Girl with Butterflies #2
Walter Henry Williams, Danish (born United States), 1920 - 1998
1964
Color woodcut on paper
173/210
Image: 19 11/16 × 26 in. (50 × 66 cm)
Sheet: 22 13/16 × 30 1/8 in. (58 × 76.5 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Guernsey Center Moore 1904 Memorial Fund
© Walter H. Williams
2022.10
Publisher
International Graphic Arts Society, Inc., New York
Geography
Place Made: Copenhagen, Denmark, Europe
Period
20th century
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Inscriptions
Titled, in graphite, lower center, “Girl with Butterflies #2"; Numbered, in graphite, lower left “173/210”
Label
Seated in a field of flittering butterflies, a young girl entranced by her surroundings reaches for a sunflower. She is wonderstruck, fully immersed within the landscape, and unaware of any possible onlookers. Despite growing up in Harlem and relocating to Denmark in the final years of his life, Walter Williams created prints reminiscent of the American South. Like much of his work, Girl with Butterflies engages with themes of escapism and tranquility by inviting us into this fantastical display of childhood innocence.
From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
Course History
ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022
GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022
ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022
ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022
ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022
ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022
ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022
SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022
Geography 40.05, African and African American Studies 28.10, Race, Space, and Nature, Elizabeth Shoffner, Summer 2024
Exhibition History
This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 12 - July 22, 2022.
Provenance
International Graphic Arts Society; sold to private collection; purchased at Charity Auction, Chicago, Illinois; private collection, Chicago, Illinois, until owner’s death and then by descent to a private collection, Chicago, Illinois; acquired by LightThinkArt, Chicago, Illinois, 2018; sold to present collection, 2022.
This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.
We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu