Title: The Maze at Ithaca
Artist: Richard Guy Walton
Date: 1965
Medium: Oil and enamel on masonite
Credit Line: Collection of the John and Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art, Gift from the Walton Trust

Item description: This triptych dates from what Walton’s widow Vivian calls his “Greek black pottery period,” which fell during the years of his annual three-week trips to Hollywood. There he would make enough money to live on frugally for a year, selling paintings at dinner parties in the homes of some of Hollywood’s elite, including several Academy Award winners. His main patron was a friend met in Reno, film composer Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane; Taxi Driver). Walton also did some film production work for producer Laurence Mascott, in whose home he created a “room to room” mural, "The Iliad and the Odyssey."