Items Similar to View of Trees with Green Foliage View More
Frank WalterView of Trees with Green Foliage
About
Oil on corrugated board
20th Century American Realist
The artistic heritage of the island nation of Antigua deepened dramatically with the recent emergence of its native son Frank Walter – reclusive artist, Outsider artist, writer, philosopher, and poet. Walter’s death in 2009 brought to light a remarkable trove of his paintings, sculpture, photographs, and constructions, along with at least 25,000 pages of his writing, that reveal a talent and intelligence not fully appreciated or understood during his lifetime. Walter chose to spend the last decades of his life isolated on a hilltop in a self-built house without water or electricity. Upon his passing, Walter’s family carefully recorded and conserved as many as 1,500 objects found in his home. The resulting cache of artworks, most being seen publicly for the first time, is a strikingly beautiful panoply of forms and imagery that stake a claim to Antigua’s firm standing in world culture.
Frank Walter’s art, like his life, was deceptively simple, full of straightforward truths and complex contradictions. He was a keen observer of humanity though he spent much of his life alone. He was at once a common sign painter and a visionary abstractionist; a small-time photographer whose passport photos were also deeply penetrating portraits; a collector of discarded scraps, torn and creased, on which he would paint a sunset for the ages.
Walter worked most often with found materials on which he painted remarkable landscapes, as well as elaborate visions of the universe and cryptic musings on nuclear energy. Each displays a refined awareness of abstraction and design, and a formal sensibility reminiscent of the twentieth century’s greatest masters. The figure also plays an important role in Walter’s oeuvre, perhaps most arrestingly in his carved-wood sculptures that few have seen outside of his family. These intimate and soulful portraits are imbued with an uncanny human spirit that kept Walter company in his years spent alone. Whimsical signs and innovative, artfully constructed toys bear witness to the artist’s indomitable creativity.
But any discussion of Walter’s art must begin and end with the jewel-like landscapes painted on card stock that is actually the blank side of a Polaroid film package. As if to complete the effect, the artwork is humbly framed inside the spent black metal Polaroid cartridge to which it is intrinsically suited. It is there that the heart and soul of Antigua plays out on a 4 x 3 inch sheet with vivid colors, nuanced spatial relationships and effortless technique.
Other larger paintings are executed on the backs of his own photographs or those he co-opted from his one-time studio mate, a Reuters photographer. If the “Polaroid” landscapes are his travelogue works – his plein air notations while on the go – then these 8 x 10s are his more finished “studio” pieces, his fully realized compositions intended for a much dreamed of retrospective exhibition that was not to be, until now.
Frank Walter marked Antigua and Barbuda’s inaugural representation at the 57th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2017.
Details
- Artist
- Medium
- Movement & Style
- ConditionExcellent
- DimensionsH 8.88 in. x W 5.5 in.H 22.56 cm x W 13.97 cm
- Gallery LocationNew York, NY
- Reference NumberLU231636403
- Seller Reference NumberM 10228D.114
Buyer Protection Guaranteed
Our Promise To You: If you're not happy with the way an item arrived, we'll work with the seller on your behalf to ensure you're satisfied with the resolution. Read more
Delivery, Returns & Payment
- DeliveryRates vary by destination and complexity
Some items may require special handling and packaging. Request a shipping quote to see what options are available to your destination.
- Return Policy
This item cannot be returned.
View details
- Online Payment Methods1stdibs accepts the following payment methods
- Item InvoiceGenerate an invoice that you can customize and print.
About the Seller
No Reviews Yet
Vetted
Recognized
1stdibs seller since 2010
Located in New York, NY
Associations:
Art Dealers Association of America
You may also contact the seller by phoneCall seller through 1stdibs
More From This Seller
Black Trunk, Pink & Blue Sky
Frank Walter
20th Century Outsider Art Landscape Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
Oil on corrugated cardboard
20th Century American Realist
The artistic heritage of the island nation of Antigua deepened dramatically with the recent emergence of its native son Fra...
Landscape with Large Tree and Red Highlights
Frank Walter
20th Century Outsider Art Landscape Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
Oil on cardboard
20th Century American Realist
The artistic heritage of the island nation of Antigua deepened dramatically with the recent emergence of its native son Frank Walter –...
Frank WalterVolcano, Red Sky
$4,500
Volcano, Red Sky
Frank Walter
20th Century Outsider Art Mixed Media
Paper, Oil, Watercolor
Watercolor and oil on paper (Polaroid box cover), with metal cartridge
20th Century American Realist
The artistic heritage of the island nation of Antigua deepened dramatically wit...
Coastal Landscape with Birds and Rocks or Pylons
Frank Walter
20th Century Outsider Art Landscape Paintings
Masonite, Oil
Oil on Masonite
The artistic heritage of the island nation of Antigua deepened dramatically with the recent emergence of its native son Frank Walter – reclusive artist, Outsider ar...
You May Also Like
Charles Hutson (b.1840)"Cloudy Day on the Pearl River" Louisiana Landscape Oil Painting, 1933, 1933
$1,865
"Cloudy Day on the Pearl River" Louisiana Lands...
Charles Hutson (b.1840)
1930s Outsider Art Landscape Paintings
Oil, Board
This 1933 oil on board painting entitled "Cloudy Day on the Pearl River" is by New York and New Orleans artist Charles Hutson (1840-1936). Hutson showed at the Society of Independent...
After the Hydrogen Bomb
Hyacinthe Hill
1950s Outsider Art Nude Paintings
Oil, Board
Signed with initials lower right "H.H." for Hyacinthe Hill and painted circa 1955
A substantial mid-century figural oil of a young woman seated naked in an opened conch shell set ...
Root Beer American Gas Station Painting by Edwa...
Angela Wakefield
2010s Outsider Art Landscape Paintings
Paint, Acrylic, Board
'Root Beer' is a painting of an American Gas Station by Leading British Urban Landscape Artist, forming part of her Edward Hopper inspired Americana Series. Angela is often favourabl...
Angela WakefieldAmericana Series Food Court Painting by Edward Hopper Inspired British Artist, 2012
$4,375
Americana Series Food Court Painting by Edward ...
Angela Wakefield
2010s Outsider Art Landscape Paintings
Paint, Acrylic, Board
'Americana Series, Food Court' is a painting of an American Gas Station by Leading British Urban Landscape Artist, forming part of her Edward Hopper inspired Americana Series. Angela...
A Heart Perfected - Black & White Atmospheric L...
Mark Thompson
Early 2000s Outsider Art Landscape Paintings
Canvas, Paint, Cotton Canvas, Oil
A Heart Perfected - Black & White Atmospheric Landscape Painting. Mark Thompson is a seasoned professional painter with international representation in Sweden, Germany & the USA. We ...
Armenia
Julian Nemethy
Early 2000s Outsider Art Landscape Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Signed lower right.
Contemporary artist Julian Nemethy is the son of artist Albert Nemethy, and his work can be distinguished from that of his father by the use of
fantastical eleme...
RV Park by the Sea
Ann Chamberlin
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
RV Park by the Sea, 2015
oil on canvas
26 x 35"
Ann Chamberlin's work explores history, identity and the intersection of personal and communal memory.
She is an American artis...
Lost Vegas
Valton Tyler
1970s Outsider Art Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Oil
In The New York Times Arts in America column, Edward M. Gomez writes of Valton Tyler, "visionary seems the right word for describing his vivid, unusual and technically refined painti...
More Ways to Browse
Why Shop on 1stdibs?
Only Vetted, Professional Sellers
Buyer Protection Guaranteed
Fully Insured Global Deliveries