William Aiken Walker, American 1838-1921- The Cotton Pickers' Cabin; oil on board, signed 'WA Walker' (lower left), 23.8 x 31.3 cm. (unframed). Note: Walker established an artistic career as a painter of scenes from the American South throughout the late 19th century. During the 1880s, he regularly made trips along the Mississippi River recording and documenting the lives of African American families going about their everyday routines and created many small scale compositions similar to the present work that would go on to be sold to tourists as souvenirs of the Old South. These paintings became increasingly popular during the period and documented the changing socio-economic structure of the South through the late 19th century. His works are held in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Yale University Art Gallery, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, High Museum of Art, Parrish Art Museum, Morris Museum of Art, and Historic New Orleans Collection. His work is still highly regarded and circulated across the world and this painting displays a balanced and well executed composition typical of his small scale paintings. Based on examination of images of this painting, John Fowler will be including this work in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné.