Elmer Crowell: Father of American Bird Carving
by Stephen B. O’Brien Jr. and Chelsie W. Olney
Stephen O’Brien Jr. Fine Arts, LLC, is pleased to announce the publication of Elmer Crowell: Father of American Bird Carving by Stephen B. O’Brien Jr. and Chelsie W. Olney. Set against the backdrop of Cape Cod and Boston in the late 19 th and early 20 th century, Elmer Crowell: Father of American Bird Carving is a comprehensive examination of the life and carving history of Anthony Elmer Crowell (1862–1952), widely considered to be the most influential American bird carver of all time. The authors explore Crowell’s formative period which coincided with the American Industrial Revolution. The advances in transportation, communication, and firearms fundamentally altered the carver’s career. Crowell works from The Thomas M. Evans Jr. Collection and the nation’s top collections showcase the carver’s unmatched abilities. The most thorough publication on the maker to date, this 304-page book features over 420 color images, including Gavin Ashworth’s stunning photography along with historic images.
Elmer Crowell: Father of American Bird Carving is the story of a boy of modest means who adapts to the changing world of the American Industrial Revolution. His life spans a time of monumental shifts from from an agricultural to an industrial-driven America, and even his small home town of East Harwich, Cape Cod, is effected. In the process of recognizing and responding to changing times, Crowell produces the finest decoys and carvings ever created.
Spurred on the encouragement and patronage of his early hunting blind employers, Crowell’s carving pastime becomes his full-time career. His earliest customers recognized the exceptional quality of his carving and paintwork, and retired Crowell’s decoys to their mantels as works of art.
From working decoys to decoratives, ducks to shorebirds, full-size to miniatures, standing to preening, Crowell’s variety of carvings offered is peerless. A consummate experimenter by nature, Crowell tinkered with patterns and paint techniques in his quest to produce wooden sculptures that mimic the species they represent as closely as possible.
The resulting carvings have been coveted by collectors for over a century, as the market continually reconfirms. For his sales record, his variety of carvings, and the ringing praise his carvings receive, Crowell is rightfully referred to as the father of American bird carving.