Arthur Walter Stewart: 1915 – 2001
Inducted into the Portrait Painters' Hall of Fame in 1985.
Arthur Stewart was born in 1915 in Marion, Alabama, and attended Marion Military Institute. He began painting at the age of six and held his first one-man exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago at age 23. After graduating from MMI in 1935, he continued his studies at Auburn University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He first attended the Dixie Art Colony in 1936. Upon entering the Army, he served as an artist for the ordnance department during World War II. In 1952, he settled permanently in Birmingham and became internationally known as a portrait painter. His work has hung in Milan's La Scala opera house, the White House, the Pentagon and in the personal collection of Queen Elizabeth II.
He established his studio at Glocca Morra Farm in Cahaba Heights in the late 1950s and was inducted into the Portrait Painters' Hall of Fame in 1985. He completed thousands of portraits, as well as landscapes. Stewart's health began to fail in the 1990s. He passed away in 2001.
- Born: Marion, AL in 1915; Death: Birmingham, AL in 2001
- Best Known For: Regionalism Landscapes, Florals and Portraits
- Methods: Easel and Plein Air Painting, Oils and Watercolors
- Secondary Education: Marion Military Institute, Marion, AL; Auburn University, Auburn, AL; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Studied with Kelly Fitzpatrick, Wetumpka, AL
- Books: Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975
- Periodicals: Alabama Heritage, Summer 1996; Birmingham Home & Garden, September/October 2003
- Museums: Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; Dixie Art Colony Foundation, Prattville, AL; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
- Collections: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, II, La Scala Opera House, Milan, Italy; United Stated Pentagon, Washington, DC
- Archived Files: All archived files are password protected and available upon written request. The archive includes original photographs and examples of his artwork. Access Arthur Walter Stewart Files (We are in the process of digitizing our archives. Additional content will be added on a regular basis as it becomes available.)
References: Alabama Heritage, Summer 1996; Ancestry.com; AskArt.com; Marion Military Institute Archives; Private Papers from the Dixie Art Colony Archives; Private Interviews
Examples of His Work
Colonists
- John Kelly Fitzpatrick
- Warree Carmichael LeBron
- Carlos Alpha (Shiney) Moon
- Genevieve McClure Southerland
- Arthur Walter Stewart
- Louise Smith Everton
- Karl Ferdinand Wolfe
- Mildred Nungester Wolfe
- Frank Woodberry Applebee
- Donnave Brennan Lindsey
- Anne Wilson Goldthwaite
- William Lamar Dodd
- Amanda Moon Erisman
- Doris Alexander Thompson