Gravedigger

DateAugust 1-7, 1969

Artist/Maker Eddie Arning (1898 - 1993)

MediumOil pastel and pencil on wove green-colored paper

DimensionsUnframed: 19 3/4 x 25 5/8in. (50.2 x 65.1cm) Framed: 28 3/8 x 33 13/16in. (72.1 x 85.9cm)

Credit LineGift of Dr. & Mrs. Alexander Sackton

Object number1984.201.3

DescriptionComposition is contained within an outer border of bright pink approx. 1 1/8" wide, followed by an inner border of black approx. 5/8" wide. Background of the composition is bright green. Two men stand in the center, one on either side of a rectangle marked off by white lines and representing a grave. Five such rectangles appear in total between and around the men. Each is marked off by white bordering with a yellow interior (except center one which is half-green, half-yellow). Yellow (dirt) is piled up beside the center grave. Four outer graves bear both headstones and footstones, headstones all marked "BORN" and one footstone marked "JL". Man on left is dressed in black with blue undershirt, pipe in mouth, wide-brimmed hat with band on head, brown shoes, shovel in anatomical R hand. Man on right holds pick-axe aloft, wears yellow pants and tan-pink colored shirt.
Label TextBased on remarks that Arning made to Alexander Sackton when this drawing was executed, Sackton wrote the following notes on the magazine page that included the artist's source of inspiration: "Only one grave ('footstone' Eddie called it) has an identity: 'J. L.' was a man who lived at Central Texas Nursing Home with Eddie. He took lots of snuff. He was young, maybe 50. One day he was found dead outside lying in mud. They spent hours trying to bring him back to life but 'they couldn't put any life into him.'"
Both men appear to be gravediggers in Arning's drawing, but in the magazine illustration, the one at left is an onlooker who merely rests his hand on the shovel handle. The supplicating posture of Arning's figure in black conveys succinctly the questioning nature of this character as manifested in a poem that accompanies the magazine illustration, which, however, shows him in a resigned, hunched, closed posture. Perhaps in this instance, Arning read the printed text regarding the illustration.
InscribedIn pencil in script on the reverse is "Eddie, Arning." The Sackton inventory number "1195" appears in ink and also in pencil on the reverse. Three headstones within the composition are each lettered "BORN" and one footstone is lettered "JL." Impressed lettering in the primary support reads vertically in the left margin: "ANCne MANUFre CANSON & MONTGOLFIER VIDALON-LES-ANNONAY ANCn . . . " (probably the paper manufacturer's mark).
MarkingsSee "Inscriptions."
ProvenanceThe drawing was acquired directly from the artist by Dr. and Mrs. Alexander H. Sackton of Austin, Texas, who in turn donated the work to the Folk Art Center.