Ellison, Walter W. Lincoln and Washington. Oil and enamel on canvas, 19.5 x 24.5 inches; Signed and dated 2-20-29' lower left. Monogramed, date " 2-20-28/2-20-29' and inscribed Drawed by Walter W. Ellison" in oil, on the canvas verso. With 2 early

Ellison, Walter W. Lincoln and Washington. Oil and enamel on canvas, 19.5 x 24.5 inches; Signed and dated 2-20-29' lower left. Monogramed, date " 2-20-28/2-20-29' and inscribed Drawed by Walter W. Ellison" in oil, on the canvas verso. With 2 early newspaper illustrations, representing a bust-portrait of Washington and Lincoln with a Union soldier and a group of slaves respectively, adhered to the canvas verso. On the artist's original stretcher, with a handpainted frame in black and white oil presumably by the artist himself. Scattered cracklure, partially closed horizontal tear extreme upper left corner, scattered chips on the frame. Np, 1928-29 Refer to Department Executed during the first year of the Great Depression, Ellison's double-portrait of America's foremost presidents framed by 2 American flags is an icon of freedom. Born in Eaton, Georgia, the artist 1899-1977 came to Chicago as an adolescent during the Great Migration. He trained at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later exhibited in Chicago at the 1940 American Negro Exhibition at the Tanner Gallery. Paintings by Ellison are scarce; there are fewer than 50 extant examples and most are now in museums, including the Chicago Historical Society, the Tubman African American Museum and the Collection of Hampton University. Ellsion is currently featured in the exhibition 'Telling Stories" at the Art Institute of Chicago from 9/96 to 9/2000 Exhibited at the Madison County African American Museum, October 1995 to October 1996 and the Tubman African-American Museum, Macon, Georgia, January to October 1997