Dilmus Hall

Dilmus Hall (1896–1987) was a modern American sculptor from Athens, Georgia.

Life Dilmus Hall was born in Oconee County, Georgia on a cotton farm. His large family was headed by his father, who was also a blacksmith. When Hall was 13 years old, he moved with his family to neighboring Athens, Georgia. Four years later, he entered the United States Army Medical Corps and became a stretcher-bearer during World War I.

Hall had many careers throughout his life after returning from the war, of which included a hotel bell captain and waiter, a sorority house custodian at the University of Georgia, and a stonemason for a construction company. He retired in 1961 to focus on his art. He was married to Zaydie Hall, and although they never had children, Hall viewed his sculptures as his children. When doctors told him and Zaydie that they could not bear children, he remarked "Fooled him! Whooee, yes, I fooled him. He didn't know me, didn't know about the gift of my talent. 'Cause I sure did make children. I'm still making 'em, out of concrete and whatever else I can find to do with." Although he became a nationally recognized and sought-after artist, he was known for giving away all of the money he made. He carried around two thousand dollars in his overalls that he would give away to his neighbors in need.

Inspiration Hall held very strong faith and he believed that Satan was a very active catalyst for chaos in the earthly realm. Hall believed that the devil could coerce humans into any evil act. This is evident in his life-size, yard sculpture, Devil and the Drunk Man in which a figure of a seemingly unconscious man lays supine at the feet of a smiling, mischievous devil. Hall believed that his sculptures of devils acted as charms, which kept evil away once the owner took possession of the charm.

Hall also made many iterations of the crucifix, and "fanciful human and animal sculptures."

Selected exhibitions Hall's work has been shown in the following exhibitions:

O, Appalachia: Artists of the Southern Mountains. 1989, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, West Virginia. Unsigned, Unsung.. Whereabouts Unknown!: Make-Do Art of the American Outlands. February 5 – March 7, 1993, Florida State University Art Gallery and Museum, Tallahassee. The Radiant Object:Self-Taught Artists from the Volkersz Collection. January 31 – February 18, 1994, Haynes Fine Arts Gallery – Montana State University, Bozeman. Fundamental Soul: The Hager Gift of African American Self-Taught Art. January 26 – March 10, 1996, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, Illinois. Outsider Art: an Exploration of Chicago Collections. December 9, 1996 – February 28, 1997, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois. Southern Spirit: the Hill Collection. February 21 – March 31, 2000, Museum of Art, Tallahassee, Florida. Figure 8. March 8 – April 16, 2005, Barbara Archer Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia Crossroads: Spirituality in American Folk Traditions. November 17, 2007 – February 24, 2008, Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Owensboro, Kentucky. Pure Folk: Celebrating the Folk Art Society of America. September 14 – November 10, 2012, Barbara Archer Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia. Self-taught, Outsider, Visionary: Highlights from the Folk Art Collection. October 5, 2013 – March 30, 2014, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, West Virginia. From the Heart: Folk Art on Paper. August 6 – November 13, 2016, Museum of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida What Carried Us Over:Gifts from the Gordon W. Bailey Collection. September 13, 2019 – April 19, 2020. Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida

Collections Hall's work is in the permanent collections of the following museums:

American Folk Art Museum Huntington Museum of Art Clark Atlanta University High Museum of Art Milwaukee Art Museum Archives of American Art – Smithsonian Owensboro Museum of Fine Art St. James Place Folk Art Museum Pérez Art Museum Miami