Description

During the 1930s, many sculptors in America and abroad shared an interest in the technique of direct carving in wood and stone. (Direct carving means carving a piece of sculpture directly in its final form, rather than casting a piece from a model.) Rood realized the appeal of wood when he observed a woodcarver while on a trip to France in 1931. Returning home, he began to experiment with wood and started a process of self-education with trips to museums and galleries. A poet, musician, and author of books on sculpture, Rood was born in rural Ohio, near Athens. By the 1940s he was widely recognized for the originality, power, and honesty of expression in his finely carved figures. The bold, sleek form of this head retains the character of the solid block of mahogany from which it was carved.