ARTIST: Bernhardt T Wall (California, 1872 - 1956)
TITLE: Man Playing Lute
YEAR: 1901
MEDIUM: watercolor on paper
CONDITION: Few small tears. Some damage to lower right corner. Few minor paint losses. Some age toning. Framed under glass. Wear to frame.
ART SIZE: 19 x 12 inches / 48 x 30 cm
FRAME SIZE: 29 x 20 inches / 73 x 50 cm
SIGNATURE: lower left
CATEGORY: old antique vintage painting for auction sale online
AD: ART WANTED: Consign, Trade In, Cash Offer
SKU#: 132239
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BIOGRAPHY:
Bernhardt Wall (December 29, 1872 - February 9, 1956) was an American etcher, illustrator, commercial artist, lithographer, craftsman, teacher, and historian. He designed more than 5,000 postcards for various companies, earning him the epithet "Postcard King." Wall also established himself as an etcher of famous American political and cultural leaders, particularly Abraham Lincoln.Wall was born in Buffalo, New York, to German immigrant parents. He showed an aptitude for art starting at an early age and became a student of James Francis Brown, Henry Reuterdahl, and William Auerbach-Levy.He attended Buffalo public schools and after briefly studying at the Art Students League in Buffalo, he worked as a lithographer starting in 1889. He also worked as a watchmaker and photographer. In August of 1893, Wall took a tour of the western U.S. He arrived by train in San Antonio that winter and quickly wove himself in the art scene by teaching, co-owning the San Antonio Engraving Company, and organizing the San Antonio Art League, where he also served as president. His time in San Antonio signaled a long affiliation and love of the state. He met Jennie Hunter (later his wife) while making sketches in Fort Gibson, Texas, and the couple moved to Houston for a brief period. There Wall served as art editor of The Gulf Messenger, a women's literary journal published in Houston, all the while creating sketches of historic sites and portraits of famous people.Wall returned to New York, where he enlisted in the 202nd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Spain-American War. While in Cuba aboard the Minnewaska, he sketched the Maine before the ship sank in the Havana Harbor. Following the war, he worked in New York as a commercial artist, producing an array of colored postcards, many of them comical.In 1924 Wall and his wife moved to New Preston, Connecticut, and by 1929, they had started wintering in La Porte, Texas. Wall subsequently published three books related to the area in the mid 1930s, including Following General Sam Houston, 1793-1863, which features 60 etchings.The couple purchased a small house near Lime Rock, Connecticut, and Wall opened an etching studio there, which was across the street from Dard Hunter's paper mill. Between 1931-1942, Wall serially published Following Abraham Lincoln, an 85-volume set that illustrated Lincoln's life'each volume contains five original etchings. By the end of his career, Wall had published eight illustrated books and 523 etchings based on Lincoln.In addition to creating etchings for his books, he also wrote, designed, printed and bound them. He also designed many bookplates.After Jennie's unexpected death in 1938, Wall married Doris Turner, and the couple moved to Sierra Madre in 1944. His last etchings were made there. While in California, he was active in the Lincoln Fellowship of Southern California, and several issues of its annual publication feature a tipped-in etching of Lincoln. After finally settling in Pasadena, Wall died in Sawtelle, Los Angeles, on February 9, 1956.