James Washington Jr. (1911-2000) was a sculptor and painter who became associated with the Northwest School of artists in Seattle. He grew up in Mississippi and moved to Seattle in 1944 to work for the Navy during World War II. Washington was largely self-taught and he believed this lack of formal training was essential to his artistic success. In the 1950s, Washington became interested in making sculpture from stone after being inspired by a piece of volcanic rock he found among the ruins of the pyramids at Teotihuacan in Mexico; he later carved it into his first stone sculpture, “Young Boy of Athens.” Washington’s work in both mediums often expressed spiritual feelings and used symbols from Christianity, freemasonry, and the animal world.

This image shows Washington’s sculpture “The Oracle of Truth” on display outside Mount Zion Baptist Church in Seattle's Central Area. The stone is carved with the figure of a lamb emerging from the top, along with engraved symbols and patterns. The torso figure at right is painted in encaustic, bright blue with a red heart, and Washington’s initials are carved below.

Caption information source: Washington, James Jr (1911-2000), HistoryLink.org Essay 5328, reprinted from Deloris Tarzan Ament's Iridescent Light: The Emergence of Northwest Art, 2002.
Caption information source: “Sculptor’s ‘Oracle’ carries a message for children,” by Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 10, 1987, page C1.