SAM DOYLE (1906-1985)

Born in St. Helena, South Carolina, Sam Doyle (1906-1985) spent his life on the island and it is where he opened his “Out Door Art Gallery” in his yard in the late 1960s. His paintings depict people and folklore from within his Gullah community, as well as important political and social figures ranging from Ray Charles to President Abraham Lincoln. Here, Doyle paints a figure striding above a flooded ground. He is seemingly flying at an improbable height in the tree tops. Above, Doyle paints A.MERiCAL 1893. He is referring to the great Sea Island hurricane of 1893, also known as the Tide of Death. It killed over 2,000 people when it hit St. Helena and destroyed crops and livestock in its path. Doyle's frenetic composition is an ode to the miracle of those who survived the storm and carried on into the future.

Historian Betty Kuyk and her husband Dutch met Sam Doyle in South Carolina, where they shared in storytelling together.