Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with William Walker

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.walker91
Creators:
Walker, William, 1927-
Sorell, V. A. (Victor A)
Dates:
1991 June 12-14
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
111 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of William Walker conducted 1991 June 12-14, by Victor Sorell, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Walker discusses his childhood in Birmingham, Alabama and Chicago, Illinois; painting murals in Memphis; the Chicago Mural Group, the Wall of Respect in Chicago, the Wall of Dignity in Detroit and other murals; subject matter and use of black historical figures such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Elijah Muhammad; use of narrative; public response to the murals; and artists he worked with including Eugene Edaw, Mark Rogovin, John Weber and Mitchell Caton.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
William Walker (1927- ) is an Afroican American mural painter from Chicago, Illinois.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Reproduction Note
Duplicate copy of transcript available at the Art Institute of Chicago Ryerson/Burnham Libraries.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 8 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Illinois -- Chicago Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Public art -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Muralists -- Illinois -- Chicago Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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