tramp art

noun

: a style of wood carving flourishing in the U.S. from about 1875 to 1930 that is characterized by ornate layered whittling often of cigar boxes or fruit crates

also : an object carved in this style

Examples of tramp art in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Of the many artistic styles, tramp art, a folk woodworking technique employed in the US roughly between the 1870s and 1930s, is particularly prominent. —

Katherine McLaughlin, Architectural Digest, 12 July 2024 Moe, an art major, compared the medium to tramp art out of North Carolina, a folk tradition taking simple objects like cigar boxes and turning them into intricate, incredible pieces. —

Jenna Ross, Star Tribune, 25 Aug. 2020 This space is featuring Harry Gould Harvey IV’s intricate and peculiar driftwood dioramas — tramp art à la Brancusi. —

Will Heinrich, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2018 Summerland's Lillie Avenue flows past garden shops, continental antiques stores, and Just Folk, one of the West Coast's best galleries for American crafts and tramp art. —

David Keeps, ELLE Decor, 11 May 2011

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tramp art.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.