Marion Perkins

Marion Marche Perkins (1908-1961) was an American sculptor who taught and exhibited at Chicago's South Side Community Art Center and exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago.[1] Perkins is widely considered an important artist of the Chicago Renaissance.[2]

Marion Perkins, Man of Sorrows, 1950. Art Institute of Chicago.

Early life

Marion Perkins was born in Arkansas in 1908 where he lived with his grandparents. He relocated to Chicago at the age of 8.[1] Perkins attended Wendell Phillips Elementary and High School, but did not graduate.[2]

Personal life

Perkins and his wife, Eva Gillion, had three sons, Robert, Toussaint and Eugene.[2]

Career

Perkins purchased a newspaper stand in 1936 and started carving from discarded materials during the work day.[3] Peter Pollack of the Works Progress Administration's Illinois Art Project and Southside Community Art Center noticed Perkins' work after passing the newsstand and soon introduced him to Simon Gordon, a sculptor who assisted Perkins with his formal training.[2]

In 1938, Perkins received his first commission when hired by the Biltmore Hotel in South Haven, Michigan to create statues of Dutch children. Perkins sold the newsstand and began working for the United States Postal Service in 1940 around which time his sculptures were exhibited at Howard University and the International Negro Exhibition in Chicago.[3]

Perkins entered and won a number of art competitions over the course of his career. He was awarded a $2,400 Rosenwald Fellowship Award in 1948 and received three awards from the Art Institute of Chicago between 1947 and 1952. The Institute purchased his work, Man of Sorrows, in 1951.[4]

Perkins taught sculpture at the Southside Community Art Center and Jackson State University.[3]

He continued to work and exhibit until his death in 1961.[3]

References
  1. "Sculptor Marion Perkins". WTTW News. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
  2. "Marion Perkins Papers". www.chipublib.org. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
  3. Margaret Burroughs and Marion Perkins: A Retrospective. National Gallery of Art Library: The Evans-Tibbs Collection. 1982.
  4. "Man of Sorrows". The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
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