Lawrence Nelson Wilbur painting 24 1/2 x 29 painting, 29 1/2" x 34" with frame

Lawrence Nelson Wilbur (1897-1989) An oil painting depicting a late afternoon caravan of travelers in a southwestern mountain valley. Made during Wilbur's Southwest and Mexico trips of the early 1940s, the painting is dark shaded with deep umbers, greens, and a brooding, charcoal colored sky above lowering to a luminous sun hidden behind one of the figures. Condition: Black lights clean. Signed in the lower right corner "Lawrence Nelson Wilbur, 1942" Painting: 24 1/2 x 29, Framed: 29 1/2" x 34"; Provenance: Private Texas Collector

BIOGRAPHY: Lawrence was born in December 1897 in Whitman, MA. His father died when he was 16 and Lawrence worked to support his mother, 2 brothers and 1 sister. He attended night classes in Boston Normal Art School (now Massachusetts School of Art). He went to California in 1921 and worked in the engraving department of the "Los Angeles Times" and, in 1925 relocated to New York City where he enrolled in the Grand Central Art School and studied under Harvey Dunn, N.C. Wyeth and Pruett Carter.

Except for a two-year sabbatical to Mexico, he lived the remainder of his life on W. 96th Street in New York, was a life-time member of the Salmagundi Club and won the Audubon Artists medal of honor for his self-portrait in oil, in 1957.

He worked in watercolor, oil, dry point, linoleum cut, wood engraving and lithograph, all with equal facility. Even with failing eyesight, he continued to work until his death.