As with his figures of working people, Bolling captured the grace, strength, and beauty of athletes. He based the sculptures on people he knew from his Jackson Ward neighborhood.
Titles with an asterisk (*) were displayed in the exhibition at the Library of Virginia. The PDF symbol indicates catalog entries and images for works discovered after April 1, 2006. Click on the PDF symbol (
) to access the entries on these recent discoveries. Exhibited works known before that date are published in the catalog, Freeing Art from Wood: The Sculpture of Leslie Garland Bolling, available from the Virginia Shop at the Library of Virginia, or online.
This list of titles was compiled from exhibition pamphlets and catalogs, published reviews and articles, and correspondence.
| Sports | |
|---|---|
![Boxer [Wild Cat]](javascript:popImage('img/titles/boxer_large.jpg','Boxer [Wild Cat]','Boxer [Wild Cat]. Photograph courtesy of the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of American Negro Arts and Letters, Beinecke Library, Yale University')) | Boxer [Wild Cat]* 1933 Photograph courtesy of the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of American Negro Arts and Letters, Beinecke Library, Yale University |
) | Runner 1933 |
) | Shot Putter Ca. 1935 Courtesy of an anonymous lender. Photography by Pierre Courtois, LVA |