Elijah Pierce

Elijah Pierce
Born	March 5, 1892 Baldwyn, Mississippi
Died	May 7, 1984 Columbus, Ohio

Elijah Pierce (1892-1984) was a renowned wood carver throughout the 1900s. Pierce was the youngest in his family born from a former slave on a farm in Baldwyn, Mississippi on March 5, 1892. He began carving at a young age using a pocket knife. He first started carving animals because of his prior life of growing up on a farm. Pierce was honored with the National Heritage Fellowship for his art and influence in the woodcarving community in 1982.

Elijah Pierce began woodcarving at a young age. He started carving at the age of seven, when his father gave him his first pocketknife. His uncle, Lewis Wallace, taught him how to carve more complex pieces. Pierce would give away his carvings to other kids at his school. As a teenager, Pierce decided he did not want to work as a farmer like his father. He began to hang out at the local barbershop, and this is where he found another passion of his. Aside from being a skilled woodcarver, Pierce was also a renowned barber. Many of Pierce's carving were done for his wives. In the 1920s, Pierce made an entire zoo of wood carved animals for his wife, Cornelia. Each animal represented a different story, sometimes referencing the beasts of Genesis, or animals from folktales of his youth. Pierce's favorite work of his own was the Book of Wood, quite literally a large wooden book that Pierce carved into. The book portrayed the story of Jesus. The Book of Wood was the first type of carving Pierce ever made differing from his typical small sculptures. He would go on to make many more carving similar to the Book of Wood, each with its own story and universal theme.

Elijah Pierce was honored to participate in exhibitions at galleries such as the Krannert Art Museum, the Phyllis Kind Gallery of New York, the National Museum of American Art, and the Renwick Gallery. In 1973, Pierce won first prize in the International Meeting of Naive Art in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. In 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a National Heritage Fellowship as one of 15 master traditional artists. His work is in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum, and in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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