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180:(now Alabama Cooperative Extension System) for exhibition at the 1939 Alabama State Fair. Walker originally was contracted to paint 29 murals, although severe time constraints limited him to only ten. Assuming that the paintings would be only temporary, Walker used tempera water-color paints rather than costlier, more durable oils — his preferred medium.
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The water colors of John
Augustus Walker on exhibition at the Woman's Club House are among the most beautiful ever seen in Mobile. Exquisitely delicate in handling and coloring, they are an outpouring of the sensitivity and poetic spirit in which John Walker reacts to a beauty which is everywhere –
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Walker's watercolors are still prized throughout the
Alabama Gulf Coast region. His paintings are displayed in many homes throughout the St. Louis area and throughout Alabama. Along the Gulf Coast, he is especially remembered for his murals in the old City Hall building in Mobile (now the History
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in 1935, Walker exhibited his work at the fourteenth annual St. Louis
Artists Guild Exhibition in 1926, followed by a "two-man" exhibition in Mobile in 1929 and a "one-man" exhibition at the Woman's Club in Mobile in 1933. Both Mobile exhibitions were sponsored by Allied Arts Guild of Mobile. The
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Although these murals were designed to be only temporary, they are among the
Alabama Cooperative Extension System's most valued historical artifacts and are considered prime examples of WPA-related art associated with the Great Depression era.
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Forced at an early age to become the family breadwinner, Walker worked from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily for the Mobile & Ohio
Freight Department, limiting his sleep so that he could devote more waking hours to the study of drawing and painting.
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Museum of Mobile), for the Smith Bakery murals on
Dauphin Street in Mobile (now lost) and for his mural designs for the Federal Building Courtroom. Walker paintings also are displayed in numerous public schools throughout the state.
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a beauty from which so many now choose to turn away, seeking instead a sordid viewpoint. After all, it is with the spirit with which one sees – and in these water colors John Walker translates transcendent beauty.
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Walker is remembered as an unusually tireless artist who labored long hours in his North Royal Street studio in Mobile. His paintings reflect a passion for bright colors, which he acquired from trips to
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Walker also earned an enduring reputation as a designer of floats, stage sets, and costumes for Mardi Gras. Many of the float designs, noted for their exquisite artwork, are still displayed in museums.
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Dupree, C. Bruce, Art
Specialist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, "Lecture on Historical Panorama of Alabama Agriculture," Auburn University Sesquicentennial, Sept. 21, 2006.
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Following exhibition at the
Alabama State Fair, the paintings were shipped to Shreveport for display at the 1939 Louisiana State Fair. Afterward, they were shipped to the
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Many of his works earned numerous local, state and national awards. He was a founder and original member of the Mobile Art Guild, which he also served as an instructor.
187:(now Auburn University) in Auburn and stored in the Duncan Hall attic for almost a half century before they were rediscovered in the 1980s and refurbished.
232:"Historical Panorama of Alabama Agriculture, Alabama Cooperative Extension Service," (Text that accompanied first public exhibition in the 1980s)
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Heavy dark outlines and painterly brushwork characterized both his commercial and public works. Walker's preferred subject matter ranged from
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Dupree, Bruce (Summer 2008) "John
Augustus Walker and the Historical Panorama of Alabama Agriculture."
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and Fred Green
Carpenter. After six years of study, he spent several years studying art in museums in
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A company-ordered transfer to St. Louis proved fortuitous for Walker, enabling him to enroll in the
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136:— a passion reinforced by subsequent trips throughout the United States and Gulf Coast region.
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He began his studies under Edmund C. DeCelle (misspelled in his letter as Cecile) of Mobile.
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Letter from John A. Walker to Henrietta Mary Thompson, University of Alabama, April 12, 1935
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99:. Walker also was deeply influenced by the famed Welsh painter, illustrator and muralist
223:". (February 28, 2007) Alabama Department of Archives and History - accessed March 5, 2009
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Woman's Club exhibition earned the following positive review in the Mobile Press-Register:
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One of the products for which Walker is most distinguished is the
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who was commissioned to undertake several art projects for the
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23:A 1935 mural by John Augustus Walker at the
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79:The St. Louis School of Fine Arts
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185:Alabama Polytechnic Institute
174:Works Progress Administration
85:St. Louis School of Fine Arts
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50:Works Progress Administration
37:(1901–1967) was a well-known
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301:Federal Art Project artists
281:People from Mobile, Alabama
221:John Augustus Walker Murals
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286:Auburn University people
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176:and commissioned by the
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68:teacher, Mayme Simpson.
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35:John Augustus Walker
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141:Mardi Gras
56:Early life
42:Gulf Coast
254:. No. 89
134:Key West
93:New York
60:Born in
97:Chicago
39:Alabama
29:Alabama
195:Notes
123:Works
132:and
130:Cuba
95:and
27:in
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203:^
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