biography of Walter Launt PALMER (1854-1932)

Birth place: Albany

Addresses: Albany, NY

Profession: Landscape painter

Studied: Charles Elliott & F.E. Church, 1870; Carolus-Duran, in Paris, 1876.

Exhibited: Brooklyn AA, 1881, 1884-86; PAFA Ann., 1882-1918; Boston AC, 1885-98; NAD (1872-1930) 1887 (prize); Columbian Expo, Chicago, 1893 (med.); Phila. AC, 1894 (gold); AWCS, 1895 (prize); Boston, 1895 (prize); Tenn. Centenn. Expo, Nashville, 1897 (prize); Paris Expo, 1900 (prize); watercolors: Pan. Am. Expo, Buffalo (medal,1901), Charleston Expo (medal, 1902), St. Louis Expo (medal, 1904); St. Louis Expo, 1904 (med. for oil); Phila., 1907 (med.); Corcoran Gal. biennials, 1907-12 (4 times); Buenos Aires Expo, 1910 (med.); AIC, 1919 (prize); Wilmington, 1926 (prize), 1928 (prize).

Member: ANA, 1887; NA, 1897; SAA, 1881; NYWCC; AWCS; SC, 1901; Pastel; Century Assoc.; AFA; Union Int. des Beaux-Arts et des Lettres; NY State FA Comn

Work: NMAA; MMA; BMFA; Buffalo FA Acad; Pub. Gal., Richmond, IN; Omaha (NE) Art Soc.; Mem. Art Gal., Rochester, NY; MMA; Butler IA, Youngstown, OH

Comments: The son of sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer, Walter won renown for his winter landscapes and scenes of Venice. He exhibited regularly at the NAD anuals for nearly 60 years. Except for a few years (1878-80) at the Tenth St. Studio building in NYC, he lived in Albany. He traveled to Europe several times and produced numerous views of Venice in the early 1880s. In 1899 he and his wife visited Japan at the invitation of his Canadian patron Sir William Van Horne; the group traveled to Yokohama, Tokyo, Kobe, Nagasaki, Nagoya, Kyoto, also visiting Hong Kong, Canton, and Macao. Several works resulted from this trip.

Sources: WW31; Gerdts, Art Across America, vol. 1: 177; Gerdts, American Artists in Japan, 10 and pl. 35; 300 Years of American Art, vol. 1: 481; Falk, Exh. Record Series.