St. Croix Carnival Masqueraders

I love finding pretty paintings of the Virgin Islands, whether at an art show, auction or online.

The Artist, Walt Dehner

Walt Dehner was a North American artist whose paintings have been described as “having a soul“.

His use of “color, light, and movement” distinguished him among other artists.

As you can see, he enjoyed painting tropical and sea landscapes.

As an art educator at the University of Puerto Rico, he encouraged and supported local Puerto Rican artists.

He organized many exhibitions for them, which attracted worldwide attention during the years, 1929 to 1946.

Who is the True Artist?

The colorful watercolor depicting Carnival on St. Croix is currently offered for sale.

It is attributed to the New York artist, Dorothy Dehner with a price tag of $2,500.00, however, I don’t believe she is the actual artist.

A quick comparison of signatures below supports the position that this is one of Walt Denham’s creations.

Have a look below at the two signatures, especially the capital letter D. 🔎

What do you think?

While both artists did visit the Virgin Islands, to me, this is clearly the beautiful work of Art Professor, Walt Dehner.

*Artist background information courtesy of Flavia Marichal Lugo

UPDATE: The owner of the eBay listing has agreed with my assessment and reduced the price to $150.00!

Known signatures for Walt Dehner.

Signature on this painting.

Known signatures for Dorothy Dehner are below.