John Edwin Walley (American, 1910-1974) oil on canvas landscape painting, titled "Old Knik Indian Village", created for the Federal Art Project, depicting the shore of a rural Alaskan village with moored fishing boats in the foreground and rows of fish hanging to dry along a pier with three figures with their backs turned huddled together in front of a two-story building in the midground. A steep hill with two additional buildings, a wide path, and a white picket fence as well as distant snow-peaked mountains are in the background beneath a clear blue sky. Unsigned. Inscribed "John Edwin Walley American b. 1910", en verso of canvas. Inscribed "Old Knik Indian Village", en verso of frame. Housed in a wooden frame. Sight: 27 3/8" H x 38 1/4" W. Framed: 29" H x 40" W. Likely circa 1937. Biography: "John Edwin Walley was born in Wyoming and studied in Chicago at the Academy of Fine Arts and the Hubert Ropp School of Art. He worked as a newspaper cartoonist, designed theater sets and displays, and was employed both as a mural artist and as an administrator in the WPA's Illinois Art Project. Walley taught at the Institute of Design (Chicago, III.) and Unversity of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and was the author of "New Bauhaus in Chicago (1938)"." (Source: Smithsonian Archives of American Art)

PROVENANCE: The Estate of Carl Klein, Brentwood, Tennessee.

CONDITION: Overall good condition with scattered craquelure, slight surface grime, and minor warping or creasing to canvas. Frame with scattered wear and losses.