Description:

William Aiken Walker (American/South Carolina, 1838-1921), "Cotton Pickers", oil on clay plate, signed lower left, dia. 10 in., mounted within period frame with red velvet liner. Provenance: Thomas H. Allen & Co. Cotton House, Memphis, TN; by descent in the Allen family; Private Collection. Note: To be included in John Fowler's forthcoming catalogue raisonne on William Aiken Walker. Note: To create this rare and important item featuring one of William Aiken Walker’s iconic cotton picker scenes, the artist painted on an unglazed clay plate, combining his most often used media, oil paint, and a unique support. Walker enjoyed experimenting with a variety of art forms including engraving, watercolor, charcoal, and pencil. Embellished items such as photographs, illustrated works of poetry, and playing cards also appear in his oeuvre; however, the vast majority of his works were created in oil. The artist’s documented works show an assortment of supports used throughout his career, traditional materials such as paper, canvas, and board as well as more unusual objects including tin, copper plates, brass plates, a wooden palette, and a cigar box lid. The 1884-85 World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, which was located on the land that is now Audubon Park and the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, included a large Art building with four galleries of works from local, national, and international artists. Walker did not exhibit in the gallery, but rather he created small souvenir paintings that he sold to the tourists visiting the Exposition. These miniature scenes of cabins, cotton pickers and levee views were painted in oil – mostly upon pieces of academy board about 6 inches x 12 inches or small brass plates 10-12 inches in diameter. The current lot, although on clay, is a similar size and shape to the brass plates used for the souvenir paintings. It is certainly possible that this remarkable work on clay dates from the same time period when the artist was experimenting with round compositions. This iconic cotton scene was long in the collection of the Thomas H. Allen & Co. Cotton House of Memphis, Tennessee. One of the oldest cotton firms in the South, Thomas Hampton Allen, Sr. formed the company in 1837. The family long had ties to the New Orleans area; his brother Richard Henry Allen, also a cotton broker, owned Rienzi Plantation in Lafourche Parish from 1861 until his death in 1894. Ref.: Fairall, Herbert S. The World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, 1884-85. Iowa City: Republican, 1885; Seibels, Cynthia. The Sunny South: The Life and Art of William Aiken Walker. Spartanburg: Saraland, 1995; Trovaioli, August P. and Roulhac B. Toledano. William Aiken Walker: Southern Genre Painter. Gretna: Pelican, 2008.

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September 24, 2016 10:00 AM CDT
New Orleans, LA, US

Neal Auction Company

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