The White Fence
Date1968
Mediumoil painted wood carving
DimensionsImage: 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)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. David Miller.
Object number2003.23.1
Copyright© Estate of William Cartledge.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextCartledge produced a range of work from whimsical carvings to his best-known subjects—searing commentaries on race and politics in America. In this work, black hands reach out from a fiery background to grasp a white picket fence that functions as prison bars. This stark work communicates the artist’s passionate interest in civil rights as well as the turbulence of the era in which it was created.
Born in Canon, Georgia in 1916, 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.
