John Laurie Wallace (1863 – 30 June 1953) was an Irish-born American painter.

G-206. Portrait of J. Laurie Wallace (circa 1883) by Thomas Eakins, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska.
J. Laurie Wallace Studio Commemorative Plaque, 5804 Leavenworth Street, Omaha, Nebraska.

Wallace was born in Garvagh, County Londonderry, Ireland in 1863. His family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old. He studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.[1] He posed for several of Eakins's paintings, including The Crucifixion (1880), Arcadia (1883) and The Swimming Hole (1884–85), and for dozens of photographs. In 1881, he became Eakins's assistant.[citation needed]

In 1891, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska to take the position of Director of the Western Art Association. That organization soon failed, but Wallace remained in Omaha, becoming a commissioned portrait painter and professor.[2]

One of the portraits Wallace is known to have completed was of George W. Lininger, the owner of an extensive art collection and a private art gallery in Omaha that he routinely opened to the public at no charge.[3] The portrait of Lininger hung in Lininger's art gallery until it was closed and the contents sold in the late 1920s.[citation needed]

Wallace died in Omaha, Nebraska on 30 June 1953, aged 89. He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha.[2]

In Eakins works

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References

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  1. ^ "Omaha Portraitis Sat for Thousand Paintings". The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, NE. 30 August 1953.
  2. ^ a b "Noted Artist Wallace Dies". The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, NE. 30 June 1953. Followed His Teaching Almost to End
  3. ^ "Lininger Gallery a Dream Come True". The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, NE. 4 March 1927. p. 8. George W. Lininger, Whose Widow Died Thursday, Had Ambition to Stimulate Art in West - Gallery Opened in 1888
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