Earl Cunningham (American, 1893-1977), "Harbor Scene", oil on board, signed lower left, 17.5in. x 48 in., in a frame hand-made by the artist. E40000/60000 Accompanying the painting is a handwritten note from the current owner that describes meeting Earl Cunningham as a child. Note: The painting "Harbor Scene" is a major and important work by self-taught Florida artist Earl Cunningham. Using a rich palette of jewel-like colors and vivid imagination, Cunningham portrayed an unlikely combination of boats and ships in his paintings In 1906, Cunningham left his family home in Edgecombe, Maine at the age of 13 and worked a variety of jobs including peddler, tinker, and crewing on sailing ships. He married Iva Moses and for many years operated a chicken farm. Upon divorcing Moses he moved to St. Augustine, Florida and was befriended and fell in love with Teresia "Tessie" Paffe. Paffe rented Cunningham the space for his curio shop, the Over Fork Gallery. The paintings and sculptures he created since the 1950s were not for sale or for public viewing. In 1969, art collector Marilyn Mennello happened upon the Over Fork Gallery and discovered Cunningham's talent as an artist. According to a diary entry dated 1977, Cunningham had "450 paintings finished." After his suicide, Marilyn Mennello purchased 350 of Cunningham's paintings. In 1998 she founded the Mennello Museum of American Folk Art in Orlando, Florida featuring the work of Earl Cunningham. Cunningham's paintings are now in the collections of the High Museum of Art, National Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ref: Rosenak, Chuck and Jan, Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth- Century American Folk Art and Artist, Abbeville Press, New York, 1990, pp. 90-91: and Snell, Bob, "Strokes of Genius, The Forgotten Life and Enduring Art of St. Augustine folk icon Earl Cunningham," Folio Weekly March 14, 2000, pp. 14-27. Provenance: Purchased from Cunningham's common law wife Terisia "Tessie" Paffe of St. Augustine, Florida in 1978.