Walter Sanford facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Walter Sanford
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| Born |
Walter Sanford
January 30, 1912 |
| Died | July 3, 1987 (aged 75) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | School of the Art Institute of Chicago and College for Creative Studies (Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts School) |
| Known for | painting, drawing; visual art |
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Notable work
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Black + Tan Fantasy (Duke Ellington) Living Desert Strange Fruit A Prolonged Agony of Dissimulation |
| Movement | Chicago Black Renaissance |
Walter Sanford (born January 30, 1912 – died July 3, 1987) was an American artist. He was also known simply as Sanford. He used many different art styles and materials. These included paint, ink, crayon, and pencil.
Sanford created many types of art. He made collages, cartoons, and drawings. He also did linoleum-cuts, woodcuts, sculptures, and paintings. He was one of the first African American artists to work in social realism and abstract expressionism. People called him "Black Picasso" and "Detroit's Picasso." This was because of his cubist paintings of people. In 1958, he won a big art award called the Prix de Paris.
In Detroit, Sanford opened the first art gallery owned by a Black person. He showed his art at the first Negro Art Exhibition. He was seen as one of Michigan's best modern painters in 1952. Sanford was part of the Second Wave of the Chicago Black Renaissance. This was a time when many African American artists created amazing work.
Sanford used many art styles. Before 1945, he was an expressionist. He was inspired by Pablo Picasso's cubism. Then, he switched to abstract expressionism for 18 years. During this time, he traveled to Mexico, France, and Las Vegas. But he always came back to his home in Chicago. In 1962, he moved his studio to the South Side. He went back to social realism and painted for guests there.
Early Life and Art Beginnings
Walter Sanford grew up in Chicago. He went to school there and found his love for art early. His teacher introduced him to art when he was just nine years old. When he was 13, he took an art class by mail. He dreamed of becoming a cartoonist.
He made that dream come true. He became the official cartoonist for his high school newspaper. He sold his very first painting when he was 15. Sanford's first art show happened when he was 18. It was at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago.
In 1937, he took evening classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. There, he learned about oil painting, tempera, and drawing with ink, pencil, and pastels. In 1938, he moved to Detroit. He studied for a year with artist John Wesley Carroll. Carroll was the head of the art department at the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts. Today, this school is called the College for Creative Studies.
Career and Artistic Impact
Sanford often drew inspiration from Chicago's South Side. He lived there for many years. People in the Black community of Chicago knew him well. Newspapers and magazines often featured him. These included "The Chicago Defender" and "Negro Digest".
Sanford worked in his studio during the day. In the evenings, he painted portraits of famous people. He often worked at Club DeLisa, a nightclub in Chicago. He was known for his detailed portraits made with ink and colored pencils. People called him "The Man Who Paints with the Pencil." He painted for many famous people, like Roberta Flack and Billie Holiday.
An art critic named Harold Haydon once said about Sanford's work: "For him, color helps show images that overlap and combine." He added, "Figures and faces smiling, grimacing, still and moving, in complex compositions." In the 1960s, Sanford became very popular for his ink drawings. He drew portraits of figures like Frederick Douglass, Duke Ellington, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Einstein, Buddy Rich, and Miles Davis.
Sanford won many awards for his art. He showed his work in over 40 major exhibitions. More than two dozen of these were solo shows, which he started in 1941. His art is now in hundreds of private collections in Europe and North America. His works have been displayed in many places. These include the Stuttgart Museum in Germany and the Afro Arts Cultural Center in New York. They were also shown at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the South Shore Cultural Center in Chicago.
In 2005, some of Sanford's art was shown at the Corbett vs. Dempsey Gallery in Chicago. This was the first major show of his work since he passed away in 1987. Later, some of his paintings were used in the 2006 movie "The Lake House." In 2007, the Chicago History Museum showed one of his largest abstract paintings. It was called Living Desert. This painting was made in Las Vegas during his "desert period." He made 22 other works during the 19 months he lived there.
Later Life
Walter Sanford passed away in 1987. He was cremated in Hillside, Illinois.
