The Pingwings were knitted penguin puppets who lived in Firmin's barn while The Pogles lived in a tree-root in a wood.

BBC: Oliver Postgate & Bagpuss

The title of his first exhibition devoted to this material, "Statuary in Wood by African Savages: The Root of Modern Art" (1914) captures both the innovation and the contradictions of this debut.

WSJ: Americans' African Inspiration | African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde | Metropolitan Museum of Art | By Michael FitzGerald