Elvie Viola Bolton Whited (1902 - 1983)

Valley Farm, 1943, oil on canvas board, signed and dated lower right, 18 x 24 inches

$850

Little is known about apparently untrained painter Elvie Viola Bolton Whited. A native of Arkansas, Whited lived in Oklahoma before arriving in Texas in the early 1920s. According to the 1940 census, she had a third-grade elementary school education and was a housewife and mother to at least five children. Whited's few known paintings are wonderfully naive affairs depicting the American Scene. Much in the same vein as Grandma Moses or fellow Texas artist Clara McDonald Williamson, Whited's Valley Farm created an alternate world characterized by stylized forms, off kilter perspective, oversized figures, idealized buildings, and simplified patterning. Despite the notable technical limitations, Whited did a remarkable job of capturing the essence of a sunny day and a bountiful harvest against the backdrop of growing storm clouds on the horizon. All was not peaceful in 1943.