOil pastel ("Cray-pas") on laid green paper

Dimensions18 15/16 x 25 1/8in. (48.1 x 63.8cm)

Credit LineGift of Dr. & Mrs. Alexander Sackton

Object number1986.201.2

DescriptionA figure with long brown hair wears a light blue shirt with decoration across the chest and darker blue pants and brown shoes; sits beside an over-sized green frog, whose legs hang down and end in black "toes" or "claws." Both appear in a "field" of seven oversized blue flowers on green foliated stems, with a dark brown ground and yellow sky above.
Label TextArning has resided in mental institutions or nursing homes for most of his adult life. He began drawing in 1964, at age sixty-six, under the encouragement of an aide in one of the homes, Helen Mayfield. Following the common practice of his later artistic career, Arning's lively interpretation of BOY WITH FROG was inspired by a magazine illustration, in this case a full-page color rendering that served as an illustration for a condensation of Margery Sharp's "The Innocents," published by Little, Brown and Company. The condensed version appeared in MCCALL'S, IC (July 1972), the rendering by Roger Hane appearing on p. 90 therein.
InscribedIn pencil in script on the reverse is "Eddie Arning." In the lower right corner on the reverse is the Sackton inventory no. "1812" in black ink. In pencil in the upper left corner on the reverse is the number "159" (?). An illegible inscription in the paper runs vertically along the right margin on the reverse (compared with other watermarks found in Arning drawing supports, it would appear that this would read en toto "ANCne MANUFre CANSON & MONTGOLFIER VIDALON-LES-ANNONAY"; this inscription is often accompanied on other supports by a blind stamp reading "LES PAPIERS/ CANSON").
MarkingsSee Barbara R. Luck and Alexander Sackton, EDDIE ARNING: SELECTED DRAWINGS, 1964-1973 (catalog for AARFAC exhibition Jan. 20-Dec. 1, 1985), p. 18
ProvenanceThe drawing was acquired directly from the artist by Dr. and Mrs. Alexander H. Sackton of Austin, Texas; in turn, the Sacktons donated the work to the Folk Art Center.