Sister Tuesday

1934

Leslie G. Bolling (American, 1898–1958)

Sister Tuesday is one of a series of seven sculptures by self-taught artist Leslie Bolling; each one is a sensitive rendition of the daily labors of Black men and women. He hand carved figures in soft poplar wood, here adding gold pigment to suggest the metallic surface of bronze. Although he considered his practice a hobby, Bolling’s work drew the attention of art world critics and patrons of the Harlem Renaissance. He exhibited throughout the 1930s, and in 1938 helped found and taught at the Craig House Art Center. The center was a New Deal–funded community organization in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, and the only one in the segregated South open to Black Americans.

Status: On View, Gallery 161
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Leslie G. Bolling
Title: Sister Tuesday
Place: United States (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1934
Medium: Painted poplar
Inscriptions: Titled recto, bottom-left, incised: "Sister Tuesday". Signed and dated verso, bottom-right, incised: "L.G. Bolling/3-10-34".
Dimensions: 30.4 × 19.4 × 12.9 cm (12 × 7 11/16 × 5 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Through prior acquisition of the George F. Harding Collection; purchased with funds provided by Charles C. Haffner III
Reference Number: 2009.582

Richmond, Virginia, Third Annual Exhibition of Virginia Artists, 1934.
Richmond, Virginia, The Wood Sculptures of Leslie Bolling, 1935.
Richmond, Virginia, Fifth Annual Exhibition of the Work of Virginia Artists, 1936.
Dallas, Texas Centennial, Exhibition of Fine Arts Productions by American Negros, 1936.
New York, William D. Cox, Inc., Whittling Works, 1937.
Richmond, Virginia, YMCA, 1939.
Richmond, Library of Virginia, Freeing Art from Wood: the Sculpture of Leslie Garland Bolling, July 24–Oct. 21, 2006, no. 4.

The artist; sold to Elizabeth Toobert Hoffman, Richmond, Virginia, late-1940s; by descent in the family to Carol Hoffman, Huntington Beach, CA, by 2009; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2009.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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