LaVerne Nelson Black
Born Wisconsin, 1887
Died, Illinois, 1938

Born in the Kickapoo Valley area of Wisconsin, LaVerne Nelson Black developed an early interest in art and in Indian subjects. As a child, he utilized natural pigments including red keel and vegetable juices in his first paintings.

In 1906, Black's parents sold their hotel and restaurant business and moved the family to Chicago. That same year, Black enrolled at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. The merits of his work at the Academy earned him a scholarship for his second year.

Following completion of his studies at the Academy in 1908, Black acquired a few commissions from art galleries, primarily for his bronzes, though he also worked as an easel painter. His bronzes were of a high enough quality to become the first to be displayed at Tiffany's since Remington's. He supplemented his income by working as an illustrator first in Minneapolis, where he met his wife, and later for the Chicago Herald. After a move to New York where he worked as a newspaper artist, Black continued to spend his summers in the West.

In the latter part of the 1920's, Black developed health problems that prompted a move to a more moderate climate and he and his family settled in Taos. While in New Mexico, Black's favored subjects included the Sangre de Christo Mountains, pueblo architecture, and Indians in colorful clothing. He avoided working from sketches and, whenever possible, painted his subjects from life.

The artist received several commissions from the Santa Fe Railway for paintings that were displayed in the firm's larger offices. However, The Great Depression proved difficult for him.

After only a few years, Black sought a dryer climate due to failing health and moved with his wife and two children to Phoenix in 1937. Later that year, Black, along with Oscar Berninghaus, secured a major commission from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to create murals in the Phoenix Post Office. LaVerne's portion of the murals depicted the progress in Arizona from the pioneers through the pony express days to the modern era.

Shortly after completing the post office murals, LaVerne became quite ill and sought treatment at Mayo clinic and soon died in a Chicago hospital. There has been much speculation as to the cause of death, and reports include a possible heart condition or poor ventilation in his studio, while the popular consensus is that he perished from a form of paint poisoning.

Exhibited: Art Institute of Chicago, 1925-1926; Memorial Exhibition, Arizona Society of Painters and Sculptors, Phoenix, 1938

Works Held: United States Post Office, Phoenix, Arizona; Valley National Bank; Treasury Department, Washington, D.C.

Further Reading: Harmsen's Western Americana: A Collection of One-Hundred Western Paintings with Biographical Profiles of the Artists, Dorothy Harmsen, Northland Press, Flagstaff, Arizona, 1971.; The Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West, Peggy and Harold Samuels, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1976.; Picturesque Images from Taos and Santa Fe, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, 1974.; Treasures on New Mexico Trails: Discover New Deal Art and Architecture: Kathryn A. Flynn ed., Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, NM: 1995.; The West and Walter Bimson: Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, and Sculpture, Walter Reed Bimson, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona: 1971.; Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Vol. 1. Peter Hastings Falk, Georgia Kuchen and Veronica Roessler, eds.,Sound View Press, Madison, Connecticut, 1999. 3 Vols.

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