Seated Man with Pipe

Unidentified · ca. 1900

Early-twentieth-century wood-carvers often made toy figures with movable parts to amuse their children. The Fiddler’s arms and legs can be moved to suggest that he is playing the violin and dancing; in Seated Man with Pipe the figure’s left arm can move up and down to simulate the gesture of smoking. In both sculptures the artists paid more attention to animating the figures than they did to detail or color.