William Aiken Walker (1838-1921) Busy South Carolina Cabin Scene, Oil on Artist Board 9"x12". Signed lower left..In gilt wood frame 16"x13"x1 3/4". Weight 2 pds 11 oz. Good condition, minor wear to frame.PROVENANCE: Private collection, Charleston SC/Philadelphia PA. A genre painter, William Aiken Walker born in Charleston SC March 23, 1838, is primarily known for his genre paintings of plantations, cotton fields, African Americans, and dock scenes. The son of a prominent cotton agent, he was a true Southerner, born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1838.Walker completed his first painting at twelve and painted until his death in 1921. Although he studied in Dusseldorf sometime during the 1860s, he was primarily self-taught. Throughout the Civil War, Walker remained in Charleston; becoming a member of the Confederate Engineer Corps, drafting sketches and preparing maps for the Confederacy. After the war, Walker moved to Baltimore, a city with which he was already familiar. Walker continued to visit Charleston for one month every year, and the art stores there always had paintings of his for sale. He would go to visit friends on nearby plantations and make sketches of their magnificent homes and the sharecroppers who worked for them. From 1876 to 1905 Walker regarded New Orleans as his home. There he became especially close to Everett B. D. Fabino Julio, with whom he tried to form an art league. Although their league did not succeed, the project led to what would later become the Southern Art Union, which was formed in 1880, the earliest such association in New Orleans. A social and friendly man, Walker often entertained friends with stories of his southern travels, which included Florida, Galveston, Texas, and the Carolinas. Walker first exhibited at the South Carolina Institute Fair in Charleston in 1850, at the age of twelve. He exhibited his Woodcock and Georgia Cotton Picker at the Boston (MA) Art Club in 1881. He also exhibited at the Southern Art Union in New Orleans in 1880; the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL, in 1893; and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, MO, in 1904. The Warner Collection of Gulf States Paper Corporation in Tuscaloosa, AL, has his Blackberry Winter and Hauling Moss. The Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, NY, has examples of his fish paintings, including Angel Fish, Pompano, Amber Jack, Wrasse, and Sand Smelt. The Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans has his Old Shoe with Mice. His Wasp and Dog is in the Gibbes Art Gallery at the Carolina Art Association in Charleston. Other institutions holding his work include the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MA) and the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, TX. Walker died in Charleston, SC, on 3 January 1921.

Good condition, minor wear nicks to frame.