On this day in Alabama history: Artist John Augustus Walker was born
Mobile artist John Augustus Walker (1901-1967) is seen during the 1930s working on his mural Fraternity, which currently is displayed at the Museum of Mobile. Walker is best known for his artwork created under the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of the Museum of Mobile)
February 9, 1901
Artist John Augustus Walker was born in Mobile. Trained at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, Walker is best known for sets of murals painted for the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. In 1935, he won Mobile’s only WPA mural project and produced11 brightly colored oil paintings in Mobile’s Old City Hall, now the History Museum of Mobile, depicting the city’s history. In 1939, Walker again contracted with the WPA, in conjunction with the Alabama Extension Service, to produce a series of watercolor murals depicting the state’s agricultural history for the Alabama State Fair. In one week, more than 300,000 people visited the fair and viewed the murals.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
