Edgar Tolson

Edgar Tolson is Kentucky’s most celebrated folk artist. Though he recalled making a few carvings as a child, Tolson turned to woodcarving after suffering a stroke in 1957, when he was forced to give up his former occupations as carpenter and stonemason. Using a penknife and a piece of Kentucky poplar or pine, he began making animals, walking sticks, and simple figures. With the support and encouragement of Lexington collectors John and Miriam Tuska, Tolson began to carve his Fall of Man cycle, comprised of Adam and Eve in Paradise, Temptation, Original Sin, the Expulsion, and Cain Slaying Abel. Though he expanded his repertoire with traditional American folk art themes such as Noah’s Ark, yoked oxen, Uncle Sam, preachers, and other figures, Tolson’s compelling tableaux of Adam and Eve would become his signature theme. In Temptation, Tolson skillfully carved the couple in the Garden of Eden as they are tempted by the serpent slithering around the delicately carved tree.