Featured Help to ID Artist's MONOGRAM Signature... WHM? WMH??

Greetings!
Once again I bring you a mystery. This case involves an old oil on canvas painting. The subject is a rural landscape with a plantation style home showing between the trees.
The only "signature" appears to be a 3-letter monogram: W(?) over H over M.
I've done Google image searches, and perused some art and signature sites, with little success. The closest candidate I've found was William Michael Harnett - but in the examples I've seen, he writes out the last name, HARNETT, with a more prominent H. Subject matter is also wrong, as all I see are Still Life paintings.
I'm hoping someone here might recognize this monogram - or just be a better researcher than I am!
The first image I offer shows the mark with exaggerated contrast, followed by more natural images of the artwork. (Please excuse the poor photos - these were taken with my phone outside, I don't currently have the artwork with me.)

 

I'm beginning to feel like a parrot! So here goes... Is that a label on the back of the frame? If so, what does it say? Can you/would you post a close-up?

Debora

 

It looks competently done. Definitely not the 19th C American artist William Harnett. My guess is the last name will start with “M”.

There now. Doesn’t that help?

 

Reminds me of those rebus-like ranch name signs. If it made any sense, I'd propose Ys bar M, Wise bar 'em.

 

It is part of a Philadelphia framer's label, name torn...

 

Lovely painting.

With a Philly frame shop, you might want to try searching for a Pennsylvania artist with different combinations of those letters.

 

With a Philadelphia label, you're going to want to start with the New Hope School.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Impressionism

Debora

 

(Sniped.)

Debora

 

I was thinking New Hope, too.

 

First, I'm guessing this painting was painted in the 1920s-30s and if that's far off, everything else I say should be ignored.

Second, I know full well that the following info is likely to be as much help as if I said nothing, but I'm forging ahead anyway.

In the 1930s census, there's a William H. McAllister living in Philadelphia and working as an artist ("on his own account").

 

William Howard McAllister. Who went by "W Howard" or just "Howard"...

In 1920, the Thouron Prize (awarded by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) "for the work showing the most poetic, abstract or idealistic point of view, decided by the instructor of the class, to Howard McAllister."

 

That fits with his monogram. A very good lead.

Debora

 

These could be interesting pieces for someone to find...

 

Here's reference to another mural (not the primary subject of the article and no picture): https://learnmichener.org/uncategorized/wooded-watershed-daniel-garber/

 

@Jivvy is on it! But I'll post this, anyway - I was hoping to find some images




Penn’s Woods – by Howard McAllister and Arthur Meltzer. At a width of ninety feet, Penn’s Woods covered the entire end of the north wing...

 

May be time to contact his local library and speak with a research librarian. Think it would be this branch.

https://www.chesterspringslibrary.org/contact

Debora

 

Good catch! There is definitely something there. To me it looks like '33 but I could be wrong.

 

Looks like it might be '33 to me too and that would be about right for work.

Debora

 

I totally missed this. It looks like '23 to me.... but I'm also totally making up the first digit because I can't really see anything there.