Walter Edmonds (April 21, 1938 – June 11, 2011) was an American artist best known for the 14 murals he painted with

Richard J. Watson Richard J. Watson (born 1946) is an American artist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In the 1970s, he collaborated with Walter Edmonds to create murals for the Church of the Advocate ...

for the Church of the Advocate in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, United States.

Biography

Walter Edmonds was born in April 21,1938, in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Originally, trained as a Chef at

Edward W. Bok Technical High School The Edward W. Bok Technical High School was a public high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, designed by Irwin T. Catharine and named after literary figure Edward William Bok, editor of the Ladies' Home Journal. It was completed in February ...

, he began his career in the restaurant industry. Realizing his passion for the visual arts as a young adult, he began to immerse himself into his love for painting. He attended

Philadelphia College of Art Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 census. The city is the urb ...

, Fleisher Art Memorial, and the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

. In the early 1970s, the Church of the Advocate, a center of activity for the civil rights movement in North Philadelphia, commissioned Edmonds and fellow parishioner Richard Watson to paint murals for the interior of the church. They were requested to portray a combination of Black history and themes from the bible. The two artists were active in the Church of the Advocate and they donated their time to create the murals. Fourteen murals were completed from 1973 through 1976. Titles include "Creation", "I Have a Dream", "The Lord smote the firstborn in the land of Egypt", and "God has chosen the weak to confound the strong". Edmonds' work was included in the 2015 exhibition '' We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s–1970s'' at the

Woodmere Art Museum Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the Delaware Valley and includes works by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, ...

. His work is in the collection of the

. His papers are in the

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is an institutional archives and library system comprising 21 branch libraries serving the various Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers. The Libraries and Archives serve Smithsonian Institution ...

. In 1966, Edmonds was among a group of young Black artists and students chosen to exhibit at William Penn Memorial Museum in Harrisburg by the mayor’s Committee on Human Relations. Others included Moe Brooker, Barbara Bullock, Charles Pridgen, Percy Ricks, Ellen Powell Tiberino and Leroy Johnson.

References

External links

Church of the Advocate Murals (1973 – 1976)
* with images of Church of the Advocate murals {{DEFAULTSORT:Edmonds, Walter 1938 births 2011 deaths 20th-century African-American artists American male artists American muralists Artists from Philadelphia Painters from Philadelphia Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni