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- ’■'» THE DELTA WEEKLYLEON KOURY-DELTA SCULPTORBY LOUS*. (NKKIGt.t SMITHBEHIND a Busy little store in a emnmer-col section of the Um-n o! tinmvillc in the tiny studio cl Iwciily-aovcn-year old MinUalpfii Sculptor, Leon Kerry. whose •'Negro Ho,' i«T.f«*,;«,! thcSlulo «r Mimic-tippl in the Meoinl Notional Exhibition or American Art conducted by the Municipal Art ooninUltat in New York City, this year.11djptl nought him out In Ills father'.! grocery iter.. ..ml he conducted me te. the studio. It open, directly on » side inert mxi as we entered n man M ated at the piano looked up urvd smiled. lie wot Mr Koury* model also In* tcreited in art and he was copying noted from a 8li»vH of paper prtlt;pred Against the piano. Every thing In the room wua pointed gray -lt;iid yet there wov no dtabue» .boo! it The nnfl tints cl the background brought out 'die terra cotta colored curtain* and the clay head* that wero plarnt! about the room.We moved to Ihi window. The gray light which Mrnuied through !el. on tho given clay figure ol a negro worker pausing hum his inUui, a comprcKi worker with lure chest gloved lar.it. and ragged abuts. The figure symbolized (lie entire negro tnco, the Ulmer in the cotton field, the gins. and the comprmie, cl the southland. |r it ta tho physical strength of tliu rare jnd the joy awl sadtm cf Contained laborL«Mrt lt;1*1 ry mcdelf. tlic of his discoverer. Will Percy Above, a c tose oil of f ho head■I want to do mere and more puc*. of the negro a. 1 see him m her every day life as he works and aa ho play. Leer. Koury says. 'TTiKre will be many ol them nrd then some riay I lt;nn go into the range nf their eimit'io.H, but Hat will be a Inng time oII °Mr. Koury’a interest In sculpturing is only three years old Up |o that time |,e had rather imagined that he cnuM write, but when he took hoidc of In. work to Will Percy, of Greenville to cntieiin, the ‘ketches illu-.trut.ng the stories sctmrd moie important to Mr. Percy than did the writing Act-ing upon this suggestion, lxvn Koury gave up the eleu of writing and turned hi* attention to .kelclK* Even then hie subject was the r*gnv Tlie next slop wne the modeling in day nnd it was here that the true genius of the young artist began to nuke ilorlf known.Hi. first bust wn. SO good that when Malvina Hoffman; outstanding American m-ulptor saw a photognph of it she scr.t hre own tools for htn. to work with. Mrs. CclcPorter, wife of the ecoipese: wanted to buy his fur.! head, but he refuse- to sell it and ha. presented it tn Mr Percy, whose friendship and cncouiagwmrrt meant m much to him.Hliot Clark, also iclf-ioughl in art lu» advised against Mi Koury looking lor formal training- He feared that it might fake from him the *p*,k and give iiufc to his lort.ni-qne.I asked litm about going away to study.I do not want to nc said. “What I want to do is the negro If J BO away I will la- out of touch with him and hts life. My nncdeli Come and go about me every day and what 1 will Kara in study, I will Joic In contacts.'He told u* cf the difficulty of getting them to pose fi.- nini; how they saw no beauty In their own face. He dcplorsd the tcrdcncy of the negro rare to ape the white man and hi, waysThe only thing lliey are proud of is tlieir unusual bodily strength, he aid. Both cl us turned to hx*. »t the muscular ch«t of .the flay f.gure outlined again*! the window The muscle, in hia orms and reck stood out in the gioy light.They,look in the mirror and oil Hat they see a a face not '.ike the white facw about them. They da nut see the spirit hehind thetr focvn the weoknews and the strength and the spirit .bluing through.I In tairi us of an old negro muisu he had s«n in his father’s store and how be had CDMInntd m l*niv Snrv
Newspaper Details
Greenville Delta Weekly
Greenville, Mississippi, US
Mon, Dec 27, 1937
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Tyler D.
MS, USA 06 Apr 2016
Other Publications Near Greenville, Mississippi
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