Description
Hand Carved Walnut Table made and signed by James Monroe Camp 1975 California woodworker solid walnut sculptured table by woodworker J. Camp
Creator: James Monroe Camp (designer)
Place of origin: United States
date of manufacture: 1970s
Period: 1970 – 1979
Materials and techniques: carved walnut
Measurements: 15″ Tall x 15″ deep x 31″ wide
Condition: excellent wear to the bottom left corner
Description: The shaped rounded rectangular table on hand carved rounded wooden legs.
Extra Notes: This is, by the renowned Philadelphian wood sculptor James Monroe Camp. He is known in the Philadelphia area for being one of the African American artists who exhibited at the African Diasporas Festival for Arts and Culture in Lagos, Nigeria. His works are sought after amongst collectors.
Through connections with a Philadelphia theater owner, Mr. Camp was commissioned to make wood creations for Hollywood movie stars. With his unusually large hands, Mr. Camp made the pieces for Sinatra (who wrote “You’re an absolute genius” in a thank-you note) and Davis, and a chess table and stool set for John Wayne.
Mr. Camp’s hand-carved six-foot mahogany crucifix hangs in the Absalom Jones Altar Chapel in the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, in Overbrook. His noted works include a spine-back rocking chair and Black Matriarch, which was featured in The Inquirer with a story about the Lewis Tanner Moore “In Search of Missing Masters” exhibit at the Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill.
Mr. Camp was among the African American artists who represented the U.S. in the African Diasporas exhibit in the Festival for Arts and Culture in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1977. The group included artists Nelson Stevens, Jeff Donaldson and Januwa Moja and dancer Chuck Davis.
Mr. Camp’s work was included in a Smithsonian Institution exhibition that highlighted artwork by family members. He exhibited with his late sister, painter Sylvia Harmon; his brother, photographer Don Camp; and his niece Kimberly Camp, an artist and former head of the Barnes Foundation
