Frank Walts (23 March, 1877,
Lima Township, LaGrange County, Indiana
Lima Township is one of eleven townships in LaGrange County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,383 (down from 2,507 at 2010) and it contained 1,014 housing units.
History
Lima Township was established in 1832.
...
– 21 January 1941,
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
) was an American artist who provided illustrations for several radical magazines.
Walts has been described as an exemplary
modernist
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
, particularly as regards his covers for ''
The Masses
''The Masses'' was a graphically innovative American magazine of socialist politics published monthly from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription in the United Stat ...
'', e.g. his illustration of
Mary Fuller, April 1916.
He was on the board of both ''
The Masses
''The Masses'' was a graphically innovative American magazine of socialist politics published monthly from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription in the United Stat ...
'' and ''
The Liberator'' and subsequently ''
New Masses
''New Masses'' (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). It was the successor to both '' The Masses'' (1911–1917) and ''The Liberator'' (1918–1924). ''New Masses'' was later merge ...
''.
He is noted for his portrayal of
African Americans
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...
for ''
The Crisis
''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly M ...
'' magazine, and his work was critically discussed by such people as
W. E. B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist.
Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...
who considered Walts "a thoughtful, clear-eyed artist" and defended him against critics.
Gallery
File:The Masses, April 1916, Frank Walts.jpg, ''The Masses'' (cover), April 1916, A sketch of Mary Fuller, star of '' The Heart of a Mermaid'' (Lucius J. Henderson
Lucius Junius Henderson (June 8, 1861 – February 18, 1947) was an American silent film director and actor of the early silent period involved in more than 70 film productions.
Biography
Born in Aledo, Illinois, Henderson was a classically trai ...
, 1916)
File:The Crisis 1919 october Frank Walts.jpg, ''The Crisis'' (cover), October 1919
File:V2n11-dec-1919-liberator-hrcover.jpg, ''The Liberator'' (cover), December 1919
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walts, Frank
1877 births
1941 deaths