Joseph Yoakum was age 76 when he started to record his memories in the form of imaginary landscapes and produced over 2,000 drawings during the last decade of his life.
15 Facts About Joseph Yoakum
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Joseph Yoakum was born in Ash Grove, Missouri, but told a story of being born in Arizona, in 1888, as a Navajo Indian on the Window Rock Navajo reservation.
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Joseph Yoakum spent his early childhood on a Missouri farm.
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Joseph Yoakum left home when he was nine years old to join the Great Wallace Circus.
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Joseph Yoakum was drafted into the United States Army in 1918 and worked in the 805th Pioneer Infantry repairing roads and railroads.
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In 1946, Joseph Yoakum was committed to a psychiatric hospital there.
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Joseph Yoakum soon left and by the early 1950s he was drawing on a regular basis.
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Joseph Yoakum was again living and painting in Chicago by 1962.
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Norman Mark of The Chicago Daily News wrote an article about Joseph Yoakum called "My drawings are a spiritual unfoldment"; this article was printed on the back of the poster.
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Brand informed his artist friends about Joseph Yoakum and encouraged them to visit "The Whole" coffee shop.
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In 1967, Joseph Yoakum was discovered by the mainstream art community through John Hopgood, an instructor at the Chicago State College, who saw Joseph Yoakum's work hanging in his studio window and purchased twenty-two pictures.
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In 1972, just one month before his death, Joseph Yoakum was given a one-man show at the Whitney Museum in New York City.
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Joseph Yoakum started drawing familiar places, such as Green Valley Ashville Kentucky, as a method to capture his memories.
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Joseph Yoakum became known for his organic forms, always using two lines to designate land masses.
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Joseph Yoakum's work is represented in the National Gallery of Art, among other institutions.