Oil on artist board, signed at lower left, presented in a very fine gilt composition frame.

Board 20 x 30 in.; Frame dimensions 30 x 40 in.

Knoke Fine Arts, Atlanta, Georgia

William Posey Silva was born in Savannah, Georgia. He studied engineering at the University of Virginia, but ran the family china business after the death of his father. He and his wife lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee which is where he began his formal art studies while working full time.

In 1907, at the encouragement of his wife, he retired and moved to Paris to study at the Académie Julian. He found success quite quickly, exhibiting at the Salon d’Automne and a solo show at the Georges Petit Gallery. Silva returned to Tennessee in 1909 and a year later was awarded the silver medal at the Appalachian Exposition in Knoxville.

Silva and his family moved to California in 1913, settling in the artists’ colony of Carmel. Silva remained involved in the Southern States Art League in New Orleans. He traveled and painted throughout the southeast, to Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, and South Carolina. His work was included in exhibitions at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition, the Carmel Art Association, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Telfair Academy in Savannah, Georgia, the Salmagundi Club in New York, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

Very minimal spot touchup to sky in upper right quadrant visible under UV light; overall in good estate condition.