This painting depicts blooming Japanese flora in what appears to be a body of water; however, most of the canvas is negative space, a technique that allows for a higher contrast in colors of Ward’s vegetation. It also is perhaps intended to allow viewers to contemplate life and its meaning, for the flowers and waterlilies surrounding the base of the vegetation—their branches and petals—are flourishing.
About the Artist: Ward was born, in Paris, to a family of artists. His father Edgar Melville was a noted genre painter who directed the National Academy of Design for twenty years; his uncle John Quincy Adams Ward was even more famous for his public sculptures. The younger painter studied with Edward William Carlson, Francis Coates Jones, and—perhaps most influential—the muralist George W. Maynard. He lived much of his life in Ulster County. As of the mid-1930s Ward, in addition to painting, was a designer and a muralist in his own right (Kingston Daily Freeman 30 July 1936: 7). His “Under Sea Life” was at the Jones Beach Pavillion, and he created several for Wells College, Aurora NY.
Sources Consulted: Douglas Naylor, “ ‘Studies in Architecture’: Title Artist Gives Head Drawings,” Pittsburgh Press 4 Dec. 1932: 34; “Portrait of Ronald Coleman Impresses,” Los Angelest Times 18 July 1948: 56.
]]>Sources Consulted: Douglas Naylor, “ ‘Studies in Architecture’: Title Artist Gives Head Drawings,” Pittsburgh Press 4 Dec. 1932: 34; “Portrait of Ronald Coleman Impresses,” Los Angelest Times 18 July 1948: 56.
About the Artist: Born as August Fredrik Vilhelm Axelsen in Tönsberg, Norway, dire economic conditions there led to his immigration—at eight years old—to the US with his maternal aunt and her husband, Wilhelm Waltemath of Germany. That family settled in Minneapolis, MN, where William eventually began work as a printer. His paintings were exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Salons of America, and Society of Independent Artists, along with group and individual events. At a 1931 show in Baltimore, MD, the art critic Henry McBride wrote that Waltemath “commands rich pigment and has a sense of picture making, though his tendency is toward the somber.” By 1932, however, Waltemath’s professional and financial situation had suffered; he was one of a dozen New York painters selected for inclusion in a show featuring artists “who are for the most part unknown, indigent, or neglected” (“Unsung”). The Federal Art Project provided a crucial lifeline, for example in 1937 his work shown at a WPA exhibition along with fellow NDG artist Carl Nordell. He remained active in civic organizations, notably as chairman of the Art League of Nassau County. There is something moving to to a photograph of Waltemath with one of his paintings, where it’s revealed that he considers himself “a printer by trade and an artist because he insists on being one....He has been unemployed for some time, but refuses to allow that to halt his painting” (“An Artist”).
Sources Consulted: Henry McBride, “Some Foreign Impressions of Our Art,” Baltimore Sun 22 Nov. 1931: 66; “Unsung Artists Exhibit at Show on Heights,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle 3 Sept. 1932: 3; “An Artist—By Choice!” New York Daily News 10 Jan. 1937: 181.
]]>About the Artist: Born as August Fredrik Vilhelm Axelsen in Tönsberg, Norway, dire economic conditions there led to his immigration—at eight years old—to the US with his maternal aunt and her husband, Wilhelm Waltemath of Germany. That family settled in Minneapolis, MN, where William eventually began work as a printer. His paintings were exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Salons of America, and Society of Independent Artists, along with group and individual events. At a 1931 show in Baltimore, MD, the art critic Henry McBride wrote that Waltemath “commands rich pigment and has a sense of picture making, though his tendency is toward the somber.” By 1932, however, Waltemath’s professional and financial situation had suffered; he was one of a dozen New York painters selected for inclusion in a show featuring artists “who are for the most part unknown, indigent, or neglected” (“Unsung”). The Federal Art Project provided a crucial lifeline, for example in 1937 his work shown at a WPA exhibition along with fellow NDG artist Carl Nordell. He remained active in civic organizations, notably as chairman of the Art League of Nassau County. There is something moving to to a photograph of Waltemath with one of his paintings, where it’s revealed that he considers himself “a printer by trade and an artist because he insists on being one....He has been unemployed for some time, but refuses to allow that to halt his painting” (“An Artist”).
Sources Consulted: Henry McBride, “Some Foreign Impressions of Our Art,” Baltimore Sun 22 Nov. 1931: 66; “Unsung Artists Exhibit at Show on Heights,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle 3 Sept. 1932: 3; “An Artist—By Choice!” New York Daily News 10 Jan. 1937: 181.