Henry Oliver Walker

Background

Henry Oliver Walker, son of Thomas Oliver and Sarah Lucy Walker, was born in Boston, Massachussets.

Education

After a common-school education he engaged in commercial pursuits until 1879, when he made the inevitable flight to Paris. He studied for three years as a pupil of Leon Bonnat.

Career

He returned to Boston and opened a studio. A successful exhibition in 1883 served to make his work known; thereafter he was busily employed in portrait painting. Soon he turned his attention to ideal figure subjects, and made his first essays in decorative work. About 1889 he moved to New York. He established his home at Lakewood, N. J. ; in later years he had summer homes at Cornish, N. H. , and Belmont, Massachussets In New York Walker continued to paint portraits, but he also produced some excellent ideal pictures, and he now had opportunities to make mural decorations, a specialty in which he soon made his mark. Among his ideal paintings are "Boy and Muse, " in the William T. Evans collection; "Narcissus, " in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; "Girl and Kitten, " in the Thomas B. Clarke collection; and "A Morning Vision, " in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. The "Portrait of Mrs. Evans and Son, " which came to the National Gallery of Art with the other works from the Evans collection, is noteworthy. His mural decorations for public buildings must be placed first among his achievements. His Library of Congress paintings, "Joy and Memory" and "Lyric Poetry" (one large tympanum and six small tympani in one of the corridors), are among the most decorative and poetic of the many mural works in the library. The two historical paintings in the Massachusetts State House, the "Pilgrims on the May-flower" and "John Eliot Preaching to the Indians, " in the nature of the case are less interesting from a decorative point of view, and less personal and spontaneous than the Washington work. The large square panel in the Appellate Court House, New York, is a handsome allegory entitled "The Wisdom of the Law, " with eleven figures, well composed and pleasing in color, but the symbolism is somewhat far-fetched. The motive of the lunette in the Minnesota Capitol is "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. " Other murals by Walker are in the Essex County Court House, Newark, N. J. Walker was a member of the National Academy (1902), the National Society of Mural Painters, and of numerous other societies. He died in Belmont, Massachussets, in his eighty-sixth year.

Achievements

• He is best known for his mural decorations. His works include a series of paintings honoring various poets for the Library of Congress and decorations for public buildings such as the Appellate Court House in New York City, Bowdoin College in Maine, the Massachusetts State House, the Minnesota State Capitol, and the Court House in Newark, New Jersey. He won many prizes and medals.

Connections

In 1888 he married Laura Marquand, a textile designer and decorative artist.

Father:

Thomas Oliver

Mother:

Sarah Lucy Walker

Spouse:

Laura Marquand