"Jim Jim" is an ebony carving by Tom Brun, sculptor and Detroit Zoo Keeper, who cared for the real Jim Jim at the Detroit Zoo. This ebony sculpture is in beautiful condition with slight exposure to the lighter streak of wood sometimes found in ebony. It is said that Tom would often go into a house and pick up one of his sculptures and say that it was unfriendly – meaning that it had not been handled enough.
Morley Driver has said of Brun in a newspaper article from the 1950’s “In Any Animal He Sees Beauty”: No one who has ever seen a Tom Brun hippopotamus will ever again think of it as ugly or ungainly, meaning that the artist not only gives you beauty but teaches you to see it. Tom has said: “Small pieces are like a proverb – a gem of meaning that one can dissect.” They are meant to be picked up, caressed and held. Tom knew Jim Jim from birth and cared for him with love and attention. Brun was a compassionate zookeeper and advocated for less cages and more space for an animal to roam.
Brun was born in England in 1913. A few years after the end of World War I his father moved the family in 1919 to Detroit, Michigan. In 1935 at age 23, he officially became a U.S. citizen. He served in the army during World War II for five years and upon discharge and at the age of 36 took advantage of the GI Bill and applied for admission to Society of Arts and Crafts (now known as the College for Creative Studies) where he was gladly accepted.
While at Arts and Crafts his instructors and established artists such as Sarkis Sarkisian, John P. Foster, Morris Brose, Richard Koslow, Patricia Burnett, Lloyd and Renee Radell...
Category
1950s Modern Art by Medium: Wood
