Alias Sanford
1912-1987
Works in the Collection
Biography
Walter Sanford was a Chicago painter who was associated in the 1940s with the Southside Community Art Center and had a wide-ranging career. Born in Detroit, Sanford moved to Chicago and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago under Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Like many other African-Americans after World War II, with the G.I. Bill, he found his way to Paris and in 1952, he won the Prix de Paris. Upon his return to Chicago, he was frequently called “The Black Picasso.” He traveled often and worked for periods in Mexico, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. According to his obituary in the Chicago Tribune, he was a self-described “Abstract Expressionist,” exhibited in more than 20 major shows and had more than two dozen solo exhibitions.