Untitled (Figure Construction)
n.d.
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
construction of found paper, soot, string
Dimensions
overall: 32 × 11.9 × 1.2 cm (12 5/8 × 4 11/16 × 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of James Castle Collection and Archive, and Acquisition with Eugene L. and Marie-Louise Garbáty Fund
Accession Number
2013.33.12
Art Historical Context
James Castle’s *Untitled (Figure Construction)* transforms humble, discarded materials into an evocative sculptural form. Measuring just over a foot tall, the work is assembled from found paper, soot, and string, creating a delicate, elongated figure that seems both fragile and enduring. Classified as a drawing yet existing in three dimensions, it blurs traditional boundaries between media, inviting viewers to consider how everyday scraps can become vessels for personal expression. The use of soot as a drawing medium lends the piece a soft, atmospheric quality, while the string and folded pap...
About the Artist
James Castle
**James Castle: A Self-Taught Visionary of Rural America** James Charles Castle was born on September 25, 1899, on a remote farm in Garden Valley, Idaho, to Frank and Mary Castle, local postmasters and the parents of seven children, of whom he was the fifth. Profoundly deaf from birth, Castle attended the Gooding School for the Deaf and Blind from ages ten to fifteen but never mastered sign langu...