Walter H. Williams Jr.

Born 1920 in Brooklyn, New York; died 1988 in Copenhagen, Denmark

From Artnet:

Timeline

1920 Born in Brooklyn, NY

1951 Enrolls in Brooklyn Museum School of Art

1953 Earns scholarship to Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; Fellow scholarship recipient David Driskell is his roommate

1953 His painting, Poultry Market, is selected for inclusion in the Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting at the Whitney Museum (later, the museum purchased the painting)

1954 Earned a grant from the National Institute of Arts and Letters

1955 Completes his studies at the Brooklyn Museum School of Art

1955 His painting, Dawn, is selected for inclusion in the Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting at the Whitney Museum

1955 Awarded a John Hay Whitney Foundation Fellowship

1956 Leaves the U.S. for Denmark

1956 He’s included in Art in America’s Third Annual Listing of New Talent

1957 Returns to the U.S. from Denmark

1957 Another painting is selected for inclusion in the Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting at the Whitney Museum

1958 Ebony Magazine includes him in its cover story, Leading Young Artists

1959 Leaves the U.S. for Mexico

1960 Receives a grant from the National Institute of Arts and Letters (he was one of five painters and two sculptors who received the grant out of thousands of artists who applied)

1963 Returns to the U.S. from Mexico

1964 Leaves the U.S. for Denmark

1964 Organizes an exhibition titled Ten American Negro Artists Living and Working in Europe

1964 He marries a Danish woman named Marlena Jacobsen

1967 He’s invited by David Driskell to Fisk University as an Artist-in-Residence

1969 He and his wife return to Denmark

1979 He becomes a Danish citizen

1985 Represents Denmark at the International Art Fair, Tokyo, Japan

1998 Dies in Copenhagen, Denmark