Carved From Our Roots: Selected Works of Marshall D. Rumbaugh (1948-2023)

Blending his love of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art with his formal training in modern and traditional sculpture, Marshall D. Rumbaugh (1948-2023) carved a diverse range of figural, geometric, and functional works of art that explored his roots as a native of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Throughout his career, Marshall produced polychromed figural sculptures celebrating diverse American heroes and visionaries whose humanity influenced the soul of the nation. Two sculptures depicting Civil Rights leader Rosa Parks and Quaker Abolitionist Benjamin Lay are part of the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, and his works have been celebrated internationally in institutional and private collections.
Marshall studied under American sculptor Hope Cumming Horn (1920-2001) of Scranton, as well as master carver of altarpieces and nativities Herbert Schneider (1929-2023) of Oberamergau, Germany. Through his iconic portrayals, dynamic composition, and devoted attention to detail, Marshall’s works embody his sacred and contemporary influences, depicting the folk-cultural stories of American communities with reverence and humanity.

Just days before he passed away on July 23, 2023, Marshall donated a series of his artistic works to the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University, including figures, painted chests, altarpieces, house blessings, butter molds, and date stones, with the hopes to establish the Heritage Center as the institutional repository for his works.
This exhibition entitled “Carved From Our Roots: Selected Works of Marshall D. Rumbaugh (1945-2023)” was displayed from June 1st, 2024 – March 1st, 2025 in the DeLight E. Breidegam Building, the Headquarters for the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center in Kutztown University.
Expressions of Piety, Tradition, and Humanity
Throughout his artistic career, Marshall returned time and again to exploring the humanity of Pennsylvania’s unique folk culture. Through carvings of historical figures, craftsmen, and members of the Plain Communities, Marshall emphasized the group identities of Pennsylvania’s unique social and religious diversity, while emphasizing personal and individual aspects in each figure through unique expressions, humorous exchanges, and social relationships. His explorations in religious iconography and depictions of sainthood of the Gothic period enabled him to democratize divinity on a human scale in his Pennsylvania carvings. Marshall’s figures embody at once the piety and humanity of the sainthood of everyday people throughout the generations, only occasionally dipping into the truly iconic or legendary. Even in these rare instances, such as his depictions of the sainted healer Mountain Mary or the mythical Belsnickel, Marshall presents these exceptional figures on a truly human and relatable scale.
Study in Oberammergua
In 1982, Marshall Rumbaugh studied under master carver Herbert Schneider (1928-2023) of Oberammergau, Germany. A town celebrated for its robust tradition of carved wooden nativities and biblical figures, Oberammergau is pilgrimage destination in the Bavarian Alps best known for its Passion Play performed every ten years since 1634. Under Herbert’s instruction, Marshall learned the techniques of celebrated masters of the late Gothic and early Renaissance periods, including Tilman Riemenschneider (1460-1531) of Würzburg, Hans Leinberger (ca. 1480-1531) of Altbayern, and the Swabian sculptor Hans Thoman (active 1514-1525), also known as the Master of Otobeuren. Carving in relief and in the round, Marshall’s sacred works are featured in institutions throughout the US as well as at King’s College in Cambridge, and at the Congregation of the Holy Cross, in Rome.
Chip-Carving in Early Pennsylvania & European Styles
A mainstay of the carver’s income in early Pennsylvania was in the creation of culinary molds used primarily for butter and cheese, as well as dough stamps for pastries and gingerbread. Among the most elaborate demonstrations of early Pennsylvania Dutch carving traditions, these molds increased the salability of butter and cheese sold at farmer’s markets. Marshall Rumbaugh demonstrated his carving at folk festivals throughout the region, displaying a wide range of molds carved in pine, walnut, and linden wood, including those with both hand carved and turned handles. His traveling display included a traditional market butter box that he created after a Pennsylvania original, including a series of partitions and drawers to keep molded butter safe in transport to market.
Traditional Date Stone & House Blessings
Throughout the Pennsylvania Dutch cultural landscape and across many generations, craftspeople played a unique role in the blessing the establishments of houses, barns, and other buildings. Carving architectural inscriptions and images in stone and wood or painting elaborate manuscript documents, artists employed the same visual vocabulary of images intended to bless, protect, and inspire the occupants of the farm. These traditions continue among the Pennsylvania Dutch in a variety of formats, each an echo of early Pennsylvania traditions and expressions. Marshall Rumbaugh expanded his repertoire beyond carved wood and illuminated documents when he learned to carve stone around 2010, and for a short time produced date stones and even tombstones.
Folk Art Furniture in Miniature
In his early career, Marshall Rumbaugh created exquisite examples of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art furniture in miniature scale, which he supplied to museum stores at the Museum of American Folk Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The blanket chests were each accompanied by Marshall’s descriptions of their significance as dower chests, made for women of marrying age who brought the chest to their new home after marriage. Marshall decorated these miniature chests with traditional folk art forms, as well as contemporary designs based upon quilt patterns. He also created a series of raised panel cupboards which featured trompe-l’oeil seasonal landscape paintings as if windows into the Pennsylvania countryside.
Grandmother’s Houses: Architectural Boxes of Rural Pennsylvania
In addition to his miniature blanket chests, Marshall Rumbaugh also created miniature boxes modeled on regional architectural styles and notable buildings that were featured in museum stores. The roof of each building comes off as a lid to the box. The textures of the building materials are simplified and generalized, giving the impression of the building in keeping with the scale of the box.
This online exhibition was produced by Kay Adams (’28) with assistance Ashley Wallen, Keiyana Mosley, Elle Czeiner.