Walter Williams (1920-1998)
Walter Henry Williams was born in Brooklyn, New York, August 11, 1920. He studied art at the Brooklyn Museum Art School under Ben Shahn, Reuben Tam and Gregorio Prestopino under the G.I. Bill. He also spent a summer studying art at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. After graduating Williams won a Whitney fellowship to study in Mexico.
According to the "History of African-American Artists" by Bearden and Henderson, after Williams' four years of living in racially liberal Mexico he "felt the freedom from racial prejudice was essential for his further development." He then returned to the U.S. and began to travel to Denmark in 1959.
Williams moved to Copenhagen, Denmark and became a citizen in 1979. He returned briefly to the United States, where he completed a body of work informed by the experiences of being an African American living in the South. It was while he was in Copenhagen, however, that he created a series of colorful woodcuts of black children playing in fields of flowers. Walter Williams died in Copenhagen in June of 1998.
Williams was commissioned to do a number of prints for the International Graphic Arts Society (IGAS) in editions of 210. Half these works (100) were sold in the United States and the other half in Europe, 10 proofs were reserved for the artist. This gave Williams an international following that allowed him to continue to work as a printmaker.
Bio courtesy of www.annexgalleries.com. Link to full bio: https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/2544/Williams/Walter
![Summer Evening Woodcut on cotton batting 22x22 inches 1974 Signed, dated and inscribed. Numbered 3/10 Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59792858e58c6280d4da09d9/1508078688775-MH5MJKLDFACVGXMGERM2/wilw_1974.3_li.1.jpg)
Summer Evening
Woodcut on cotton batting
22x22 inches
1974
Signed, dated and inscribed.
Numbered 3/10
Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio
![Summer Woodcut on cotton batting 17 1/2x17 1/2 inches 1974 Signed, dated , inscribed and numbered 3/10 Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59792858e58c6280d4da09d9/1508078568888-CIT3C4IKZCVXL4LLPX0V/wilw_1974.1_li.1.jpg)
Summer
Woodcut on cotton batting
17 1/2x17 1/2 inches
1974
Signed, dated , inscribed and numbered 3/10
Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio
![Summer #2 Woodcut on cotton batting 17 1/2x17 1/2 inches 1974 Signed, dated, inscribed and numbered 3/10 Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59792858e58c6280d4da09d9/1508078621307-0ULX428AUZ48FOEL0NJR/wilw_1974.2_li.1.jpg)
Summer #2
Woodcut on cotton batting
17 1/2x17 1/2 inches
1974
Signed, dated, inscribed and numbered 3/10
Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio
![Dusk Oil on board 9 5/8x12 inches 1963 Signed Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59792858e58c6280d4da09d9/1508078089726-R6IINA5CPBEK723JD8C2/wilw_1963_ob.1.jpg)
Dusk
Oil on board
9 5/8x12 inches
1963
Signed
Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio
![Fighting Cock #3 Woodcut on cotton batting 24x29 inches Year: 1964 Signed, dated, and numbered 81/200 Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59792858e58c6280d4da09d9/1508078536588-CP65ZR30X15FMAQ5W57I/wilw_1964_mm.1.jpg)
Fighting Cock #3
Woodcut on cotton batting
24x29 inches
Year: 1964
Signed, dated, and numbered 81/200
Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio
![Flower Landscape with Sunflowers Oil on board 12x14 inches 1974 Signed Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59792858e58c6280d4da09d9/1508078591922-FLM65XN2G5RXRYM6XO5G/wilw_1974.1_ob.1.jpg)
Flower Landscape with Sunflowers
Oil on board
12x14 inches
1974
Signed
Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio
![Untitled Oil on canvas 12x16 inches Year unknown Signed Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59792858e58c6280d4da09d9/1508078925648-IVEU23XTR20RSK0B0Q4B/wilw_nd.2_oc.1.jpg)
Untitled
Oil on canvas
12x16 inches
Year unknown
Signed
Photo credit: John Wilson White Studio