{{Short description|American artist (1914–2005)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}} {{Infobox artist | name = Hawkins Bolden | image = Hawkins Bolden.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Bolden with his sculptures | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|09|10|}} | birth_place = Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2005|1914|}} | death_place = Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. | nationality = | field = Assemblage sculpture | movement = Modern Art | works = | patrons = | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = }} '''Hawkins Bolden''' (1914–2005) was an American artist known for his "scarecrow" assemblages made from pots, pans, leather belts, rubber hoses and other found materials.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Ken|title=Art In Review: National Black Fine Art Show|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/04/arts/art-in-review-national-black-fine-art-show.html|work=The New York Times|date=4 February 2000 |accessdate=8 July 2016}}</ref><ref name="Arnett">{{cite web|last=Arnett|first=William|title=Hawkins Bolden |url=https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/hawkins-bolden |website=Souls Grown Deep |date=n.d.|access-date=August 14, 2024}}</ref>
== Early life == Bolden was born in the Bailey's Bottom section of Memphis, Tennessee. His childhood passion was baseball. While a baseball accident, though, left him blind at the age of eight, he became adept at working with his hands and making things from what he found in his Memphis neighborhood.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Drury |first1=John |title=Make Do |url=http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/reviews/drury/make6-4-09.asp |accessdate=8 July 2016 |website=artnet}}</ref><ref name="Arnett" />
== Career == Bolden recalled starting to make faces around 1965 from found objects.<ref name="Arnett" /> His sculptures were made entirely from found material, and in addition to the "scarecrows" for which he is best known, he worked with other forms, assemblages, and tableaus, much of it put in his yard.<ref name="I193">{{Cite web |title=Exhibitions: Hawkins Bolden |author=<!--Not stated--> |url=https://www.institute193.org/exhibitions-hawkins-bolden |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=Institute 193 |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1997, Bolden participated in the show ''Passionate Visions of the American South'' opening at the New Orleans Museum of Art.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists from 1940 the Present, and exhibit curated and a catalog edited by Alice Rae Yelen (Review)|url=https://www.southerncultures.org/article/passionate-visions-american-south-self-taught-artists-1940-present-exhibit-curated-catalog-edited-alice-rae-yelen-review/|access-date=2021-04-18|website=Southern Cultures|date=July 1997 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=SCARECROW by Hawkins Bolden - intuitive eye|url=http://intuitiveeye.org/SCARECROW-by-Hawkins-Bolden|access-date=2021-04-18|website=intuitiveeye.org}}</ref> Following his death in 2005, the hundreds of works that filled his yard were dispersed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bolden, Hawkins |url=https://www.jmkac.org/artist/hawkins-bolden/ |access-date=2022-09-24 |website=John Michael Kohler Arts Center |language=en-US}}</ref> Bolden was one of four subjects of the 2011 documentary ''Make'', which also included Ike Morgan, Royal Robertson and Judith Scott (artist).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kushner|first1=Daniel|title=Make: Outsider Art and the Blessed Compulsion|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-j-kushner/make-documentary_b_894619.html|work=The Huffington Post|date=13 July 2011 |accessdate=8 July 2016}}</ref> His works have sold at various auction houses, including Christies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hawkins Bolden Sold at Auction Prices |url=https://www.invaluable.com/artist/bolden-hawkins-qx6noa4ntz/sold-at-auction-prices/ |website=invaluable.com |date=January 10, 2024 |access-date=August 14, 2024}}</ref> The American Visionary Art Museum contains permanent collections of his works. Bolden's works are also included in the collections of The Smithsonian Museum of Art, American Visionary Art Museum,<ref name="Sellen">{{Cite book |last=Sellen |first=Betty-Carol |date=2016 |title=Self-Taught, Outsider and Folk Art: A Guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources |edition=Third |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UbSaCwAAQBAJ&PT73 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7585-8|page=65 |language=en}}</ref> The High Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, American Folk Art Museum, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, and the National Gallery of Art.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Untitled|url=https://high.org/collections/untitled-170/|access-date=2021-04-18|website=High Museum of Art|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Hawkins Bolden {{!}} Smithsonian American Art Museum|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/hawkins-bolden-6189|access-date=2021-04-18|website=americanart.si.edu|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection Search Results |url=https://www.nga.gov/collection-search-result.html?artist=Bolden,%20Hawkins |access-date=2022-09-24 |website=www.nga.gov}}</ref>
== Exhibitions ==
* ''Tactile Visions'', Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York, NY, November 14 - December 7, 1991. * ''Hawkins Bolden - Scarecrows,'' SHRINE, New York, NY, April 9 - May 15, 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hawkins Bolden Scarecrows |url=https://www.shrine.nyc/hawkins-bolden-scarecrows |access-date=2022-09-24 |website=SHRINE |language=en-US}}</ref> * ''Seated,'' Institute 193, Lexington, KY, January 12 - March 26, 2022.<ref name="I193" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fuller |first=Daniel |date=2022-03-08 |title=Hawkins Bolden: Seated |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2022/03/artseen/Hawkins-Bolden-Seated |access-date=2022-09-24 |website=The Brooklyn Rail |language=en-US}}</ref> * ''Called To Create: Black Artists of the American South'', National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 18, 2022 – March 26, 2023.
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/hawkins-bolden Hawkins Bolden Insight - Souls Grown Deep]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolden, Hawkins}} Category:American outsider artists Category:1914 births Category:2005 deaths Category:American blind artists Category:Recycled art artists Category:Scarecrows Category:Sculptors from Tennessee Category:Artists from Memphis, Tennessee Category:American contemporary sculptors Category:21st-century American sculptors