Eralso Errol Walton
American (1871-1954)
Eralso Errol Walton, known largely by his initials, E.E. Walton, during his professional life, was born in Cross Plains, Tennessee, around 1871. Walton’s whereabouts from the 1880s into the early 1900s are very hard to trace, even with his unique name. It is assumed he went to an art college in either Tennessee, Alabama, or perhaps New York, where he would end up. Walton used his initials instead of his name in his work most likely to distance himself from a man named Eralso Walton, who was sought throughout the 1890s and caught around 1899 after bilking several people in fake land deals and other securities crimes. Starting at some point around 1910, possibly before, he became a lithographer and engraver in New York City, working for advertising firms and providing images for books and magazines. He was co-owner of the Advertising Art and Engraving Company, along with William J. Miller. By the early 1920s he was running the Walton Art Studio in New York City.
Walton is mostly known for the sheet music covers he created during World War I and shortly after, a time in which sending the right message with the right cover image was essential to keep up morale and, of course, sell music to commemorate the struggle of the brave boys overseas. Walton did very few caricatures into the early 1920s, focusing more on the fine art aspect. His last known sheet music covers were in the late 1920s.
