samson

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VAM galleries including this work:
Kentucky Folk Art Center | World of the Spirit | What’s in a Name? || VAM Home

Ronald Cooper (Kentucky, b. 1931)

SAMSON AND DELILAH, 1989

Painted wood and steel wool; 8-1/2" X 11" X 6-1/2"

1989.5.97

Kentucky Folk Art Center

Religion is an important subject for many Kentucky folk artists. Artists frequently portray well-known scenes from the Bible as a way to present their own beliefs or their personal interpretation of religious texts. Here, Ronald Cooper presents his interpretation of the Old Testament story of Samson and Delilah. According to the Bible, Samson was a soldier whose great physical strength would disappear if his long hair were cut short. His weakness was beautiful women, and Samson’s enemies promised the beautiful Delilah a great sum of money if she could discover the secret of his incredible strength. This sculpture shows Delilah, with a pair of scissors in her left hand, ready to cut off Samson’s hair.

About the Artist

Ronald Cooper grew up in Fleming County, Kentucky. At age 17, he married Jessie Farris Dunaway. The couple left Eastern Kentucky to look for work in Dayton, Ohio, where they lived for 16 years. Ronald suffered a series of heart attacks and was in a car accident that left him near death. He was thrown from a vehicle in a multi-car pileup and was hit by an oncoming car. Both his legs were crushed, and doctors told him that he would never walk again. The Coopers returned to Fleming County as Ronald began recuperation. To escape the physical pain and major depression, he began working with his hands and soon turned to making sculpture.

Cooper attributes his physical and psychological recovery to his involvement with art, which he claims gave him renewed purpose in life. For example, in response to recurring nightmares about snakes during his recuperation, Cooper began carving snakes in 1988. His nightmares ended abruptly.

His art soon blossomed, and his work expanded to include found objects such as chests, boxes, old heating stoves, and shoes, which he frequently incorporates into his sculpture. A devoutly religious man, Cooper has focused his recent work on the Bible and its teachings, with dramatic depictions of Hell and sinners suffering at the hand of the devil.

Note: Program 1117 of the KET series Kentucky Life includes a segment on Ronald and Jessie Cooper.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: Does this piece tell you anything about the artist’s religious beliefs? What do you think of the expressions on the faces of Samson and Delilah? How does the artist use the elements of art in this piece?

Why do you think so many folk artists are inspired by religious themes? Compare this work to other Kentucky Virtual Art Museum folk art with religious themes, such as Erma (Junior) Lewis’ Devil Head and Tim Lewis’ Adam and Eve in the Kentucky Folk Art Center gallery and Edgar Tolson’s Temptation in the University of Kentucky Art Museum gallery. How do these works compare to “fine art” works on religious subjects?

Discuss the story of Samson and Delilah. Why do you think Cooper chose this particular part of the story to convey in his sculpture? View other works by the Coopers. What do you think about those in which they paint on other objects, such as rocks, shoes, and furniture? How does the object used as the canvas affect the impact of the work?

Activities: Choose a familiar story and create a two- or three-dimensional work of art showing a scene from that story. Explain why you chose that particular scene.

Think about a work of art that would use images and words to tell about you and your ideas or beliefs. Look around your school or house for a discarded object that would be an appropriate base for such a work. Using paint or markers, turn the found object into a personal expression.

Links

The exhibition Coming Home! Self-Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South, from the Art Museum of the University of Memphis, includes works by the Coopers.
[www.people.memphis.edu/~artmuseum/ComingHome.html]

Read more about the Coopers and see images of a variety of their works at the Self-Taught Folk Art web site.
[alumnus.caltech.edu/~dacrotty/cooper.html

A brief article on Ronald Cooper can be found at OutsiderAndFolkArt.com.
[www.outsiderandfolkart.com/Cooper%20Bio.htm]