John Augustus Walker (1901-1967)

Walker Designing a Float
Self-Portrait

Biography

John Augustus Walker produced murals that dazzled with their intense color and floats for the Mobile Mardi Gras parades that simply dazzled. He had a long career as a float designer after painting a number of murals for Depression Era projects. For much of this artistic career he simultaneously worked in the freight department of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad.

Walker was born in Mobile in 1901. In elementary school his artistic talent was recognized by his teacher, Maude Mayme Simpson. At age 19 he went to work for the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, with shifts from 1:00 PM to 1:00 AM. He began art studies under Mobile artist Edmund C. DeCelle and practiced his art by simply limiting his hours of sleep.

In 1921 the Railroad transferred Walker to St. Louis, where he enrolled at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts and studied under Victor Holm, Edmund Werpel and Frederick Greene Carpenter. After six years of school he spent several years studying art in the museums of New York and Chicago. He was influenced by the painter, illustrator and muralist Frank Brangwyn, who had completed a set of murals for the Missouri State Capitol. Construction jobs took Walker to Key West and Cuba, and the scenery in these locales inspired his affinity for strong color in his paintings.

In 1926 Walker exhibited at the 14th annual St. Louis Artists Guild Exhibition. He set up a studio in Mobile with Edmond DeCelle in 1929 and worked on art full-time for awhile. He supported himself with commercial assignments on a range of projects and with a wide array of clients. Walker participated in a two-man exhibition for the Allied Arts Guild of Mobile in 1929, and a one-man exhibition at the Women's Club in 1933 (also sponsored by the Allied Art Guild). His work was lavishly praised, critics admiring his passion for bright color and the painterly brushwork that he applied for heavily outlined figures.

Walker and DeCelle became the most significant float designers for Mobile's Mardi Gras parades. From 1935 until his death in 1967 Walker designed flamboyant floats for the Infant Mystics Krew. With WPA sponsorship, Walker completed a set of murals for the Mobile City Hall (now the Museum of Mobile) in 1936. He also produced murals for the Smith Bakery, the Federal Building Courtroom and public schools across Alabama.

Walker was the founder of the Mobile Art Guild and taught art at the Guild. In 1939 he was contracted to produce a "Historical Panorama of Alabama," originally conceived as a set of 29 murals, of which 10 murals were completed. Walker used watercolor, assuming the murals would be temporary. But, in a stroke of luck, this artwork was preserved and is now displayed in the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts at Auburn University.

Walker returned to his railroad job in 1940 but continued to paint and design Mardi Gras floats until his death in 1967.

Rice for Cuba
Agriculture Moves Onward (1939)

Critical Analysis

Walker's murals and floats display an exuberance that reflects the Creole heritage of the Gulf Coast region. His compositions were fairly simple but dense with detail and color. The overall effect, enhanced by Walker's penchant to use heavy outlines for his colorful figures, was to create a very distinctive style.

Murals

References

  1. John Augustus Walker (Wikipedia).
  2. John Augustus Walker (Encyclopedia of Alabama).
  3. John Augustus Walker Art for Sale and Sold Prices (invaluable).
  4. John Augustus Walker Gallery (Encyclopedia of Alabama).
  5. John Augustus Walker Murals (Alabama Department of Archives and History).
  6. John Augustus Walker: Historical Panorama of Alabama Agriculture (The Jule Museum).
  7. Dave Helms, John Walker Paintings: Lost ’30s Treasure Reclaimed, Business Alabama September 3 (2014).
  8. Emily Blejwas, The Mardi Gras Master of Make-Believe, Mobile Bay February 16 (2023).