This is one of two hand-painted watercolor textile designs I have in the shop by William Palmer, c. late 1920s, likely done when he was in school. This one--labeled "G" in what surely was a whole series--makes me think he had tired of the textile designing exercise by this point, and became rather more interested in making other sorts of paintings! Certainly a strong cubist influence, and I like to the think the window form is a nod to Duchamp!
Palmer (1906-1987) was born in Des Moines, studied at the Art Students League in NYC under Thomas Hart Benton among others, and studied fresco painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in France--later painting a series of WPA funded murals in the U.S. Said to have made a sketch a day at least, examples of his far-ranging work (drawings, paintings, prints, illustrations including for several children's books) are held in the collections of the Whitney Museum, Cranbrook Academy, the National Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum, the White House, among many others, and his archive is housed at Hamilton College.
Paper size is 8 1/8" x 9 5/8". Painting 5 1/2" x 4". Very good condition, with a small hole in the black paper at upper left, minor.