Painted terracotta, 1937. Approximately 172x127x76 mm; 6 3/4x5x3 inches. Incised signature "Woodard" and date "1937", lower right verso.
Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; private collection; thence by descent to the current owner.
Illustrated; Lisa Farrington, Creating Their Own Image - The History of African-American Women Artists, p. 95, fig. 4.17. A bronze cast in the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company art collection was sold at Swann Galleries on October 4, 2007.
Beulah Woodard was the first significant African-American female sculptor working on the West Coast. While geographically removed from the Harlem Renaissance, Woodard was inspired by the news and writings of the growing African-American artistic community. In Bad Boy, we see in particular the influence of sculptor Augusta Savage, especially her iconic bust, Gamin, 1930. Both artists sought to convey a natural realism in the careful modelling of an expressive young boy's face. Farrington pp. 94-96.
