Gorilla

Date: 1976
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1986/1986.65.228_1a.jpg?itok=yeO-J0rg width="319" height="284"]] || Title: **Gorilla**

Artist: **Felipe Archuleta** Born: Santa Cruz, New Mexico 1910 Died: Tesuque, New Mexico 1991

Medium: carved and painted cottonwood with glue and sawdust Dimensions: 40 x 27 1/4 x 42 in. (101.6 x 69.2 x 106.7 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum  Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson

Accession: 1986.65.228 || In 1964, when he was in his fifties, Archuleta found himself without work, money, or hope. He prayed for God to bestow on him a skill that would help change his life. His answer was a call to carve animals. He began making small images of creatures he saw near his New Mexico home, but soon turned to children's books and popular magazines for pictures of exotic animals. Gorilla was inspired by photographs of silverback mountain gorillas he found in National Geographic. The wary glance and casual stride of the long-limbed Baboon show the skill with which he captured the animal's expressive characteristics.
 * Exhibition Label: **


 * Suggested Questions: **
 * How is this similar/different to Root Monster?
 * How is this similar/different to a real gorilla?


 * Key Concepts: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Media
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Technique- Subtractive
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Culture

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Artist Biography <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">National Geographic on gorillas <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">SAAM Collections Page
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Links: **