Unlocated_Fuller

Water Boy

"Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (American/Philadelphia, 1877-1968), "The Water Boy", 1930, painted plaster, initialed in monogram "MVWF" on base, inscribed "Dorothy Warrick" on white-painted bottom of base, height 12 1/4 in., width 6 in., depth 4 1/2 in. Provenance: Ex-Collection of Dorothy Warrick, Philadelphia, PA; to current owner. Note: This is a rare cast of a well-known work by a prominent African-American woman artist, Meta Vaux Warrick, who married Dr. Simon Fuller (1871-1957) of Liberia in 1909 This exceptional plaster, finished in gold paint, may be more richly worked than the version in unpainted plaster (collection of Simon Fuller) usually illustrated in discussions of her work; it was certainly retained by her niece, Dorothy Warrick, who inscribed the lower block of the base. The artist had been a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and then in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts, and eventually with the most celebrated sculptor of the age, Auguste Rodin in 1902-1903 This figure is indicative of the powerful style of Romantic Realism which Fuller brought to the sculpture of African experiences in America. Reference: Schmidt, Mary, ed. Harlem Renaissance Art of Black America. Campell: New York, 1987, pp. 177-179, color plate 24." Auction report