Walter Addison American, 1914-1982
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Walter AddisonTiger, c. 1950oil on canvas10 x 8 inches
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Walter AddisonJungle Life, c. 1948watercolor on paper23.25 x 17.15 inches
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Walter AddisonWhite Crane and Butterfly, c. 1948watercolor on paper22.5 x 14 inches
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Walter AddisonMonkeys, c. 1945oil on canvas32.25 x 26 inches
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Walter AddisonBirds: Black Swift, Turkey Vulture, Cave Swallow, Grackle, Pewee, Grey Kingbird, Ani, c. 1940gouache and ink on paper21.5 x 14 inches
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Walter AddisonBirds: Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull, Common Terns, Royal Tern, c. 1940gouache and ink on paper21.5 x 14 inches
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Walter AddisonBirds: Common Stilt, Flamingo, Cattle Egret, Willet, Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, Snowy Plover, Thick Billed Plover, c. 1940gouache and ink on paper16.5 x 11.5 inches
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Walter AddisonBirds: Green Throated Carib, Streamer-Tail, Puerto Rican Emerald, Tody, Purple Throated Carib, Jamaican Mango, Antillean Crested Hummingbird, Bahama Woodstar, c. 1940gouache and ink on paper16.5 x 11.5 inches
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Walter AddisonBirds: Orangequit, Stripe Headed Tanger, Saffron Finch, Bananaquit, Greater Antillean Bullfinch, Black-Faced Grassquit, Yellow-Faced Grassquit, c. 1940gouache and ink on paper16.5 x 11.5 inches
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Walter AddisonBirds: White Tailed Tropical Bird, Audubon's Shearwater, Brown Booby, Frigate Bird, Blue Faced Booby, c. 1940gouache and ink on paper16.5 x 11.5 inches
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Walter AddisonBirds: Woodpecker, Parrots, Brown Thrasher, Mockingbird, c. 1940gouache and ink on paper21.5 x 14 inches
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Walter AddisonBirds: Zenaida Dove, Black Cowled Oriole, Troupial, Great Lizard Cuckoo, Bahama Mockingbird, Ground Dove, c. 1940gouache and ink on paper21.5 x 14 inches
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Walter AddisonSea Lions, 1937watercolor and ink29.5 x 21 inches
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Walter AddisonAntelope Standinggouache11.5 x 15.5 inches
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Walter AddisonBears: Polar Bear Standinggouache and ink12.5 x 16.5 inches
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Walter AddisonBears: Polar Bear Studygouache and ink11.75 x 16.5 inches
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Walter AddisonBears: Walking Studycharcoal14 x 16.75 inches
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Walter AddisonBig Cats: Cat Family Studycharcoal13.25 x 17 inches
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Walter AddisonBig Cats: Lioness Stalkingcharcoal12 x 16.75 inches
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Walter AddisonBig Cats: Lions Prowlingink and acrylic13.25 x 20.5 inches
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Walter AddisonBig Cats: Male Lion Restingcharcoal14 x 17 inches
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Walter AddisonBig Cats: Tiger Standingcharcoal14 x 17 inches
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Walter AddisonBig Cats: Tiger Sunningcharcoal14 x 16 inches
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Walter AddisonDogs: Dachshundcharcoal13.5 x 17 inches
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Walter AddisonElephant and Rhino Studyink14 x 16.75 inches
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Walter AddisonWalrus: Cartoon Study with Traycharcoal11 x 8.5 inches
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Walter AddisonYak Studycharcoal8.5 x 12 inches
Walter Addison was born in Spokane, Washington and moved to New York City in 1930 as a young, aspiring artist. Over the course of the next three decades, he established himself in the artistic and zoological worlds of New York and became recognized as an outstanding animal artist.
In the early 1930s Addison studied at the National Academy of Design and earned several prestigious fellowships in the arts: The Guggenheim Fellowship in Sculpture and the Tiffany Sculpture Fellowship. During the 1940s he worked as the lead artist at the Bronx Zoo, where he painted many famous murals decorating the animal houses. Addison proceeded to earn several public art commissions, such as a much-lauded mural at the Governor Clinton Hotel in New York, an invitation to exhibit animal sculptures in the General Motors building at the 1964 World's Fair, and a mural for the New York City Aquarium in 1965. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Addison also created animal sculptures for the popular window displays of Macy's and Lord & Taylor department stores in Manhattan.
Addison's notable exhibitions in his lifetime include the American Watercolor Society (1937); Feragil Galleries, New York (1937); National Academy of Design Annual Exhibition (1938 & 1943); and America House (1945). *Dr. William G. Conway, the noted former Director of the New York Zoological Society, highly praised the artist's work: "Addison's art seems to capture the very essence of the animal soul - the intrinsic living, fructifying holy spirit captured by the ancient painters at the Lascaux Caves 30,000 years ago."