J. J. Lankes (1884-1960)

The title references Walt Whitman's poem, “When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d,” in Leaves of Grass (originally self-published in 1865). Like the poem, it is an elegy to President Abraham Lincoln. Charles E. Burchfield was also inspired by the poem to paint Lilacs (1924-27). The building in Burchfield's painting looks the same as the one in Lankes' print.