J. Laurie Wallace

John Laurie Wallace (1864–1953) was an Northern Irish-born American painter.

J. Laurie Wallace Studio Commemorative Plaque, 5804 Leavenworth Street, Omaha, Nebraska.
G-206. Portrait of J. Laurie Wallace (circa 1883) by Thomas Eakins, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska.

Wallace was born in Garvagh, N. Ireland. His family immigrated to the United States when he was age 4.

He studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.[1] He posed for several of Eakins's paintings, including The Crucifixion (1880), Arcadia (1883) and The Swimming Hole (1884–85), and for dozens of photographs. In 1881 he became Eakins's assistant.

In 1891, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska to take the position of Director of the Western Art Association.[2] That organization soon failed, but Wallace remained in Omaha, becoming a commissioned portrait painter and professor.[2] One of the portraits Wallace is known to have completed was of George W. Lininger, the owner of an extensive art collection and a private art gallery in Omaha that he routinely opened to the public at no charge.[3] The portrait of Lininger hung in Lininger's art gallery until it was closed and the contents sold in the late 1920s.

He died in Omaha, Nebraska in 1953, at the age of 89, and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha.[2]

In Eakins works
  • G-143. Sketch for The Crucifixion (1880)
  • G-142. The Crucifixion (1880)
  • G-143a. Wallace Posing (circa 1883)
  • Wallace as The Piper (1883)
  • Wallace as The Piper (1883)
  • G-198. Youth Playing Pipes (1883)
  • G-196. Arcadia (1883)
  • G-508. Youth Playing Pipes (1883)
  • Eakins and Wallace, nude (circa 1883)
  • Eakins students bathing (1883)
  • G-190. The Swimming Hole (1884–85). Wallace is the standing man with hands on his hips

References
  1. "Omaha Portraitis Sat for Thousand Paintings". The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, NE. 30 August 1953.
  2. "Noted Artist Wallace Dies". The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, NE. 30 June 1953. Followed His Teaching Almost to End
  3. "Lininger Gallery a Dream Come True". The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, NE. 4 March 1927. p. 8. George W. Lininger, Whose Widow Died Thursday, Had Ambition to Stimulate Art in West - Gallery Opened in 1888
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