"No other southern artist so prolifically portrayed his land during the post-Civil War Reconstruction than William Aiken Walker. Born in Charleston, South Carolina to an Irish Protestant father and a mother of South Carolina background, Walker grew up a southerner through and though. Completing his first painting at age twelve, Walker continued painting until his death at age eighty-three. He remained in Charleston throughout the Civil War. There he became a member of the Confederate Engineer Corps and did sketches of the bombardment of the city, which he transformed into oil paintings. Walker moved to Baltimore after the war, but would return to South Carolina for some time each year, exhibiting his work and continuing to paint Charleston subjects. It is during this period that his paintings of poor southern blacks, for which he is principally known, were completed." -Springfield Museum of Art

Provenance: from the estate of Ada Rehan (stage name; real name Crehan) until her death in 1916 and remaining in the family until now. Quote from the Long Branch Daily Record, NJ, Feb. 28th, 1966, p. 14 "the Byron Crehan family was one of the most noted theatrical groups in America, ranking with the Drews and Barrymores." Consigned by the family: both items in excellent condition.



Signature on woman's portrait LL:


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