John Palmer Wicker, 'Portrait of a Woman in a Landscape
John Palmer Wicker (American, 1860-1931). 'Portrait of a Woman in a Landscape #10'. Art nouveau period symbolist school oil painting on canvas, depicting a seated female figure in a landscape. No apparent signature. Pencil notations to verso, 'figure unfinished, No. 10'. Unframed. Provenance: A Grosse Pointe, Michigan private collector.
34 1/4" high x 28 1/4" wide.
Wicker attended the julian academy in paris where his instructors were William Adolf Bouguereau, Tony Robert-Fluery and Fernand Corman. Returning to the united states, he taught classes for a short time in saginaw, michigan before returning to detroit in 1902. He soon joined the faculty of the detroit art academy, then under the direction of Joseph Gies who had founded the school. Upon Gies retirement in 1910, Wicker became director of the soon to be renamed wicker school of fine arts. According to his biography in 'Artists in Michigan, 1900-1976' - "For the next twenty years, Wicker was acknowledged as detroit's foremost art teacher. His school was the first in detroit to encourage the study of 'modernist' art, including the work of Van Gogh, Matisse, Gauguin, and the Fauves." Wicker exhibited in 1903 and 1904 at the paris salon and in 1904 at the louisiana purchase exposition in st. louis. He also exhibited locally in detroit and with the scarab club, winning a gold medal there in 1925.
