William T. Williams
William T. Williams | |
|---|---|
| File:William t williams.jpg | |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | American |
| Height | 174 cm |
| Profession | Fine Artist |
| Website | Official website |
William T. Williams was born in Cross Creek, North Carolina. He received a BFA degree from Pratt Institute in 1966 and studied at The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. In 1968 he received an MFA degree from Yale University/School of Art and Architecture. He is presently Professor of Art atBrooklyn College, the City University of New York, whose faculty he joined in 1971.
Williams is a recipient of numerous awards including a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Awards, and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Award. He is also a recipient of The Studio Museum in Harlem's Artist Award in 1992 and received The James Van Dee Zee Award from the Brandywine Workshop for lifetime achievement in the arts in 2005.
Most recently, he was the recipient of the 2006North Carolina Governors Award for Fine Arts. The highest civilian honor the state can bestow. William's is represented in numerous museum and corporate collections including The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The North Carolina State Museum, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The Menil Foundation, Fogg Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Library of Congress, Yale University Art Gallery, Chase Manhattan Bank, American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, General Mills Corporation, United American Healthcare, Southern Western Bell Corporation and Prudential Insurance Company of America.
He has exhibited in over 100 museums and art centers in the United States, France, Germany, Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, People's Republic of China and Japan.
Early Childhood
Born 1942, into the rural south
William T. Williams is a New York painter whose heritable roots in the South have remained a wellspring for his art throughout his career. His early childhood, spent in Spring Lake, North Carolina, provided the atmosphere for the sensible will an artist so often needs in the formative years. The colorful memories of a peaceful and wholesome lifestyle in the rural South followed Williams north. David C. Driskell, "An Unending Visual Odyssey"
New York: Late 50’s
The family's move to the North had a positive effect on Williams' future when his art talent was recognized by the head of a local community center who gave him a room there to use as a studio. He attended the High School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan (now the High School of Art and Design), which held many of its classes at the Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 1962 Williams entered Pratt Institute to study painting. During his junior year there, he won a summer scholarship to the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and also received a National Endowment for the Arts, traveling grant. Before his brief stay was over, he had decided that he would become an artist.
Valerie J. Mercer, Behind Closed Doors
College Years
First Encounters: The Art World
After completing an M.F.A. degree program in painting at Yale University in 1968, Williams quickly gained attention from the mainstream art world. The Museum of Modern Art acquired his composition "Elbert Jackson L.A.M.F., Part II in 1969, and by 1970 his work was being exhibited at the Foundation Maeght in the south of France, in a room with paintings by some of the superstars of abstract expressionism: Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko, Clifford Still and Philip Guston.
Valerie J. Mercer
Art School
His formal education at Pratt Institute and Yale University in the 1960s in the visual arts curriculum prepared him well for the creative path his art would take in the next two decades. He moved consummately thereafter to investigate the physical boundaries one finds uncommon to explorations in the science of color, setting for himself the standard of achieving in his work an inherent completeness out of the reach of other painters.
David C. Driskell
The Late 60’s
The late late 60's was a very busy time for William. In 1969 he participated in The Black Artist in America: A Symposium held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY. He also took part in numerous groundbreaking exhibitions includingthe Studio Museum in Harlem's Inaugural Show, X to the Fourth Power and New Acquisitions held at The Museum of Modern Art. In 1970 Williams was also commissioned by The Jewish Museum in New York City, and The Menil Foundation in Houston, TX.
Founding The Artist in Residence at SMH
"The trustees of The Studio Museum read my proposal, interviewed me and hired me to start an Artist-in-Residence program. That program had its start at the first site of the Museum over the liquor store on Fifth Avenue (2033 Fifth Avenue). It was a loft, a factory going out of business that had a lot of sewing machines in it. Mel Edwards and I physically cleaned that space out for the Artist-in-Residence program. That was the beginning." I wanted to create a context, namely an Artist-in-Residence program, through which money could be funnelled to artists which would allow them to ponder the kinds of issues and questions that come up in a graduate program. Kinshasha Conwill, former director of the museum, says that the program "has become critical to the museum's identity and its contribution to the larger art arena."
Reese Palley Instalation
Wiliam T. Williams first one-man show at New York's Reese Palley Gallery in 1971 resulted in the sale of every painting. That same year, The Whitney Museum of American Art exhibited his work twice; collectors such as AT&T and General Mills purchased his art; and his work was featured in both Life Magazine and Time Magazines. Valerie J. Mercer
The 70's: New Inspiration
Returning Home
Williams returned home to the dusty unpaved roads of North Carolina for the inspiration of a new palette, one born of the luster and glow of mica, false gold, and fox fire from earth's pulsating cover. Williams' relief from color-field painting was celebrated in the new works completed between 1971-1977, such as Equinox and Indian Summer. In 1975 William also took part in an artist in residence program at Fisk University in Nashville, TN.
David C. Driskell
FESTAC Festival
In 1977, Williams participated in the second World Festival of Black Art and African Culture in Lagos, Nigeria, also known as FESTAC. This festival brought together more than 17,000 artists of African descent from 59 countries. It was the largest cultural event ever held on the African continent.
The 80’s
Early Exhibitions
In 1982 Williams was included in Recent Acquisitions of the Schomburg Collection at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York, NY. In 1984 William took part in a show titled Since the Harlem Renaissance, which traveled to The University of Maryland, Bucknell University andThe State University of New York at Westbury. It also traveled to the Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum in Utica, NY and The Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, VA.
1987: Exhibit at the Smithsonian
In 1987 William received theJohn Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. He also was a member of a show that took place in Tokyo, Japan entitled The Art of Black America in Japan. The international acclaim and fervor didn't stop there William also took part in Contemporary Visual Expressions, a show at The Anacostia Museum/Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
Espiritu & Materia
William's traveled to Venezuela with painter Jack Whitten and sculptor's, Mel Edwards and Tyrone Mitchelll for the opening of their exhibition Espiritu & Materia at the Museum of Visual Arts, Alejandro Otero.
The 90's
1992: Studio Museum in Harlem Artist Award
In 1992 William's was presentedThe Studio Museum in Harlem Artist's Award for lifetime achievement and his role in creating the artist-in-residence program for the museum.
Working With Bob Blackburn
Bob Blackburn first invited Williams to make a print at the Printmaking Workshop in 1975. Over the next 22 years, Williams collaborated with Blackburn to produce 19 editions, as well as, a number of unique print projects. Bob's friendship, expertise and advice was key to Williams development in the print medium. His last project at the Printmaking Workshop was in 1997 when he produced a number of monoprints underwritten by art patron, Major Thomas.
2000: To Conserve A Legacy
In 2000 Williams took part in an extensive traveling show entitled, To Conserve a Legacy: American Art from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The show organized by The Addison Gallery of American Art at the Philips Academy in Massachusetts and The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York traveled to over 8 major museums including, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, Fisk University, Duke University andHampton Universities Art museums.
Jazz at Lincoln Center
In 1994 Williams participated in a Jazz at Lincoln Center program titled, Swing Landscapes: Jazz Visualized. The intent of the Jazz Talk program was to explore what it is about jazz that makes its colors, rhythms and characters so attractive to the painter's eye. Williams, along with author,Alfred Appel, Jr. discussed the influence of jazz on modern art. This program was part of a NY citywide celebration honoring the artist Romare Bearden.
Current Events
Receives Award for Lifetime Achievment
In 2005, Williams was invited to create a print at the Brandywine Workshop in conjunction with receiving the James Van Der Zee Award for Lifetime Achievement. Between July and late August he made five trips to Philadelphia staying several days at a time. These trips were unusually productive yielding four editions and a number of unique hand-colored prints. Brandywine Workshop located in Phildalephia was founded in 1972 to promote interest and talent in printmaking while cultivating cultural diversity in the arts.
Printmaking at Lafyette College
In 2006, Williams was a visiting scholar and artist in residence at Lafayette College's, Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI), which included Williams lecture about his work sponsored by the David L. Sr. and Helen J. Temple Visiting Lecture Series Fund. During this year, William's work was also shown at The Studio Museum in Harlem in Energy and Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction 1964-1980.
2006: Recieves North Carolina Governors Award
In 2006 William T. Williams received The North Carolina Governors Award for Fine Arts by Governor Michael Easley. This is the highest civilian honor a state can bestow.
FAQS
One of the first African Americans to visit the Republic of China
The first African American in the Janson History of Art
The Director of the Skowhegigan School of Painting and Sculpture
Participated in the first exhibition of African American art to be exhibition in Japan
Created The Artists in Residence Program at The Studio Museum in Harlem
Has exhibited on four continents and over 100 museums worldwide
External links
Official Website of William T. Williams
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Selected Paintings
File:William t williams elbert jackson lamf.jpg
Elbert JacksonL.A.M.F.
1969
Acrylic on canvas
120" x 120"
Collection: The Museum of Modern Art, New York Gift of Mrs. Donald B. Straus, Mrs. John R. Jakobson, and Carter Burden
The Museum of Modern Art acquired Williams composition, Elbert Jackson L.A.M.F. Part II, in 1969, and by 1970 his work was being exhibited at the Foundation Maeght in the south of France, in a room with paintings by some of the superstars of abstract expressionism: Willem DeKooning, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still and Phillip Guston.
Valerie Mercer, Behind Closed Doors
American Visions Magazine, April 1991
File:William t williams batman.jpg
Batman
1979
Acrylic on canvas
84" x 60"
Collection of the artist
One indication of the new respect for William’s work is his inclusion as one of the few contemporary artists in the third, updated 1986 edition of the legendary art survey volume, The History of Art, by H.W. Janson. This was indeed a giant step to be taken from an historical destiny that consistently denied the viability of a black American contribution to the visual arts.
Lowery S. Sims,
Associate Curator, 20th Century Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York January 1988
File:William t williams skowhegan.jpg
Skowhegan I
1973
Acrylic on canvas
84" x 60"
Collection: The Wadsworth Atheneum, CT Gift of Ella Gallup Summer and Mary Catlin Summer
Skowhegan I was exhibited in 1974 at the Wadsworth Atheneum in the show Extensions: Gilliam, Edwards, Williams and at the Kennedy Galleries in Artists Salute Skowhegan in 1978. The title of the painting refers to a summer Williams spent teaching at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
Awards and Grants
North Carolina Award for Fine Arts, NC 2006
James Van Der Zee Award, Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, PA 2005
Golden Key National Honor Society, Honorary Member 1998
Joan Mitchell Foundation, Grant Award 1996
Mid-Atlantic/NEA Regional Fellowship 1994
The Studio Museum in Harlem Artist's Award 1992
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship 1987
City University of New York, Faculty Research Award, Painting 1987, 1984, 1973
Creative Arts Public Service Grant, Painting, New York 1985, 1981
National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Artist Awa rd, Painting 1970
Yale University, Grant for Graduate Study, New Haven, CT 1966
National Endowment for the Arts, Traveling Grant 1965
References and Further reading
Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction 1964-1990
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. 2006 Kellie Jones and Lowery Stokes Sims
ISBN 0-942949-31-5
Energy and Abstraction at the Studio Museum in Harlem
The New York Times, New York Friday, April 7, 2006 Holland Cotter
William T. Williams
Homes of Color, January/February 2006 Volume 5 Issue 1 Penny Shaw
The Chemistry of Color
The Harold A. and Ann R. Sorgenti Collection of Contemporary African- American Art{
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
ISBN 0-943836-26-3
Artist and Influence
Hatch Billops Collection, Inc. New York, NY Volume XXIV 2005
Library of Congress: 00-105-283 ISBN: 0-9702620-1-9
Images of America: African American Voices
Selections from the Collection of Mr. And Mrs. Darrell Walker
Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville, AK
Library of Congress ISBN 0-9744314-0-0
Convergence
James E. Lewis Museum of Art
Morgan State University, Newark, DE;
Library of Congress ISBN 0-9610324-3-x
The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller
Empire State Plaza Art Collection and Plaza Memorials
Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., New York, NY 2002
Successions: Prints by African American Artists from
the Jean and Robert Steele Collection
The Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 2002
Library of Congress 2002101248 ISBN 0-937123-42-0
The Other Side of Color: African American Art
in the Collection of Camille O. and William H. Cosby
Pomegranate Communications, Inc., San Francisco, CA 2001
To Conserve a Legacy: American Art from Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts and
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. 1999 Richard Powell and Jock Reynolds
Art & Antiques, March 1999 Lynne Konstantin
Narratives of African American Art and Identity: The David C. Driskell Collection
Pomegranate Communications, Inc., San Francisco, CA 1998
ISBN 0-7649-0722-0
Collecting African American Art
Crown Publishers, Inc, New York 1998 Halima Taha
ISBN 0-517-70593-1
North Carolina Museum of the Arts: Handbook of the Collections
Hudson Hills Press, Inc; New York, NY 1998
ISBN 0-088259-978-X
African American Art
Oxford History of Art; Oxford/New York 1998 Sharon F. Patton
Seeing Jazz: Artists and Writers on Jazz
Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition/Chronicle Books
Washington, DC 1997
Revisiting American Art: Works from the Collections of Historically
Black Colleges and Universities
Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
ISBN 9-915-171-45-7 1997
American Images: The SBC Collection of Twentieth-Century American Art
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, NY, 1996 ISBN 0-8109-1969-9
Twentieth Century African American Art from the
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Walker
University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AK 1996
African American Visual Aesthetics - A Post Modernist View
Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC Edited by David C. Driskell
ISBN 1-56098-605-0 1995
African-American Printmaking - 1838 to the Present
The Rockland Center of the Arts, West Nyack, NY 1995
25 Years of African-American Art: The Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY 1994
Spirit and Chance
Metro Times, Detroit, MI July 6-12, 1994, Hobey Echlin
Master Colorist
Detroit Free Press, Detroit, MI Sunday, July 3, 1994, Marsha Miro
Improving with Age
The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC Sunday, July 18, 1993 Chuck Twardy
Getting Personal and Cultural in the Abstract
The New York Times, New York Friday, August 28, 1992 Holland Cutter
Works on Paper/William T. Willilams
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY 1992 ISBN 0-942949-07-2
Fourteen Paintings/William T. Williams
The Montclair Museum of Art, Montclair, NJ 1991 ISBN 0-935489-42-1
Adding Emotion to Abstract Paintings
The New York Times, New York Sunday, November 7, 1991 William Zimmer
Behind Closed Doors
American Visions Magazine, April 1991, Vol 6 No 2
Espiritu & Materia
Museo de Artes Visuales Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela 1991
The Search for Freedom-African-American Abstract Painting 1945-1975
Kenkeleba House, Inc. New York, NY 1991
African American Works on Paper
The Cochran Collection, Atlanta, GA 1991
The Mirror the Other: The Politics of Esthetics
Art Forum, March 1990, XXVIII, No. 7, Lowery Stokes Sims
Dedication Exhibition
James E. Lewis Museum of Art, Baltimore MD 1990
The Smokehouse Painters, 1968-1970
Black American Literature Forum, Fall 1990 Vol 24 No 3 Michael Oren
A Force of Repetition
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ 1990 Allison Weld
A 'Painterly' Show in Jersey City
The New York Times, New York, October 30, 1988 William Zimmer
Vivian Browne/William T. Williams
Jamaica Arts Center, Jamaica, NY, 1988 Lowery Stokes Sims
The Empire State Collection: Art for the Public
Harry Abrams, Inc., New York 1987 ISBN 0-8109-0884-0
Contemporary Visual Expressions
Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC 1987 David C. Driskell
The History of Art
H.W. Janson, Third Edition, Harry Abrams, Inc. 1987 ISBN 0-13-389388X
Since the Harlem Renaissance-50 Years of Afro-American Art
Center Gallery of Bucknell University, Lewisberg, PA 1985
Library of Congress 85-71056 ISBN 00916279-02-2
William T. Williams
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC 1985
Library of Congress 85-061403
Art in the World
Holt, Reinhart and Winston 1984 ISBN 0-03-061976-9 Stella Pandell Russell
East-West Contemporary Art
California Afro-American Museum, CA Library of Congress 83-60208
The Permanent Collection of the Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY 1982 Library of Congress 83-60208
Sam Gilliam, Al Loving, William T. Williams
Dialogue-An Art Journal, January/February 1995
American Paintings at Yale University
Yale University Art Gallery New Haven 1982
American Art Since 1945
Oxford University Press 1982 Dore Ashton
From Explosion to Implosion: The Ten Year Transition of William T. Williams
Art Magazine, February 1981 April Kingsley
A Serene Indifference
Village Voice January 21, 1981 Judith Wilson
Mideast Pipeline
SoHo Weekly News January 14, 1981 John Perreault
Positively Black
SoHo Weekly News February 27, 1980 John Perreault
William T. Williams
University of Wisconsin Publication 1980 Dr. David C. Driskell
Singular Work, Double Blind, Triple Threat
Village Voice March 3, 1980 Carrie Rickey
William T. Williams
Miami-Dade Community College Publication November 1977 Dore Ashton
Contextures
Goode-Bryant and Philips Library of Congress 78-51925
Artists Salute Skowhegan
Kennedy Galleries, NY Library of Congress 77-89091
A Selection of American Art-The Skowhegan School 1946-1976
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA Library of Congress 76-12154
Amistad II: Afro-American Art
Fisk University, Nashville, TN David C. Driskell Library of Congress 75-7466
The Afro-American Artist-A Search for Identity
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc. Elsa Honig Fine
Library of Congress 73-1235 ISBN 0-03-010746-6
Extensions
Wadsworth Atheneum 1974 Jacquelyn Day Sewer Library of Congress 73-04026
Conversation with Three Artists
Black Orpheus Vol 3 Nos 2&3 1975 Jane Cortez
Whitney Museum of American Art: Catalogue of the Colle
Whitney Museum of American Art New York 1974 John Baur
Problems of Criticism
Arts Magazine Vol 46 No 7 Frank Bowling
Visiting Artists
New York State Council on the Arts, New York, NY 1972 Irving Sandler
Painting and Sculpture Today
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN 1972
Drawings by New York Artists
Utah Museum of Fine Arts 1972 Dore Ashton
Deluxe Show
Menil Foundation, Rice University, Houston, TX 1972
Canvasses Brimming with Color
Life Magazine September 1971 Vol 71 No
The Structure of Color
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY April 1971
William T. Williams, Artist
Bay Street Banner, Boston, MA August 20, 1970
Two Black Artists
Arts Magazine April 1970 Walter Jones
Young Abstract Painters; Right On!
Arts Magazine February 1970 Dore Ashton
Using Walls
Jewish Museum Publication 1970
Discussion on Black Art-II
Arts Magazine 1970 Vol 3 Frank Bowling
In the Museums
Arts Magazine December 1969-1970 Janet Bloom
Critic's Choice 1969-70
New York State Council on the Arts Publication Irving Sandler
The Black Artist; The Black Art Community; The White Art World
New York Times, New York, NY June 29, 1970 James R. Mellow
X to the 4th Power
Arts Magazine September 1969
A Triumph Rather Than a Threat
New York Times, New York, NY August 17, 1969 Peter Schjeldahl
The Black Artist in America: A Symposium
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, January 1969 Vol XXVII No 5
American Contemporary Art
American Embassy, Russia, Museum of Modern Art, NY 1969 Margaret Potter