about
Ernest Walker
(1892 – 1991)

It is rare these days to be able to take yourself back to a time when life was much simpler. Elder Gallery in Charlotte has assembled a collection of artwork that has captured the essence of American life from 1915 through the 1950s. This period of time and the activities of daily life during that time have affectionately been referred to as Americana.

In late 2005 Elder Gallery presented paintings from the collection of Ernest Walker (1892 – 1991), who painted scenes in and around New York City, New England, Paris and Great Britain. The exhibition contained approximately sixty-five miniature watercolor paintings as well as several larger paintings from the artist’s personal collection. Each painting captured the spirit and relative innocence of America during the early part of the twentieth century.

Walker was born in Rochdale, England in 1892 where he demonstrated great promise as a young artist. He won a scholarship to Sheffield School of Art in 1908 and subsequently a full scholarship to Manchester Municipal School of Art in 1909. During his studies he was awarded the coveted King’s Prize for Design

In 1913 Walker moved to the United States and attended the Art Student’s League in New York City. He worked as a freelance artist and, after serving in the United States Army, returned to England, married and painted throughout Great Britain for a number of years. In 1930 Walker returned to Long Island and became a freelance artist and contributed to Fortune, Woman’s Home Companion, McCall’s, Country Life and Pictorial Review.

In 1935 the artist was commissioned by House & Garden to paint interiors of manor homes in England. A number of his paintings were shown on the cover of the magazine. The artist was invited to exhibit his work at the Chicago Art Institute in 1938 and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Watercolor Exhibition in 1939.

Elder Gallery’s collection includes the painting entitled “The Church, Redding Center, Connecticut” which was included in The Whitney Museum of Art’s Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art of 1941.

During the 1940s and 1950s Walker continued painting for House & Garden, Lord and Taylor, Abraham & Strauss, General Electric and others. He illustrated a number of books for Harper Brothers Publishing and MacMillan Publishing.

Ernest Walker died in South Carolina in 1991 at the age of ninety-nine.

Elder Gallery is the exclusive representative for the Ernest Walker Collection.