Frank Walter was a talented writer and artist whose work was largely overlooked during his lifetime. He suffered from delusions of aristocratic grandeur, namely a belief that the white slave owners in his ancestry linked him to the noble houses of Europe, from Charles II to Franz Joseph of Austria. A self-taught artist, Walter produced paintings that dealt with race, class, and social identity, as well as miniature landscapes of Scotland, the country that he fell in love with during a visit in the 1950s. Walter spent the last 25 years of his life in an isolated shack in Antigua, surrounded by his writings, paintings, and carvings.
FRANK WALTER (Antiguan, 1926–2009)
Oil on card
35.5 x 31.5cm
Acquired in 2022
