Artist

Earl Cunningham

born Edgecomb, ME 1893-died St. Augustine, FL 1977
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Photograph by Jerry Uelsmann courtesy of the Lightner Museum found in St. Augustine Compass September 1987
Also known as
  • Erland Roland Cunningham
Born
Edgecomb, Maine, United States
Died
St. Augustine, Florida, United States
Biography

Earl Cunningham was born on a farm in Edgecomb, Maine, near Boothbay Harbor in 1893. He left home at 13 and supported himself as a tinker and a peddler. When he was 16, Cunningham, who lived in a fisherman's shack on Stratton Island off Old Orchard Beach, began painting images of boats and farms on wood he scavenged. In the early 1910s, Cunningham sailed on one or more of the giant coastal schooners that carried coal, ice, naval stores and lumber between Maine, the mid-Atlantic states and Florida.

In 1915, Cunningham married Iva Moses. During World War I, he drove a truck for a naval yard and visited Florida for the first time. For the next 10 years, the couple spent winters in Florida—Tampa Bay, Cedar Key and St. Augustine. In 1937, troubled by marital problems, Cunningham left Maine and bought land in South Carolina, where he farmed and raised chickens.

Cunningham settled in St. Augustine in 1949, where he opened a curio shop called the Over Fork Gallery. He displayed his paintings there, although the works were not for sale. In 1969, collector Marilyn Mennello convinced Cunningham to sell her a work; and in 1970, she made possible an exhibition of selected paintings at the Loch Haven Art Center (now the Orlando Museum of Art). In 1974, Cunningham's second museum exhibition, Earl Cunningham: American Primitive, opened at the Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences.

Cunningham, who had suffered from depression and paranoia, committed suicide Dec. 29, 1977. In 1998, the Mennello Museum of American Art, which is dedicated to displaying the majority of the artist's work, opened in Orlando. Five years later, Cunningham was elected to the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

Smithsonian American Art Museum "Smithsonian American Art Museum Launches National Tour of Paintings by Folk Art Modernist Earl Cunningham" (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian American Art Museum, press release, July 5, 2007)

Luce Artist Biography

Earl Cunningham left his parents' sawmill at the age of thirteen to seek his fortune. He peddled junk from a suitcase and sold paintings he made on old pieces of board washed up from the sea. In the 1910s he worked on the large sailing ships carrying cargo between Maine and Florida and then operated a chicken farm, selling chickens to the Army during World War II. In 1949 he moved to St. Augustine, Florida, where he opened a small curio store called the Over Fork Gallery. Local people knew him as a "crusty dragon," because he often refused entry to customers and would not sell his paintings ("The Idyllic World of Earl Cunningham," Diana Edwards, St. Augustine Compass, September 1987, Chuck and Jan Rosenak research material, 1990-1999, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution). He did, however, admit to giving one of his paintings to Jackie Kennedy, claiming that "if you had watched President Kennedy on television you could have seen my painting right back of the President's head . . ." ("Earl Cunningham, Folk Artist, His Carefree American World," The Marilyn L. and Michael A. Mennello Collection).

Exhibitions

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Earl Cunningham’s America
August 9, 2007November 3, 2007
"Earl Cunningham's America" examines the paintings of Earl Cunningham (1893–1977), one of the premier folk artists of the 20th century.

Related Books

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Earl Cunningham’s America
Earl Cunningham (1893–1977) was one of the premier folk artists of the twentieth century. Earl Cunningham’s America presents Cunningham as a folk modernist who used the flat space and brilliant color typical of Matisse and Van Gogh to create sophisticated compositions. Wendell Garrett brings his broad knowledge of decorative arts and folk art to bear, placing Cunningham in the context of ideas and events. Virginia Mecklenburg, senior curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, traces Cunningham’s life and situates his work in the context of the folk art revival that brought Edward Hicks, Grandma Moses, and Horace Pippin to national attention. Carolyn Weekly, director of museums at Colonial Williamsburg, shows how Cunningham’s style developed over the course of his career.