"Chichen" After "Jaguar Eating Heart" Temple of the Eagles by Walter Henry Williams

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"Chichen" after "Jaguar Eating Heart" Temple of the Eagles

Detailed painting of a sculptural relief from the Platform of the … Read more "Chichen" after "Jaguar Eating Heart" Temple of the Eagles

Detailed painting of a sculptural relief from the Platform of the Eagles and Jaguars at Chichen Itza by Walter Henry Williams (American, Danish b. 1920 d. 1998.) This beautifully rendered painting depicts the famous relief scene, wherein a jaguar sits on three legs and uses its fourth leg to hold a heart, which it is lifting towards its open mouth. Despite the rather macabre subject, Williams's use of material is soft and delicate. The light yellow paint gently bleeds out of its lines in some areas, creating a lightly fuzzy look which is then tempered by the use of darker pigment to highlight other areas. Williams spent 1959-1963 living and working in Mexico, when this piece was created.

Titled, signed, and dated across bottom:
"after 'Jaguar eating Heart' temple of the Eagles / 'Chichen' / Walter Williams 1960"
Frame size: 33.25" H x 33.25" W
Image size: 22" H x 23" W

Walter Williams was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1920. He was initially raised by his mother who was remembered as a compassionate individual, until her death when he was five years old. Following this he was raised by his father, known to be extremely strict. Williams was described as a withdrawn child, a feature which persisted throughout much of his life. In 1942 he was drafted into an all-black unit for WWII. He was given the job of burying the bodies of soldiers, a task which he remained haunted by for much of his life. Following his return from WWII, he was able to enroll in the Brooklyn Museum Art School using the benefits from the GI Bill. At the Brooklyn Museum Art School he studied under painters Ben Shahn and Reuben Tam. In 1953 he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and won the first place award for painting while in attendance. He was also featured in the 1953 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting at the Whitney Museum. After graduating in 1955, Williams was awarded the John Hay Whitney Foundation fellowship award. He used the fellowship money to travel to the Denmark, as his grandfather was from the Danish West Indies and had spoken fondly of Denmark. Williams was influenced by his experience of the Danish countryside and began to create art which featured country landscapes and sunflowers. Following this, he lived and traveled in Mexico from 1959-1963. During this time his art was displayed within Mexico, as well as in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Sydney. Williams briefly returned to the United States in 1963 but felt stifled by racial relations after having lived in Mexico. That same year he was awarded the Silvermine Guild Award for Oil Painting. He utilized this money to return to Denmark and organize an exhibition entitled "Ten American Negro Artists Living and Woking in Europe,” featuring the art of those such as Beauford Delaney. From 1968-69. Williams was an artist in residence at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived with his wife Marlena. The couple faced discrimination in the United States due to their interracial marriage and thus returned to Denmark after finishing his residency, where Williams eventually received Danish citizenship. In 1980 a studio fire destroyed all his paintings and prints held within it and he stopped painting altogether in 1983. He died in 1998 at the age of 77 due to liver cancer.

Collections (selected):
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
National Gallery of Art
Cincinnati Art Museum
Riverside Museum of Art, NY
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Studio Museum in Harlem
Georgia Museum of Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum
David C. Driskell Center
The Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art
Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art
Baltimore Museum of Art
The White House, National Collection of Fine Arts See less