Airplane

Dateca. 1970

Artist Eddie Arning 1898 - 1993

MediumOil pastel on paper

DimensionsOverall: 17 3/4 × 24 1/8 in (45.08 × 61.28cm)

Credit LineGift of Richard and Emily Mather Phillips in memory of Robert and Jean Mather

Object number2025.201.3

DescriptionDrawing of an airplane viewed from above looking down one at the pilot in the cockpit. The orange, blue and green plane is set against a bright yellow background.Label TextEddie Arning was born in Austin County, Texas, in 1898. As a teenager he worked on the family farm, but increasingly disturbing bouts with depression and withdrawal led his family to commit him to the state mental hospital. Arning remained in mental hospitals or nursing homes for the next forty-five years.

Encouraged by a hospital aide, in 1964 Arning began to color in books and then to draw freehand. His earliest drawings featured farm animals and inanimate objects remembered from childhood. Arning gradually introduced human figures that interacted with one another into his compositions.

While most of Arning's drawings derive from illustrations in popular magazines, this piece appears to be an orignial made as an anniversary present for his friends Robert and Betty Cogswell. The Cogswells played a pivotal role in Eddie's life and work, taking him to church on Sundays, buying him art supplies, and helping exhibit his works in various art shows around Austin.
ProvenancePurchased from the artist by Robert G. Mather; gifted his daughter and son-in-law, Richard and Emily Mather Phillips (Austin, TX); 2025, given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)