Walter Sanford

Walter Sanford
Born	Walter Sanford (1912-01-30)January 30, 1912
Died	July 3, 1987(1987-07-03) (aged 75) Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American
Education	School of the Art Institute of Chicago and College for Creative Studies (Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts School)
Known for	painting, drawing; visual art
Notable work	Black + Tan Fantasy (Duke Ellington) Living Desert Strange Fruit A Prolonged Agony of Dissimulation
Movement	Chicago Black Renaissance

Walter Sanford, also known as Sanford, (30 January 1912 – 3 July 1987), was an American artist who worked in a range of styles and influences using traditional media such as paint, ink, crayon and pencil. His artworks include collages, cartoons, pencil drawings, linoleum-cuts, woodcuts, sculptures, paintings, and portraits. He was one of the first and only black social realism and abstract expressionist artists of the 20th century. He was heralded "Black Picasso" and "Detroit's Picasso" for his cubist figure paintings and in 1958 he won the Prix de Paris La Grande Saison de Paris at the Raymond Duncan Galleries. In Detroit, he opened the first black-owned art gallery and exhibited at the first Negro Art Exhibition and Negro History Week and was hailed as one of Michigan's foremost modern art painters in 1952.

Sanford was part of the Second Wave (1941-1960) of the Chicago Black Renaissance of African-American artists^[1] and embraced a wide range of styles and influences. An expressionist until 1945, Sanford was clearly influenced by and followed Pablo Picasso's cubism in his paintings, then switched to abstract expressionism for 18 years. During this period, he traveled and worked in Mexico, France, and Las Vegas, but always returned to his home in Chicago. In 1962, he moved Sanford Studio (171 W. Oak Street, Chicago) to the South Side and set up a new studio across the street from the Prairie Shores and Lake Meadows apartments. He returned to social realism and entertained guests in his new studio while he painted for them.