Eagle figurine

This object was once part of the folk art collection of Elie Nadelman (1882-1946), the avant-garde sculptor. From 1924 to 1934, Nadelman's collection was displayed in his Museum of Folk Arts, located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The Historical Society purchased Nadelman's entire collection in 1937.

An untrained and prolific woodcarver, Wilhelm Schimmel was a German-born itinerant who worked during the late nineteenth century within the German and Anglo-Irish communities in rural Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Despite drunken behavior that often landed him in jail, Schimmel earned the support of local families, who gave him wood for whittling his animal figures. He frequently used common household paints or leftover colors most likely received from sympathetic neighbors and hosts. The Nadelmans began acquiring Schimmel carvings in 1929.