The White Fence
William Ned Cartledge
- Artist
- William Ned Cartledge
- Title
- The White Fence
- Date
- 1968
- Medium
- oil painted wood carving
- Dimensions
- Image: 44 1/8 × 30 3/8 inches (112.1 × 77.2 cm)Framed: 44 3/4 × 31 3/16 × 1 3/4 inches (113.7 × 79.2 × 4.4 cm)
- Tags
- Mixed Media
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David Miller.
- Accession Number
- 2003.23.1
Born in Canon, Georgia in 1916, Ned Cartledge began carving wood as a child. His varied experience took him from Atlanta to service in a mortar battalion in World War II, to Memphis and back to Georgia where he worked for the cotton arbitration board. He began exhibiting his work in the late 1960s and won a best of show award at the Savannah Arts Festival in 1970.
Cartledge produced a range of work from whimsical carvings to his best-known subjects – searing commentaries on race and politics in America. In this work, African American hands reach out from a fiery background to grasp a white picket fence which functions as prison bars. This stark work communicates the artist’s passionate interest in civil rights as well as the turbulence of the era.
Cartledge produced a range of work from whimsical carvings to his best-known subjects – searing commentaries on race and politics in America. In this work, African American hands reach out from a fiery background to grasp a white picket fence which functions as prison bars. This stark work communicates the artist’s passionate interest in civil rights as well as the turbulence of the era.
