Walter P. Chrysler Jr.

Walter Percy Chrysler Jr.
Born	May 27, 1909 Oelwein, Iowa
Died	September 17, 1988 (aged 79) Norfolk, Virginia
Nationality	American
Occupation	Art collector and benefactor
Spouse(s)	Marguerite Sykes, Jean Esther Outland
Parent(s)	Walter Chrysler and Della Viola Forker

Walter Percy Chrysler Jr. (March 27, 1909 – September 17, 1988) was an American art collector, museum benefactor, and collector of other objects such as stamps, rare books, and glassworks. He was also a theatre and film producer.

Chrysler, whose father, Walter Chrysler, founded the Chrysler Corporation in 1925, was born in Oelwein, Iowa and grew up on the family estate at Kings Point on Long Island, New York.

He began collecting art as a fourteen-year-old student at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut. Using $350 that his father had given him as a birthday present, Chrysler purchased a small watercolor landscape that featured an inch-high nude, and he brought the painting to his room at school. His dorm master, believing that it was improper for a young gentleman to display a picture of a nude woman, confiscated the picture and destroyed it. The painting was by Renoir.

Chrysler went on to Dartmouth College, where he started an art magazine called Five Arts with a fellow student and future art collector, Nelson Rockefeller. Leaving Dartmouth after his junior year in 1931, Chrysler embarked on a grand tour of Europe and met Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, and other avant-garde artists in Paris. He bought works from each and soon amassed a large collection of modern art. He also bought works by significant American artists such as Charles Burchfield, John Marin, and Thomas Hart Benton.

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