Examine individual changes

'@@ -17,57 +17,175 @@ }} -'''Walter Henry Williams Jr.''' (August 11, 1920 – June 13, 1998) was an American-born artist, painter, [[printmaker]], and sculptor. His earlier works focused on the harsh urban environment of [[Harlem]] where he spent his childhood, though he is most notable for his dreamlike, nostalgic images that took place in a rural Southern childhood.<ref name=":0">Hanks, Eric. "A Child of the Universe...Speak Like a Child – Mildred Thompson and Walter Williams." ''International Review of African American Art'', 2007.</ref> +'''Walter Henry Williams Jr.''' (1920-1998) was an African American-born artist, painter, [[printmaker]] and ceramicist who became a [[Danish Realm|Danish]] citizen later in his life. The subjects of his artwork evolved from urban street scenes straight out of his New York upbringing to the metaphorical images of rural Black children playing in fields of sunflowers, butterflies and shacks. -Williams made a number of trips to [[Denmark]], where he felt he could reach his full potential. Later in 1979, he became a Danish citizen at the expense of losing his American citizenship.<ref name=":0" /> +== Early life and education == +He was born on Aug. 11, 1920, to Walter and Louise Williams in [[Brooklyn|Brooklyn, NY]], one of two children.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|title=Walter Williams|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQRL-WV2|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=U.S. Census}}</ref> His mother was a domestic worker who also painted and encouraged his interest in art. <ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Walter Williams|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQRL-WV2|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=U.S. Census}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Hanks|first=Eric|title=A Child of the Universe…Speak Like a Child: Mildred Thompson and Walter Williams|publisher=International Review of African American Art|year=2007}}</ref> His sister Dorothy, a year younger, would herself become an artist.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|last=Tapley|first=Mel|date=1973-11-17|title=About the Arts|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/226600721/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/26|access-date=2021-01-19}}</ref> -== Early life == -Williams was born on August 11, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York.<ref name=":1">'''Williams, Walter. Résumé. [1963].'''</ref> He spent the majority of his youth in Harlem, by attending "jukebox joints, the local pool halls, and the few nightclubs that catered to black clientele." There, he met many artists of various fields. With their influence, and his "early artistic talent" he decided to become a painter.<ref>Driskell, David C. ''The Other Side of Color: African American Art in the Collection of Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr.'' Pomegranate, 2001.</ref> +His mother died of [[pneumonia]] a year after she separated from his father. The children were raised by a strict father and stepmother, and William's dream of becoming an artist faded. He escaped into a childhood dream world that would reappear later in his woodcuts.<ref name=":12" /> -His mother, compassionate and also an artist, died from [[pneumonia]] when Williams was five. His strict, authoritative father then took custody of him and his younger sister. Due to the death of his mother, and a non-nurturing father, he became withdrawn from others, preferring to live in his own dream world.<ref name=":0" /> +After high school, he was drafted into the [[Army]] in 1942, serving in [[France]] during [[World War II]]. He got married, had two children and worked [[Blue-collar worker|blue-collar]] jobs to make a living. In 1948, he decided to pursue art and joined a group of artists and musicians, including Charlie "Bird" Parker in [[Greenwich Village]] in [[New York City|New York]]. He shared a studio with several of the artists, some of whom like himself would eventually emigrate to [[Europe]]. They pushed him to use the [[G.I. Bill|GI Bill]] to take classes at the Brooklyn Museum School of Art. He attended the school from 1951 to 1955. <ref>{{Cite book|title=Walter Williams Exhibition|publisher=Texas Southern University|year=1962}}</ref><ref name=":12" /><ref name=":27">{{Cite news|date=1980-11-15|title=A Painter Looks Back|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/226548548/30166870B754CB7PQ/1|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> + +Williams received a scholarship to spend a summer at the [[Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture|Skowegan School of Painting and Sculpture]] in [[Maine]] in 1953. He roomed with artist [[David Driskell]], the only other African American student there, who would become a lifelong friend. Driskell, who became a well-known art historian, teacher and [[Curator|curator,]] included Williams in many of the art exhibitions he organized over the years. Williams won a first-place award for painting at Skowegan. <ref name=":22">{{Cite book|title=Afro-American Images 1971: The Vision of Percy Ricks|publisher=Delaware Art Museum|year=2021}}</ref><ref name=":12" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite news|last=Hieronymus|first=Clara|date=1975-03-09|title=Art and Theater (column)|work=The Tennessean (Nasville)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/109021272/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2021-01-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1984-08-09|title=New Orleans Artists Participate in Exhibit|work=The Crowley Post-Signal (LA)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/470183066/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1986-07-05|title=Kenkeleba House’s Unbroken Circle”: Rich, monumental exhibition|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/226389122/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/41|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Wilder|first=Charlotte|date=2017|title=Few Maine Artists Can Touch the Legacy of David Driskell|url=https://downeast.com/arts-culture/the-last-master/|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=DownEast}}</ref> + +In a 1976 newspaper essay chronicling the history of African American artists, renowned artist [[Romare Bearden]] described Williams as “gifted.”<ref>{{Cite news|date=1976-06-26|title=The Black Man in the Arts|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/226514651/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/29|access-date=2022-01-10}}</ref> + +== Evolution of his style and theme == +Williams participated in several exhibits in the early 1950s. In 1953, he won a third prize Gold Medal for his painting “On the Railing” in the fourth annual exhibit for artists and students of [[New York City]] at the [[Harlem]] Branch of the [[YWCA]]. He was 32 years old, lived in [[Englewood, New Jersey|Englewood, NJ]], and was a student at the Brooklyn Museum school. The speaker at the event was artist [[Charles White (artist)|Charles White]].<ref name=":192">{{Cite news|date=1953-05-02|title=Award Prizes At YWCA Art Exhibition|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/225721360/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/53|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> + +That same year, he participated in a group show at the [[Whitney Museum|Whitney Museum of American Art]]’s 21^st annual exhibition of contemporary artists. He submitted a painting titled “Store Front Christ.” <ref name=":202">{{Cite news|date=1953-10-19|title=WORK ON EXHIBIT: Painting by Marin, Williams Put on Display at Museum|work=The Record (Hackensack, NJ)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/489465848/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20and%20%22whitney%20museum%22|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=1953|title=Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting - Whitney Museum of American Art|url=https://archive.org/details/53annualwhit/page/n25/mode/2up|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Internet Archive}}</ref> + +The next year, he had a solo exhibit at the Roko Gallery in New York. It would be the first of three shows over the ensuing years. <ref name=":33">{{Cite web|title=Walter Williams|url=https://viewingroom-alexandregallery.exhibit-e.art/viewing-room/walter-williams-a-selection#tab:thumbnails|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Alexandre Gallery}}</ref><ref name=":52">{{Cite web|last=Cederholm|first=Theresa|date=1973|title=Afro-American artists; a bio-bibliographical directory|url=https://archive.org/stream/afroamericanarti00cede_0/afroamericanarti00cede_0_djvu.txt|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name=":27" /> + +Williams’ early paintings depicted the life of Black people in the neighborhoods and in the jazz clubs around Brooklyn and Harlem where he grew up. The titles he chose represented the life he saw: “By The El (1955),” “Store Front Christ (1953),” “Poultry Market (1953), “Untitled (Seated Man with Bowed Head) (1951),” “Untitled (Cityscape) (1954),” “Untitled (Girl on a Fire Escape) (1954)” and “Quick Nap (1952),” (girl napping on a railing). + +His use of color, his style and his subjects were influenced by [[Gregorio Prestopino]], one of his teachers at the Brooklyn Museum school, and Williams used what he learned to illustrate the children in his colorful paintings of urban life.<ref name=":12" /> + +In 1955, he was awarded a [[John Hay Whitney]] Fellowship that he used to travel to [[Denmark]]. He chose the country because his mother’s father was from the [[Danish West Indies]], a former colony of Denmark, and had spoken to him about the country. He left for Denmark in 1956 and often visited its island of [[Bornholm]] where he saw landscapes for the first time, his second wife Marlena, a [[Ceramic art|ceramicist]] and Danish citizen, noted.<ref name=":12" /> The trip changed the trajectory of his works, shifting the subjects from city streets to country fields with symbolic elements that denoted rebirth and freedom.<ref name=":12" /> <ref name=":33" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Whitmire|first=Ethelene|date=1978|title=Landscapes of the African American Diaspora in Denmark - An Imaginary Exhibition|url=https://www.danishmuseum.org/assets/pdfs/Landscapes_Whitmire.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Danish Museum}}</ref> + +These new images of children in fields, sunflowers, butterflies, blackbirds and a bright sun appeared often in William's subsequent works, each taking on the theme of a southern landscape, the title of one of his paintings. <ref name=":12" /><ref name=":22" /> Driskell noted that these new works held a deeper meaning:<blockquote>“A boy chases after a butterfly, he is a black boy but the color of his skin does not hinder him from being every boy in the world who seeks to know the freedom of flight. A girl picks flowers and she witnesses the sumptuous smells of a thousand perfumes and colorful dreams … In all these visionary happenings, Walter Williams makes the joy of life unending.”<ref name=":12" /></blockquote>Williams also painted several versions of [[Madonna (art)|Madonna]] - a [[woodcut]] in 1965 and a colored pencil drawing in 1967. + +He returned to the United States in 1957. + +== Awards and exhibitions == +In 1958, [[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony magazine]] included Williams in a cover story on young Black artists. <ref name=":42">{{Cite web|title=Walter H. Williams|url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/walter-h-williams/biography|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Artnet}}</ref>In 1959, he was among the artists whose works were part of a traveling show titled “American Prints Today" sponsored by the [[Print Council of America]]. His entry was “Fighting Cock.” The exhibit was held simultaneously in eight U.S. cities.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1959-09-20|title=Art Museum Print Show|work=Philadelphia Inquirer|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/178320744/?terms=%22american%20prints%20today%22|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Dover|first=Cedric|title=American Negro Art|year=1960}}</ref> He also received a grant from the National Institute of Arts & Letters in 1960.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=Walter H. Williams|url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/walter-h-williams/biography|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Artnet}}</ref><ref name=":152">{{Cite web|title=Walter Henry Williams|url=https://www.askart.com/artist/Walter_Henry_Williams/101040/Walter_Henry_Williams.aspx|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=askArt}}</ref> + +Williams spent the next decades in and out of the United States. From 1959 to 1963, he traveled and painted in [[Mexico]], showing his works in several exhibitions, including at the [[Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura|Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes]] in [[Mexico City]]. He told a Mexican reporter that “the freedom from racial prejudice was essential” for him to develop as a person and an artist, an atmosphere he found in Mexico but not his native America.<ref name=":62">{{Cite web|title=Walter H. Williams|url=https://aaregistry.org/story/walter-h-williams-artist-born/|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=African American Registry}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Preston|first=Stuart|date=1954|title=The Point of View|work=New York Times}}</ref> He returned to the United States but stayed for only a year. + +In 1963, he received the $100 Perkin-Elmer prize for an oil painting in the Silvermine Guild of Artists annual competition.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1963-06-23|title=Top Silvermine Prize Goes to Herman Maril|work=Bridgeport Post (CT)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/60213619/?terms=%22silvermine%20guild%20award%22|access-date=2022-01-12}}</ref> A year later, he returned to [[Copenhagen]], where he curated an exhibit for [[expatriate]] artists titled “Ten American Negro Artists Living and Working in Europe.” The other artists featured were [[Harvey Tristan Cropper|Harvey Cropper]], [[Beauford Delaney|Beauford Delane]]<nowiki/>y, [[Herbert Gentry]], Arthur Hardie, Clifford Jackson, Sam Middleton, Earl Miller, [[Norma Morgan]] and Larry Potter. <ref name=":62" /><ref name=":12" /> + +During his time abroad, Williams was represented in a number of exhibitions in foreign cities: Copenhagen, 1956 and 1957; Mexico City, 1963; [[Stockholm|Stockhol]]<nowiki/>m, 1965,and [[Sydney|Sydney, Australia]], 1965.<ref name=":52" /> + +He was back in the United States in 1965 when his print “Girl with Butterflies #2” was purchased by the [[Smithsonian Institution]] for the Executive Wing of the [[White House]] under [[Lyndon B. Johnson|President Lyndon Johnson]].<ref name=":62" /> The woodcut print was reproduced for the 1966 [[UNICEF]] calendar.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":102">{{Cite news|date=1969-01-26|title=Fisk Faculty Show is at Workshop|work=The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/109485105/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-10}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web|last=Miller|first=Jane|date=1966|title=Nature, Man and the Young Reader|url=https://scholarworks.rit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=5703&context=theses|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Rochester Institute of Technology}}</ref> He also exhibited at the Golden Door Gallery in [[New Hope, Pennsylvania|New Hope, PA]].<ref name=":212">{{Cite news|date=1966-12-04|title=Calendar of Art Events in Phila. Area|work=Philadelphia Inquirer|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/179915761/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> + +Driskell tapped him to become an [[artist-in-residence]] in [[Fisk University]]’s Art Department in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], where Driskell was chair.<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":82">{{Cite news|last=Hieronymus|first=Clara|date=1969-06-15|title=‘Anything Goes” in Painting Today|work=The Tennessean (Nashville)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/113315789/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref name=":7" /> Williams was among six artists that Driskell hired to help build the department. His wife Marlena accompanied him, and they set up a studio. He had developed an interest in [[pottery]], and taught classes in this medium as well as painting and printmaking. He remained at Fisk for the 1968-1969 school year. <ref name=":9" /> + +“I have only tried to teach the student that in painting today anything goes if the artist can make it work,” he told a reporter. “By making it work I mean making it a complete work within itself.” + +The year before Williams began his residency, Driskell organized a two-man show as part of Fisk’s 38^th annual Festival of Music and Art in 1967. <ref name=":132">{{Cite news|date=1967-04-23|title=What to See|work=The Tennessean (Nashville)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/113335095/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=1967|title=David Driskell: The African and Afro-American Series|url=https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=art-museum-exhibition-catalogs|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Bowdoin College Museum of Art}}</ref> During his stay, his works were shown at the university, the Louisville (KY) Art Workshop (where most of the works were his woodcuts), the [[Parthenon (Nashville)|Parthenon]] (Nashville), Brooks Memorial Art Gallery (Memphis), Jackson (MS) State University, Studio 22 (Chicago) Lee Nordness Galleries (NY), [[Mount Holyoke College]] (MA) and [[Stephens College]] (MO). <ref name=":82" /> <ref name=":102" /><ref name=":9" /><ref name=":232">{{Cite news|date=1969-03-22|title=Studio 22 has March Exhibition|work=Chicago Defender|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/493528838/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/108|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref name=":242">{{Cite news|date=1969-02-01|title=12 Black Artists’ exhibit aids NAACP|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/226737167/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/8|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref name=":112">{{Cite news|date=1969-11-08|title=Art Exhibit at Mt. Holyoke|work=Baltimore Afro-American|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/532219766/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/55|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> + +In 1969, he was among 10 African American artists who exhibited at Mount Holyoke College in Hadley, MA. It was the first of its kind show for the university. Williams chartered a bus to the exhibition. <ref>{{Cite news|last=Sheppard|first=Daphne A.|date=1969-11-01|title=King’s Diary|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/226600371/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/28?|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref name=":112" /> Fifty years later, in 2019, the [[Mount Holyoke College Art Museum]] hosted an exhibition of works on loan from the collection of the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland in College Park. Williams’ painting “Southern Landscape” was among them. <ref name=":162">{{Cite web|date=2019|title=Special Loans from the David C. Driskell Center|url=https://artmuseum.mtholyoke.edu/exhibition/special-loans-david-c-driskell-center|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Mount Holyoke College Art museum}}</ref><ref name=":172">{{Cite web|date=2019|title=Music and Art: Removing Our Rose-Colored Glasses|url=https://artmuseum.mtholyoke.edu/event/music-and-art-removing-our-rose-colored-glasses|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Mount Holyoke College Art Museum}}</ref> + +At the end of his residency at Fisk, he assembled a farewell exhibit of his paintings, color woodcuts and pottery at the school. in 1969, he and Marlena returned to Denmark, where he continued to work and also taught in his studio in [[Frederiksberg]].<ref name=":82" /><ref name=":12" /> Williams became a Danish citizen in 1979, giving up his U.S. citizenship.<ref name=":12" /> + +In 1979, Williams wrote a note to Driskell stating that he was preparing some works to submit to the Studio Museum in Harlem for an upcoming show titled “An Ocean Apart: American Artists Abroad.”<ref>{{Cite web|date=1979|title=The David C. Driskell Papers: The 1970s|url=http://virtual.driskellcenter.umd.edu/david-c-driskell-papers-exhibition/vex7/images/aac3609b-718f-48c3-98c4-465179344415.jpg|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora}}</ref> The show opened in 1982 and included works by Williams, Herbert Gentry, Sam Middleton and Clifford Jackson.<ref name=":252">{{Cite news|last=Wallach|first=Amei|date=1982-10-17|title=Native Sons Who Left to Thrive|work=Newsday|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/706278418/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20and%20%22studio%20museum%22|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite news|date=1982-10-14|title=Art Exhibits and Black Role|work=New York Daily News|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/491924214/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20and%20%22studio%20museum%22|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref name=":142">{{Cite news|last=Tapley|first=Mel|date=1982-11-06|title=About the Arts (column)|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/226470558/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/47|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> The theme mimicked the exhibit Williams had mounted about a decade earlier. + +One newspaper story noted that all had gained recognition in Europe before being acknowledged in the United States.<ref name=":262">{{Cite news|last=shepard|first=Joan|date=1982-10-14|title=Art Exhibits and Black Role|work=New York Daily News|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/491924214/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20and%20%22studio%20museum%22|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> One newspaper columnist mentioned that Gentry, Middleton and Jackson spoke about their work and experiences to a large audience at the show, but the article made no mention of Williams. <ref name=":14">{{Cite news|last=Tapley|first=Mel|date=1982-11-06|title=About the Arts (column)|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/226470558/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/47|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> + +Williams' works are in many private collections. [[Nelson Rockefeller|Nelson Rockefeller's]] was one of them. He owned the print “Harvest” until it was sold at auction in 2019 at Sotheby’s. <ref name=":132" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019|title=Walter Williams: Harvest|url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2019/a-collecting-legacy-property-from-nelson-happy-rockefeller-n10004/lot.547.html|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Sotheby's}}</ref> + +In 1973, Williams sent Driskell a catalog from a show in Copenhagen for which Driskell had written the introduction. A year earlier, Driskell had visited him in Denmark. Driskell related to a reporter what Williams had told him about his artwork:<blockquote>“All my life I have been painting one picture. It is one that reflects my own image and the inner thoughts of my mind. I feel the naivete of a child when I paint yet I have the passions of the father that I am. I am an artist who is full of love for the world and all the images it holds.”<ref name=":12" /></blockquote>A devastating studio in 1980 destroyed Williams' studio, and all of his paintings and prints were lost. Depressed, he was unable to work for several months. Three years later, he stopped creating art altogether. The last exhibition he attended was the International Art Fair in Tokyo in 1985, where he represented Denmark.<ref name=":12" /> == Personal life == -Williams had three children by two wives. His first two children, Ronald and Larry, were birthed by his wife Shirley. Shirley did not approve of him becoming a painter because of the lack of security and stability, so Williams left her and his two children to pursue his passion.<ref name=":0" /> +In 1964, he married Marlena and they had a son. Williams died of liver cancer on June 13, 1998.<ref name=":12" /> + +== Collections == +Metropolitan Museum of Art <ref>{{Cite web|title=By The El - Walter Williams|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/491527|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref> + +Brooklyn Museum of Art<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sundown - Walter H. Williams|url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/80205|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Brooklyn Museum of Art}}</ref> + +Whitney Museum of American Art<ref>{{Cite web|title=Walter Williams - 1920-1998|url=https://whitney.org/artists/1427|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Whitney Museum of American Art}}</ref><ref name=":12" /> + +National Gallery of Art <ref name=":82" /> <ref>{{Cite web|title=Walter Williams|url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.3406.html|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=National Gallery of Art}}</ref> + +Cincinnati Art Museum <ref name=":82" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Museums for Walter Henry Williams|url=https://www.askart.com/artist_museums/Walter_Henry_Williams/101040/Walter_Henry_Williams.aspx|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=askART}}</ref> + +Riverside Museum of Art, NY <ref name=":82" /> + +Philadelphia Museum of Art<ref name=":82" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Boy with Sunflowers|url=https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/62845|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Philadelphia Museum of Art}}</ref> + +The Studio Museum in Harlem <ref>{{Cite web|title=Walter Williams|url=https://studiomuseum.org/art-artists/artist-index?search_api_views_fulltext=walter+williams&field_haw_works_on_website=1&onoffswitch=on&sort_value=field_sort_name-asc&sort_by=field_sort_name&sort_order=ASC|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=The Studio Museum in Harlem}}</ref> + +Georgia Museum of Art <ref name=":82" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Walter Williams|url=https://emuseum.georgiamuseum.org/objects/2709/harvest?ctx=f80bb3f1b4dc2b5254f99fccf0256a557aaf754d&idx=0|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Georgia Museum of Art}}</ref> + +Smithsonian American Art Museum <ref name=":82" /><ref name=":182">{{Cite web|title=Walter Williams|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/walter-williams-5414|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Smithsonian American Art Museum}}</ref> + +David C. Driskell Center <ref name=":162" /> <ref name=":172" /><ref name=":22" /> + +The Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art<ref>{{Cite web|title=Walter Williams|url=https://www.holmesartgallery.com/walterwilliams|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=The Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art}}</ref> + +Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art <ref>{{Cite web|title=Walter Williams|url=https://pffcollection.com/artists/walter-williams/|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art}}</ref> + +Baltimore Museum of Art<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Quick Nap - Walter Henry Williams|url=https://collection.artbma.org/objects/53832/a-quick-nap?ctx=13b765c0312b816167d660738e726da658c590fe&idx=0|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Baltimore Museum of Art}}</ref> + +The White House, National Collection of Fine Arts <ref name=":62" /><ref name=":12" /><ref name=":182" /> + +Mexican American Institute, Mexico City <ref name=":52" /><ref name=":12" /> + +Howard University Gallery of Art <ref name=":152" /><ref name=":12" /> + +Fisk University Galleries <ref name=":152" /> + +Middlebury College Museum of Art<ref>{{Cite web|title=Walter H. Williams, Jr., Untitled (Seated Man with Bowed Head)|url=http://museum.middlebury.edu/collections/recent-acquisitions/node/3372|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Middlebury College Museum of Art}}</ref> + +== Selected Exhibitions == +YWCA, Harlem Branch, 1953<ref name=":192" /> + +Whitney Museum of American Art, 1953, 1955, 1958, 1963<ref name=":33" /> <ref name=":202" /><ref name=":52" /> + +Oklahoma Art Center, 1958<ref>{{Cite news|date=1958-02-09|title=Three New Exhibits Open Today|work=Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/449521581/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20and%20%22whitney%20museum%22|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> + +Roko Gallery, 1954, 1962, 1963 <ref name=":52" /><ref name=":33" /> + +Instituto Nacional de Dellas Artes, Mexico, 1958 <ref name=":52" /> + +Texas Southern University, 1962 <ref name=":52" /> + +Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1963 <ref name=":52" /> + +Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1964<ref>{{Cite news|date=1964-10-22|title='Some Negro Artists' Exhibition Opens at Fairleigh Dickinson|work=Daily Register (Red Bank, NJ)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/517221967/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> + +Musee d’art et d’histoire, Geneva 1965 <ref name=":52" /> + +Golden Door Gallery, New Hope, PA, 1966<ref name=":212" /> + +Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1966<ref name=":52" /> + +College of Mount St. Joseph’s, 1967<ref>{{Cite news|last=Findsen|first=Owen|date=1970-03-01|title=Black Artists Exhibit|work=Cincinnati Enquirer|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/101473793/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> + +Fisk University, 1967, 1968, 1975, 2019 <ref name=":132" /> <ref name=":9" /> <ref name=":22" /> <ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-02-26|title=Black History Month: Art at Fisk University Galleries|url=https://www.postnewsgroup.com/black-history-month-art-at-fisk-university-galleries/|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Post News Group}}</ref> + +Cornell University, 1967 <ref>{{Cite news|last=Gibian|first=Cay|date=1967-03-01|title=Negro Artists|work=Ithaca (NY) Journal|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/255164908/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> + +The Parthenon, Nashville, 1967 <ref name=":82" /> <ref name=":132" /> + +Louisville Art Workshop, 1969 <ref name=":102" /> + +Studio 22, Chicago, 1969 <ref name=":232" /> -His second wife, Marlena, whom he met in Denmark at one of his exhibitions birthed his last child, Darius. Born in 1973, he also became an artist, following in his father's footsteps.<ref name=":0" /> +American Wind Symphony Orchestra Barge, Pittsburgh, 1969<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kienzle|first=Connie|date=1969-06-18|title=Point Sticks to Simple Plot|work=Pittsburgh Press|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/147918525/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite news|date=1969-07-19|title=Art Exhibit to Close|work=New Pittsburgh Courier|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/202518893/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/39|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> -In his adulthood, Williams continued to be shy and was described as "reserved." He often suffered from [[Major depressive disorder|depression]] and struggled with alcoholism. During his time in Mexico, he was treated for his depression and was given medication.<ref name=":0" /> +Lee Nordness Galleries, NY, 1969 <ref name=":242" /> -== Career == +Mount Holyoke College, 1969<ref name=":112" /> -=== WWII -> Education (1942–1955) === -Williams was drafted into the army from 1942 to 1945. His assignment was to an all-black unit in France. His job was to dig soldier's graves. His son Darius reports that Walter witnessed the burial of an alive soldier. Grim and dreary, it "haunted him the rest of life."<ref name=":2">Texas Southern University. Walter Williams Exhibition, 1962.</ref><ref name=":0" /> +Brooks Memorial Arts Gallery, Memphis<ref name=":82" /> -Under the [[G.I. Bill]], he enrolled at the [[Brooklyn Museum Art School]] in 1951.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Despite being a poor high school student, Williams was scholarly and paid close attention to his lessons. In the summer of 1953, under a scholarship he studied at the [[Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture]] in Maine. That same year, he participated in his first major group show, the Whitney's 1953 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting. He graduated in 1955.<ref name=":0" /> +Jackson (MS) State College, 1969 <ref name=":52" /><ref name=":82" /> -=== Education -> Denmark (1955–1959) === -After graduating, Williams won the award for the John Hay Whitney Foundation fellowship, amounting him $2,400. His grandfather, who was from the Danish West Indies, spoke well of the country; thus, Williams used the money to travel to Denmark. The direction of his art changed significantly—it previously reflected isolation in the city, and now, the beauty of the countryside. [[Bornholm]], a small Danish island with "fantastic nature" awestruck Williams, influencing this change.<ref name=":0" /> +Stephens College, Missouri, 1968 <ref name=":52" />  <ref name=":82" /> -In February 1966, his newer works were exhibited at the Noa Noa Gallery in [[Copenhagen]], Denmark. Out of 19 paintings, 12 were sold and remain in Danish collections.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">Preston, Stuart. "The Point of View." ''The New York Times'', 1954.</ref> +Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1969, 2014 <ref name=":82" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=African American Artists 1880-1987: Selections from the Evans-Tibbs Collection|year=1989}}</ref>  <ref>{{Cite news|date=1969-09-03|title=Black American Artists|work=The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/551801602/?terms=%22WALTER%20WILLIAMS%22%20artist%20AND%20smithsonian|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> -=== Denmark -> Mexico -> United States (1959–1964) === -Williams spent four years in Mexico from 1959 to 1963. He had his work shown in various exhibitions, such as the [[Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes]] in Mexico City. He traveled back and forth to the United States as he had shows there as well. He explained to a Mexican reporter that the way of living was more "pleasant" than in the United States, leading to him to stay longer than he expected. He felt that by living in a racially liberal Mexico, that "the freedom from racial prejudice was essential" for his personal and artistic development.<ref name=":3" /> +Hudson River Museum, 1970 <ref>{{Cite news|last=West|first=Chester|date=1970-03-14|title=What’s Happening in Westchester|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/226636689/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/46|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> -In 1963, he returned to the United States, but only for a year due to the racial climate.<ref name=":0" /> +Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, 1970<ref>{{Cite news|date=1970-08-28|title=Davenport Municipal Art Gallery Group Exhibit|work=Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/304045315/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite news|date=1970-08-08|title=African American Art at Municipal Gallery|work=The Rock Island Argus (IL)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/644755026/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> -=== United States -> Denmark (1964–1965) === -In 1964, Williams won $1000 as a part of the Silvermine Guild Award for Oil Painting. He used this to finance a second trip to Denmark (more specifically, Copenhagen). Shortly after his arrival, he organized an exhibition entitled "Ten American Negro Artists Living and Working in Europe." The other artists featured were [[Harvey Cropper]], [[Beauford Delaney]], [[Herbert Gentry]], Arthur Hardie, [[Clifford Jackson]], [[Sam Middleton]], [[Earl Miller (artist)|Earl Miller]], [[Norma Morgan]] and [[Larry Potter]].<ref name=":0" /> +Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, Nashville, 1971 <ref>{{Cite news|date=1971-01-03|title=Contemporary American Black Artists|work=The Tennessean (Nashville)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/111888287/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> -=== Denmark -> United States (1965–1966) === -In 1965, Williams returned to New York as his woodcut, ''Girl with Butterflies #2'', was purchased by the National Collection of Fine Arts of the Smithsonian Institution for the Executive Wing of the White House during the [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] administration. Proud to have a piece in the White House, he attended a special reception in commemoration. +National Armory, Wilmington, DE, 1971<ref name=":22" /> -The racial climate didn't improve; Williams was often anxious and depressed due to discrimination against interracial marriage (his wife at the time was Danish). +Art Consortium, Cincinnati, 1979 <ref>{{Cite news|date=1979-02-11|title=Art Notes: Arts Consortium|work=Cincinnati Enquirer|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/101543692/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> -After a year, Williams couldn't take it any longer and told his wife to take him "home," meaning Denmark. He had left the United States to never come back again.<ref name=":0" /> +Studio Museum of Harlem, 1982 <ref name=":142" /><ref name=":262" /><ref name=":252" /> -=== Final years (1966–1998) === -Williams spent his final years in Copenhagen. In 1979, he had lived there for 14 years; his wife urged him to become a Danish citizen and he did so. +New Orleans Museum of Art, 1984<ref>{{Cite news|date=1984-08-09|title=New Orleans Artists Participate in Exhibit|work=Crowley Post-Signal (LA)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/470183066/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> -In 1980, his studio was completely destroyed by fire, losing all of his paintings and prints. Depressed, he was unable to work for several months. +Kenkeleba House, 1986<ref>{{Cite news|date=1986-07-05|title=Kenkeleba House’s 'Unbroken Circle': Rich, Monumental Exhibition|work=New York Amsterdam News|agency=via proquest.com.|url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpblacknewscoll/docview/226389122/D1FAABCF59C94565PQ/41|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> -In 1983, he stopped making art altogether, as he's said everything he wants with his art. His health started to decline and he began to withdraw from friends. +Glatt House Gallery, Salem, OR, 1991<ref>{{Cite news|date=1991-07-26|title=Art (column)|work=Statesman Journal (OR)|agency=via newspapers.com.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/198459146/?terms=%22walter%20williams%22%20artist|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> -His last exhibition was in 1985, at the International Art Fair in Tokyo, Japan, representing Denmark. +M. Hanks Gallery, 2004<ref>{{Cite web|date=2004|title=M. Hanks Gallery (Santa Monica, CA) - Walter Williams exhibit and catalogue introduction|url=https://driskellcenter.pastperfectonline.com/container/9B55F5B8-C2C1-46FF-BC2B-337567281450|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=David C. Driskell Center}}</ref> -His health worsening, he died in 1998 due to liver cancer. He was 77 years old.<ref name=":0" /> +Baltimore Museum of Art, 2015<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015|title=BMA’s Imagining Home Exhibition Explores Different Aspects of Home Through Art From Around the World|url=https://artbma.org/about/press/release/bmas-imagining-home-exhibition-explores-different-aspects-of-home-through-art-from-around-the-world|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Baltimore Museum of Art}}</ref> == References == '