Submitted by Olde Hope

DALLAS, PENN. — It is with both a sense of shock and profound sadness that we announce the recent passing of our long-time friend and talented artist, Marshall Rumbaugh.

Marshall, a Northeastern Pennsylvania native who was born in 1948, was an artist of international renown, best known for his polychromed figural sculpture. Having studied woodcarving with Wayne Barton and Phillip Bentham at West Dean College in England and with master carver Herbert Schneider in Oberammergau, Germany, Marshall most valued the 10 years he studied with sculptor Hope Horn of Scranton, Penn.

Long attracted to the simplicity of primitive art, he believes in creating new objects using the language of folk art. Although his carvings have become more sophisticated, they still retain the genre’s spirit.

Following his artistic training in both England and Germany, Marshall began carving small figures and boxes which were sold in museum gift shops. Then in the 1980s his interest turned to larger figural sculpture for which he won prizes at the National Sculpture Society and the National Academy of Design, among others. His portrait carving of Rosa Parks was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution and was included in the first international exhibition of the National Portrait Gallery, where it remains in their permanent collection.

Marshall’s association with Olde Hope began in 1976 and not only have we acquired a number of his pieces over the years for our own collections, but it was truly an honor for us to be able to give Marshall his long-anticipated show in New York last year.

Marshall is survived by his wife, Anne.
We will miss our friend, but he remains with us daily in his inspired work.