Approximately one hundred twenty paintings by Harper are listed in period records. The ones identified to date are included below. Many of these images were captured off of the internet or taken out of old books and articles and are therefore not of the best quality. If an owner has a better image, or if anyone has a painting not heretofore identified, I would very much like to receive an image of the same and update this paintings gallery. Privacy will be respected.
To those who have contacted me with your Harper paintings, thank you for contributing so much to the Harper body of material.
“The Trees, Early Afternoon, France”. Oil on canvas. 20″ x 26″. Possibly 1905. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York. Accession No. 2015.587. Acquired 2015. Reproduced in 1909 in the Los Angeles Herald with the name “Summer in France”. Trees with ruin. Oil on canvas. 16″ x 20″. Private collection, Houston, Texas.French landscape. Oil on canvas/board(?). 13.53″ x 11.13″. Flint Institute of Fine Arts. Painted about 1905 per catalogue of African American Art in Chicago, 1900-1950, September 17-October 13, 1999, Robert Henry Adams Fine Arts.“Landscape with Poplars (Afternoon at Montigny)”. Oil on canvas. Probably No. 101 in the Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, January 21-February 26, 1905. Howard University.
Reproduced (in reverse) in “William A. Harper” by Florence Lewis Bentley, January 1906, in Voice of the Negro as ” ‘Early Afternoon’, Montigny, France”.Untitled French landscape. Oil on canvas. 16″ x 20″. National Museum of African American History & Culture Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.Landscape or “August in France”. Oil on canvas. 36.125″ x 36.125″. 1906. Possibly No. 121 in Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, Art Institute of Chicago. February 2-February 28, 1909. Tuskegee University. Featured in a 1910 posthumous article by Maude I. G. Oliver in the Chicago Sunday Record Herald.“Half Leafless and Dry”. Oil on canvas. 20″ x 20″. 1906. National Gallery, Washington, D.C. The Evans-Tibbs Collection, Gift of Thurlow Evans Tibbs, Jr. Reproduced in the February 1907 catalogue of the Exhibition of the Works of Chicago Artists at the Art Institute of Chicago, No. 116.
Also reproduced in The World To-Day, “The Artist Out of Doors”, by James Spencer Dickerson, 1907, January 1 – June 1 as “In Sere and Yellow Leaf”.
“Dusk”. Oil on board. 24” X 30”. Krannert Art Museum of the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.
Exhibited in 1907 in the Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, January 29 – February 24, 1907.
French pasture with trees. Oil on thick cardstock. 12″ x 15 1/2″. 1907. Location unknown.Landscape (Brittany). Oil on board. 11″ x 15″. Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia. Acquired 2019.“Summer Landscape”. Oil on canvas. 13″ x 16″. Probably 1907 or 1908. Formerly Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois. Sold at Swann Galleries 2022. Current location unknown.Landscape. Oil on canvas; framed under glass. 12″ x 15″. Private collection. Central Illinois“Normandy Pines”. Oil on canvas. 29.5″ x 39.5″. The Eagle’s Nest Art Colony Collection, Oregon, Illinois. Oregon Public Library District. Possibly “The Fields”, No. 29 from 1910 memorial exhibition (has No. 29 handwritten on back). Oil. 7.5” x 11.5”. Note similarity to “Normandy Pines” above. Private collection. Springfield, Oregon.“Smiling Hillside”. Oil on canvas. 12″ x 16″. Location unknown.“Country Landscape – Provence, France.” Oil on canvas. DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, Illinois.Landscape. Oil on canvas. 16″ x 20″. Newberry Library (The Newberry – Chicago’s Independent Research Library Since 1887 ) , Chicago, Illinois. “Midday in August”, No. 19 in posthumous memorial exhibition in 1910. Reproduced as “Midday in August” in the Chicago Sunday Record Herald, August 7, 1910. Oil on panel. 8.57″ x 13.5″. Private Collection.“Road to a village”. Oil on Panel (back of cigar box). 4 5/8″ x 7″. Location unknown.“Farm with large trees”. Oil on board. 5 7/8″ x 7 7/8″. Location unknown.“Staircase”. Oil on board. 17″ x 21″. Possibly No. 34 in memorial Exhibition of Paintings by William A. Harper, Art Institute of Chicago. July 26-August 28, 1910. 1908. SCAD Museum of Art, The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art, Savannah, Georgia.
Exhibited in Tanner-Harper-Scott, A Mentor and his Influence, Evans-Tibbs Collection, January 18-March 30, 1985.
Possibly exhibited in the Exhibition of the Art of the American Negro (1851-1940), assembled by the American Negro Exposition, July 4 – September 2 1940 as “Stairway”.12 3/8″ x 15 1/4″. Signed lower right corner. Private collection.12 7/8″ x 15 5/8″. Signed lower left. Private collection. Location unknown.4 5/8″ x 7 1/2″. Signed lower left. Private collection. Luray, Virginia.4 5/8″ x 7 1/2″. Signed lower right. Private collection. “Allee of Trees in an Open Plain”, 19 1/2 x 23 1/2. Northwestern University – University Guild Collection. Evanston, Illinois.4 7/8 x 7 7/8. Private collection. Private collection.“Summer Breeze” or possibly “Valley in the Hills, Mexico” 16.25″ x 18″. Possibly No. 47 in memorial Exhibition of Paintings by William A. Harper, Art Institute of Chicago. July 26-August 28, 1910. Private collection. Houston, Texas. See Additional Artist Biographies from the book African-American Art by Lisa Farrington, https://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199995394/ch5/bio/“Three Mexican Women”. Oil. Possibly No. 14 in memorial Exhibition of Paintings by William A. Harper, Art Institute of Chicago. July 26-August 28, 1910. Location unknown. Possibly “The Terrace”, No 25 from 1910 memorial exhibition (has No. 25 handwritten on back). Oil on canvas. 4.5” x 7”. Note similarity to “The Patio” in black and white below. Private collection. Springfield, Oregon. “The Patio”. Probably No. 110 in Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, Art Institute of Chicago. January 4-January 30, 1910, and No. 31 in memorial Exhibition of Paintings by William A. Harper, Art Institute of Chicago, July 26-August 28, 1910. 15 1/5″ x 21 1/2 “. Circa 1908. In the collection of The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Foundation for The Arts, San Antonio, Texas.
Note similarity to “The Terrace” above. Oil on canvas. 12.5” x 14.5” Private collection. Springfield, Oregon. Oil on canvas. 10” x 14”. Private collection. Springfield, Oregon.Small oil taped to the back of “The Fields” above. Private collection. Springfield, Oregon. Oil on canvas. 12.5″ x 17.5″. Private collection. Springfield, Oregon. Oil on canvas. 11″ x 14″. Private collection. Mitchellville, MD. Oil on canvas. 15.5″ x 18.5″. Collection of Donnell and Dorothea Walker. Watercolor on paper. 7″ x 10 3/4″. Private collection. Houston, Texas. See discussion under Biography, Interim Years. Student work. Oil from life. Reproduced in “Brush and Pencil”, Vol. 7, No. 6 (March 1901), p. 369. Location unknown.“First Sign of Autumn”. Around 1901. Reproduced in “Brush and Pencil”, Vol. 9, No. 6 (March 1902) pp. 336-46. Probably No. 95 in Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, February 3- March 2, 1902. Location unknown.“Eventide, Cornwall, England”. Reproduced in “William A. Harper” by Florence Lewis Bentley, January 1906, in Voice of the Negro. Probably No., 103 in Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, January 21-February 26, 1905. Location unknown.“Banks of the Laing [or Loing], Montigny, France”. Reproduced in “William A. Harper” by Florence Lewis Bentley, January 1906, in Voice of the Negro. Probably No., 104 in Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, January 21-February 26, 1905. Location unknown.“Young Poplars and Willows”. Reproduced in “William A. Harper” by Florence Lewis Bentley, January 1906, in Voice of the Negro. Exhibited in Tenth Annual Exhibition of the Society of Western Artists, 1906. Location unknown.“Lowland Pastures”. About 1905. No. 108 in Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, Art Institute of Chicago. January 30-February 25, 1906 (reproduced therein). Location unknown.Landscape. Reproduced in “The Negro in Art Week”. November 16-23, 1927. In 1940, labeled “The Sunlit Wall: Brittany”, oil, 1905, in The Negro in Art, by Alain Locke. Owned by Walter J. Sherwood at that time.Landscape. Reproduced in “The Negro in Art Week”. November 16-23, 1927. In 1940, labeled “Provincial Landscape”, oil, 1908, in The Negro in Art, by Alain Locke. Owned by Charles H. Burkholder at that time.“Illinois Landscape”. Reproduced in Inter Ocean, November 8, 1908. Probably No. 121 in 21st Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture by American Artists. October 20-November 29, 1908. Location unknown.Landscape. Reproduced in American Negro Art, by Cedric Dover, 1960. Owned by Joseph A. Kersey at that time.
