Tag Archives: tallahassee

Very rare, hand-carved, wood sculpture of a partially nude female figure by listed Modernist American artist Ralph N. Hurst was born and educated in Indiana but lived mostly in Tallahassee, Florida. He was a Professor of Art for 27 years at Florida State University where he taught ceramics, woodworking, and art education. He was a prolific sculptural artist and worked in diverse materials including marble, alabaster, metal, and wood. Most of Hurst’s sculptures that have come up for sale are either in marble or alabaster. His wood sculptures have rarely come up for sale over the years. The partially nude female figure I have listed is hand-carved from a solid piece of light brown colored wood and is attached to a wood block base. The wood-carved female is typical of the closed-form type of humans and animal sculptures he produced. The limbs do not extend from the body and the wood sculpture is seen as a tight, solid form. The female is hand carved by Hurst as being partially nude with one breast exposed and her other breast being covered by her hand. The breast that is exposed is expertly carved by Hurst so that the decreasingly sized round tree rings in the wood are centered perfectly over the females exposed nipple for her breast (see Photo 4). The tight dress or clothed wrap around the woman is hand-carved into a scale-like repeated pattern that contrasts with the smooth carving shown on the females, face, arms, hands, feet, and bare breast (see Photos 3, 4, 6 and 7). The sculpture is very large and is approximately 63.5 inches in height. The wood block base for the sculpture measures apprimately 7.5 inches in width, 10.25 inches in length, and 2 inches in height. Together with the wood block base the sculpture is approximately 65.5 inches in height and weighs approximately 28.5 pounds. The wood carved sculpture is signed near the base by Ralph Hurst as “RN Hurst” and there also appears to be a number 57 carved by Hurst just above his name. I’m not sure whether the 57 corresponds to the date of the sculpture (1957) or if the number 57 is just a catalog number by Hurst. Please see all 12 photographs as the photographs are part of the description. The wood sculpture is in very good condition. As expected from a carving from solid wood, the the wood sculpture has some shrinkage cracks in the wood which I believe only add to the character of the vintage sculpture. Just above the females upper hand is an approximately 0.5-inch long gouge in the wood (see Photo 11) which appears to be due to wood material from a carved transverse section through a branch that has fallen out of the wood sculpture. In Figure 12 of the listing, I illustrate another area of the wood carving that has similar wood material from what appears to be the cross-section of a branch that was carved through by Hurst that remains intact within the sculpture. If you are a collector of Ralph Hurst’s sculptures, you know just how rare it is to find the large hand-carved wood sculpture by Ralph Hurst I have listed. This item is in the category “Art\Art Sculptures”. The seller is “wahoopicker” and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped to United States.

• Size: Large
• Region of Origin: Florida, USA
• Artist: Ralph N. Hurst
• Production Technique: Carving
• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
• Style: Modernism
• Item Height: 65.5 in
• Material: Wood
• Type: Sculpture
• Features: Signed
• Subject: Figures
• Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
• Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original