# William Walker Alexander
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{{Short description|Canadian artist (1870–1948)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date= December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = William Walker Alexander
| image =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1870|08|09}}
| birth_place = [Toronto](/source/Toronto), Ontario
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1948|04|03|1870|08|09|mf=y}}
| death_place = [Toronto](/source/Toronto), Canada
| nationality =
| spouse = Mabel Inness
| education = {{UBL| Central School of Design [Ontario College of Art](/source/Ontario_College_of_Art), Toronto | Studio of [G. A. Reid](/source/George_Agnew_Reid) | [Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts](/source/Pennsylvania_Academy_of_Fine_Arts) with [Thomas Eakins](/source/Thomas_Eakins) (1880s) }}
| awards =
| known_for = printmaker and bookplate maker
}}
'''William Walker Alexander''' (9 August 1870 – 3 April 1948),[{{cite web |title=Artists |url=https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/aac-aic/artiste_detailler_bas-artist_detail_bas.app?rID=167&pID=10&lang=en&qlang=fr&fID=2&ps=50&sort=AM_ASC |website=app.pch.gc.ca | date=17 October 2012 |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=3 December 2024}}] who signed his work '''W. W. Alexander''',[Obituary, Canadian Artist Won Wide Fame with Engravings, Toronto Globe & Mail, April 6, 1946. Artist's file, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.]{{sfn|Tovell|1996|p=77}}
His specialty was etchings, engravings and bookplates. He designed and engraved over 40 bookplates, each distinguished by an artistic suggestion on his part about the character of the owner of the books, and 30 etchings and aquatints by 1939.[Arts & Letters Club Monthly Letter, May 1948. Artist’s file, E.P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto] He also engraved Memorial tablets in brass and cast iron for churches and public buildings.[Biographical Data for the Art Museum of Toronto filled out by the artist, 1912. Artist’s file, E.P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.] His watercolours often resulted from trips with the Toronto Canoe Club. In 1904 with [Robert Holmes](/source/Robert_Holmes_(artist)), he sketched in [Algonquin Park](/source/Algonquin_Park) in a canoe, being among the first of the Toronto artists to discover and sketch in the Park.[W. W. Alexander". A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada]
He exhibited his work at the [Ontario Society of Artists](/source/Ontario_Society_of_Artists) in Toronto[{{cite book |last1=Bradfield |first1=Helen |title=Art Gallery of Ontario. The Canadian Collection |date=1970 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=Toronto |page=83 |isbn=0070925046|url=https://ago.ent.sirsidynix.net/client/en_GB/agolibrary/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:58614/ada?qu=Art+Gallery+of+Ontario.+The+Canadian+Collection&d=ent%3A%2F%2FSD_ILS%2F0%2FSD_ILS%3A58614%7EILS%7E0&te=ILS&lm=EXCLUDERARE|access-date=3 December 2024}}] at the [Art Association of Montreal](/source/Art_Association_of_Montreal)[{{cite book |last1=McMann |first1=Evelyn |title=Royal Canadian Academy of Arts |date=1981 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|location=Toronto|url= http://library.gallery.ca/search~S1?/aMcMann/amcmann/1%2C2%2C11%2CB/frameset&FF=amcmann+evelyn+de+r+evelyn+de+rostaing+1913+1999&8%2C%2C10|access-date=2024-12-03}}] His aquatint ''Bridge at Twilight'' (Art Gallery of Ontario) was shown at the 1924 [British Empire Exhibition](/source/British_Empire_Exhibition).[{{cite book |title=Canadian section of fine arts : catalogue / British Empire Exhibition, London, 1924, nos. 1|date=1924 |location=Ottawa |url=https://library.gallery.ca/search~S1?/tbritish+empire+exhibition+1924/tbritish+empire+exhibition+++++1924/-3%2C0%2C0%2CB/frameset&FF=tbritish+empire+exhibition+london+++++1924&1%2C1%2C/indexsort=- |access-date=26 November 2024}}]
He was one of the founders of the [Toronto Art Students' League](/source/Toronto_Art_Students'_League) in 1886 and assisted in the lithographing of the Toronto Art League Calendars.[{{cite journal |last1=Jefferys |first1=C.W. |title= "Reminiscences of Old Litho. Life". (unpublished holograph ms. relating to period 1885–1890). From the From "The Old Litho Life" to "Never a Day without a Line" / De l'atelier de lithographie traditionnel à celui où il ne se passe " pas un jour sans un trait " by Robert Stacey |journal=National Gallery of Canada Journal |date=2017 |volume=8 |issue=June |pages=99–134 |doi=10.3138/ngcr.8.005 |url=https://doi.org/10.3138/ngcr.8.005 |access-date=3 December 2024|url-access=subscription }}] He also helped found the Society of Graphic Art (1906) and served as its President (1908–1909). He was a member of the Mahlstick Club, founded in 1899, and the [Arts and Letters Club](/source/Arts_and_Letters_Club) (1908).[Pearl McCarthy, Toronto Globe and Mail, Aug. 12, 1944, Artist’s file, E.P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.][Sidney H. Howard, William W. Alexander, A Canadian Engraver, American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers, 17, 1939, pp.15-22, Artist’s file, E.P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.]
His engravings are in the collections of the [National Gallery of Canada](/source/National_Gallery_of_Canada) in Ottawa,[{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/search-the-collection?search_api_views_fulltext=W.+W.+Alexander&sort_by=search_api_relevance |website=www.gallery.ca |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |access-date=3 December 2024}}] the [Art Gallery of Ontario](/source/Art_Gallery_of_Ontario) and the [Royal Ontario Museum](/source/Royal_Ontario_Museum),[{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://collections.burnabyartgallery.ca/gallery?q=&p=1&ps=20&sort=title_sort%20asc&src_facet=Permanent%20Art%20Collection |website=collections.burnabyartgallery.ca |publisher=Burnaby Art Gallery |access-date=3 December 2024}}] and the [American Antiquarian Society](/source/American_Antiquarian_Society) of Worcester, Massachusetts.[{{cite web |title=Collection of bookplates |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/bookplate-name-list |website=www.americanantiquarian.org |publisher=AAS, Worcester, Mass. |access-date=7 December 2024}}] His bookplates are also in the Thomas Murray Bookplates Collection at the [University of British Columbia](/source/University_of_British_Columbia) Library.[{{cite web |title=Collection| publisher= University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections. Thomas Murray Bookplates Collection. Howard Binder. BP MUR CAN P A4499c |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/search?q=william%20walker%20alexanderxander |website=open.library.ubc.ca | access-date=4 December 2024}}]
== Awards ==
*Bronze medal, British and Colonial Exhibition (1907) for design, London England;