This faceless man in top hat is one of a number of old carved articulated figures listed today, a few of them straight out of an amazing West Coast collection of folk/self-taught/outsider art, and a couple, including this one, found at a show closer to home. When it rains it pours... seems like its been forever since I had a good articulated figure, and now a number of them at once, and I thought a nice thing to list them all at once, as finding the right homes for them is a matchmaking sort of endeavor! For me, carved figures like this are as close to animate beings as handmade things can be, and I love the process of photographing them as a sort of "getting to know you" experience, through which their very individual personalities (and souls, I would say!) reveal themselves, including through discovering how they are able to bend, move, sit, etc. What I especially love about this guy is the combination of his very short (and quite gracefully tapered) arms and his very long legs--making him a very limber limberjack, or dancing doll, or jig figure, whatever you want to call him. Those arms and legs were carved of a different wood than his torso--perhaps he was originally just a carved stump doll of sorts, then transformed into a dancer; I am not completely sure. I like the effect, though, a bit of a Frankenstein, who feels as if he just could not be denied the ability to move!
10" t x 2 3/8" w at shoulders. Very good condition, nice warm patina, sturdy and sound and very limber! There is a hole in his back for inserting a dowel to make him dance (or to hang him from now.)
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