No. 26 (Sold)

STUART WALKER, 1904-1940

Although Stuart Walker was an original member of the Transcendental Painting Group, his fragile health restricted his participation. Seeking a milder climate because of his chronic health condition, he moved to Albuquerque in 1925. There, he attended classes at UNM, and with friend and fellow artist Brooks Willis, he opened Wallis Studio, a commercial studio that created and produced greeting cards and other design projects such as New Mexico maps or brass doorstops and hooks.

Walker became president of the newly founded Art League of New Mexico around 1929, and provided design work for league projects such as the souvenir program for their International Satiric Ball. Walker also served as Grand Master for several of their balls, which were given to “change the New Mexican art scene” by raising money for art projects.

Characteristic of his work was the use of muted natural colors reflecting a sensibility of the New Mexico landscape. Walker described his work as a portrayal of abstract rhythms in life forms. When he stated for the UNM student newspaper, The University of New Mexico Lobo, that the paintings were purely decorative in nature–free from mystic interpretation– [Raymond] Jonson clarified to the interviewer that Walker “was merely being modest.”