1946 portrait of Marine Corps Chief Warrant Officer William Tade
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This listing is for an original 16x24 inch painting of China Marine Chief Warrant Officer William Tade, painted in 1946 in Teintsin, China by Mary Augusta Mullikin, a renowned early 20th Century artist featured at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in National Geographic Magazine and at major auction houses. She studied art in London and Paris in the late 1800's and studied in the US under James Whistler, famed for the painting known as Whistler's Mother.
Mary arrived in China in 1920 and specialized in landscapes of China. Her sister was married to Edward Lowry a member of a prominent family of Methodist missionairies in China from the 1860's through the 1930's (Lowry for a time served in a US diplomatic post in China). When the Japanese invaded China in World War II, she was held at a Japanese prison camp in Teintsin, China (her brother-in-law died while prisoner in the camp).
When the POW camp was liberated she stayed in China for a couple of years before leaving - as did many if not most non-Chinese nationals - when the Communists took over the whole country in 1947. During the 1945-47 period she painted portraits for US Marines stationed in Tientsin. I live near a large Marine Corps base, and this is the second Mullikin portrait I have found, but the latest one provided the clue to the identity of the artist, who signed both portraits simply MM.
But on the portrait of CWO Tade, there is writing on the canvas stretcher frame that looks like this:
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That writing says:
Hang Chow
Mary A Mullikin
She obviously re-used a canvas which is understandable considering that she had spent the war in a Japanese prison camp and probably needed money: painting portraits of Marines was one way to do that. She was about 72-years-old at the time. She did get an article published in National Geographic in 1945 (they'd published another by her in 1938 and I will include those two issues with the portrait). Between that 1945 article and the portraits, she apparently was able to raise the money needed to return to the United States in June 1947. She died in 1964 at age 90. I have posted many more details of her life here: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ - you can also see the other Mullikin portrait of a Marine I found previously.
As for the Marine in the portrait offered here: William J Tade was born 27 Apr 1912 in Decatur, Macon, IL, died 26 Dec 1975, joined the Marines in 1932 and before World War II served in Marine detachments aboard many Navy ships including the USS Arizona. He served in the 2nd Marine Division in World War II, and received a Purple Heart after being wounded in the Korean War. His Marine Corps dog tags will be included with the portrait:
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In civilian life he apparently became an accomplished wood carver and gave demonstrations at schools.
Mary Mullkin's portrait of CWO Tade carries definite influences from her China landscapes (and click here to see examples of why her portrait and landscapes carry some influence from Whistler):
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This really is a most interesting painting of a remarkable man by a remarkable woman.
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I will include the 1938 and 1945 National Geographics with articles co-authored by Mary A. Mullikin. This one is from March 1938:    |
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