Photograph of Walter Willard "Spud" Johnson seated in front of a window and a table with a checkered tablecloth. Three horse figurines are placed on an upper window ledge above Johnson's head.
Walter Willard "Spud" Johnson was a poet and author of literary criticism, editorial comments and other prose who lived in New Mexico from 1922 to his death in 1968 and who was a major part of the new Mexico literary scene. He was also the publisher of Laughing Horse literary magazine, printed on a small hand press, which he started with others while a student at UC Berkeley and continued in New Mexico. In 1953 he took up painting and drawing as well.
