Curator’s Corner: Marjorie Daingerfield

We're excited for you all to come see our exhibitions when we reopen, including our latest one, "Marjorie & Louis." This exhibition tells the story of the relationship between two Blowing Rock artists: Marjorie Jay Daingerfield and James Louis Lundean.

Today, we thought we'd highlight the work of Marjorie Daingerfield (1900-1977). She was the eldest daughter of American artist Elliott Daingerfield (1859-1932), but rather than picking up a paintbrush like her father, Marjorie walked her own path and became a sculptor. She worked primarily with clay, mainly sculpting portraits and the figure, and her final works were often cast in bronze.

She wrote one book in her lifetime and dedicated it to her second husband, Louis Lundean (who we'll learn more about in the coming weeks). Her book, "The Fun and Fundamentals of Sculpture," has one passage where she says, "The painter has the advantage over us. He has to cope with only one view and can depend on the same light and shade, while the sculptor has to get the likeness all around, from every view, and the light and shade will always be different. It has to be good from every side and in every light."

These photographs show one of Marjorie's works in progress, a portrait of George M. Ivy of Charlotte, NC. The table on which the clay sits could rotate 360 degrees so that Marjorie could turn the table in all directions as she worked, assessing and reassessing light and shade. She begins with a very basic form, then slowly builds out the details. Marjorie had a keen ability to capture a likeness of her models.

Learn more about "Marjorie & Louis" here

Image Credits: Stages of development of "George M. Ivy, Charlotte, NC" by Marjorie Daingerfield. Photographs from "The Fun and Fundamentals of Sculpture," by Marjorie Daingerfield. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.