Lamont (Old Ironsides) Pry Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1921 - d. 1987

Old Ironsides Pry - He was born in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe), Pennsylvania and died in 1987 in Weatherly, Pa. His nickname, Old Ironsides, was given to him by a hospital nurse after he unexpectedly recovered from injuries when suffered when the World War 2 airforce bomber he'd crewed on crashed. He began painting in 1968 after being admitted to the Carbon County (Pa) Home for the Aged and Indigent. His work was discovered in the home's boiler room by Sterling Strauser, the noted Pennsylvania painter and folk art collector, days before it was due to be thrown out as trash. With Strauser's help, Pry soon became known as a painter of bright, lively scenes in which planes, circuses, hunters and animals often figure. His work is to be found in many museums and in illustrations in books and catalogues of 20th Century folk/outsider art.