Neihardt

Artist: J. Laurie Wallace
Dimensions: 2 ½ x 3 feet
Location: W. Dale Clark, Administrative Offices
Installed: 1977

Nebraska author John G. Neihardt watches over the Administrative Offices in the W. Dale Clark Library.

The portrait features a seated Neihardt gazing at the viewer with folded arms.
J. Laurie Wallace painted the portrait in 1922. Wallace has an excellent reputation as
an artist. His portraits are particularly known as being of the highest artistic quality as well as capturing the spirit of the subject.

John Laurie Wallace was born in Garvagh, Ireland, in 1864. He immigrated to the United States as a child of four. He later became a student of American painter Thomas Eakins. Wallace came to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1891. He enjoyed the area so much he didn't leave until 1927. He died in California in 1953 at 89 years of age. J. Laurie Wallace is buried in Omaha's Forest Lawn Cemetery. Wallace's influence as a painter, sculptor and teacher continue to reach art lovers everywhere.

(L. Sullivan, September 2005)