Biography:

Charles E. Waltensperger, an artist whose career began at a very young age, was often spotted sketching the passengers of the elevator he operated while working at the Detroit Free Press. Publisher of the Free Press, William E. Quinby, was so impressed with his artistic talent that he decided to pay for Charles’ tuition at the school of the Detroit Museum of Art and later hired him as an illustrator for the paper. Waltensperger entered various competitions at the Detroit Museum of Art School and at the age of fourteen he won the James E. Scripps Scholarship. With his winnings, he decided to spend two years in Paris studying at the Julien Academy with Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant. He then returned to Detroit to work as an illustrator and commercial artist. Over the next decade he returned to Europe many times and eventually settled in Laren, Holland. He continued to maintain life in both Laren and Detroit, traveling back and forth for a year or two at a time throughout the remainder of his life.