Uncle Jack Dey - ( Richmond, Virginia, 1912-1978) Round Up. Signed LR. Paint on panel.

Frame: H 22 in. W 28 in.

Sight: 18-1/2 in. W 24-1/2 in.

Uncle Dey began painting in 1955 after his retirement from the police force. He preferred to use model airplane paint and painted on wood, plywood, and corrugated cardboard, which he sometimes covered with an old t-shirt. Dey purchased frames from yard sales and second-hand shops and then created paintings according to each frame's size. His subjects include country landscapes, Biblical stories, and imagined, exotic scenes, some inspired by his own memories. In 1973, the American Folk Art Company in Richmond, Virginia, held Dey's first public paintings exhibition and more widespread recognition came in the next year when folk art collector Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. included an image of Adam and Even Leave Eden Archived 2014-02-23 at the Wayback Machine in his book, Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists. Several of Dey's works, including Adam and Eve Leave Eden, The Elephant Who Was Fond of the Watermelon, and Acupuncture Pitchfork Style, are included in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.  His work can also be found in the collections of the American Folk Art Museum, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art.