Walter Blackman was born in New York in 1847 and died December 13, l928 in Chicago, Illinois. He received his formal training under the hand of Jean-Leon Gerome. Walter Blackman was drawn to Paris's three ateliers that were established at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1863, under the direction, respectively, of Gerome Cabanel and Isidore Pils (1813-1875).