"Military Hero" Lot no. 2057
By Lawrence Lazear Wilbur (1893 - 1976)
32.00" x 34.00"
Oil on Canvas
Signed Lower Left
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See all original artwork by Lawrence Lazear Wilbur
ABOUT THE ARTIST
An early 20th-century illustrator working in New York City, Lawrence L Wilbur should not be confused with Lawrence Nelson Wilbur.
Lawrence Lazear Wilbur was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. (His grandfather, Reuben H. Wilbur, was a major in the Union army during the Civil War and later mayor of Omaha.) After high school, Lawrence hitchhiked to New York City to study art, at the Art Students League and over the next decade established himself as a successful commercial artist. He created lithographs, large images for billboards, and more than one cover for the Saturday Evening Post. In June, 1917, he married Helen Ruth Purdy, scion of a Baltimore newspaper family. In August, 1918, he joined the army and served actively in World War I. On his return, the couple moved to a Revolutionary War period stone house in North Caldwell, N.J., where they were to live for over fifty years. The property included a stone outbuilding that became his portrait studio. They had two sons, Richard Purdy Wilbur (1921-2017), who became a celebrated Pulitzer Prize winning poet, former U.S. Poet Laureate, as well as a translator; and Lawrence L. Wilbur, Jr. (1924-2008). In his portrait period, from the late 1930's into the 70's, Wilbur painted dozens of portraits, many of bankers, businessmen, and socialites, and local luminaries, as well as friends and relatives. But he always viewed painting as an activity to love in itself, and pursued his bliss painting numerous landscapes, seascapes, and an occasional still life. He was a lifelong student of painting, and particularly admired Eakins and Velázquez. He was handy around the house and an excellent bridge, tennis, piano, and accordion player. He was a gentle soul, soft-spoken, but also wryly humorous and could tell a joke with a hilarious understatement.
Biography courtesy of the artist's grandson, Christopher Wilbur