Marion Perkins was one of Chicago’s foremost Renaissance sculptors and was known for his compact and expressive carved stone heads and figures. Using stone from derelict city buildings, Perkins transformed his rough found materials into realist forms. He skillfully carved them in a manner and style similar to European modernist sculptors that he believed befit the African American themes he chose to represent. Figure Sitting (c. 1939, stone), with its evenly polished surface and compressed form, is an early work predating a more mature style the artist developed in the 1940s and '50s. While a juxtaposition of textures is more evident in later works, Figure Sitting is no less emotive with the figure’s striking expression and pensive posture.

Courtesy of www.scadmoa.org

http://www.scadmoa.org/Marion_Perkins