William T. Williams facts for kids

William T. Williams (born in 1942) is an American painter and teacher. He is known as one of the most important abstract painters of the last century. His art has been shown in over 100 exhibitions around the world. These include shows in the United States, France, Germany, Japan, and China.

Williams was the first Black painter to be included in a famous art history book called History of Art by H. W. Janson. He is also a key artist in the movement known as Black Abstractionism. From 1971 to 2008, Williams taught art at Brooklyn College in New York City. He has received many important awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2024, he won the Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award. Williams currently lives in both New York City and Connecticut.

Early Life and Learning

William Thomas Williams was born on July 17, 1942. His birthplace was Cross Creek, North Carolina, in the United States. His parents were William Thomas Williams, Sr. and Hazel Williams. Williams is African American. When he was four years old, his family moved to Queens, New York. He spent his summer vacations in Spring Lake, North Carolina.

After his family moved north, a local community center noticed his art talent. They gave him a room to use as his own art studio. In 1956, he went to the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan. This school is now called the High School of Art and Design. Many of its art classes were held at famous museums. These included the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

After high school, Williams went to New York Community College City Tech. He earned an associate’s degree there in 1962.

Williams then continued his education at Pratt Institute. He studied painting with well-known artists like Richard Lindner and Alex Katz. During his third year, he won a summer scholarship to The Skowhegan School of Art. He also received a travel grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. While in school, he explored a style of painting called color field painting. This style uses large areas of solid color. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree from Pratt Institute in 1966.

After Pratt, Williams attended Yale School of Art. He received his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in 1968. While at Yale, Williams had an idea for a special art program. It would connect an urban community with an art museum. This idea helped create The Studio Museum in Harlem's artist-in-residence program. This program is one of the museum's most famous. It brings artists from all over the world to live and work at the museum.

Art in the 1960s and 1970s

William T. Williams's painting, Trane, 1969.

From 1968 to 1970, Williams helped start the Smokehouse Associates. This was a group of artists who painted murals in Harlem. They painted in both traditional and unusual places.

Williams quickly became noticed by the art world. The Museum of Modern Art bought his painting "Elbert Jackson L.A.M.F., Part II" in 1969. By 1970, his art was shown in France at the Fondation Maeght.

In 1969, he took part in an important discussion called The Black Artist in America: A Symposium. This event was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also showed his work in many exhibitions. These included the Studio Museum in Harlem's first show and new art shows at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1970, the Jewish Museum (New York) and the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, asked him to create art for them.

Williams had his first solo art show in New York in 1971. Every painting in the show was sold! In the same year, the Whitney Museum of American Art showed his work twice. Big companies like AT&T bought his art. His work was also featured in famous magazines like Life and Time.

Williams went back to North Carolina for new ideas. He found inspiration in the shiny, glowing colors of the earth there. He used these colors in his new works from 1971 to 1977. Examples include "Equinox" and "Indian Summer". In 1975, Williams also joined an artist-in-residence program at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1977, Williams took part in the second World Festival of Black Arts and African Culture. This huge festival was held in Lagos, Nigeria. It brought together over 17,000 artists of African descent from 59 countries. It was the largest cultural event ever held in Africa.

Starting in 1979, Williams changed his painting style. He began dividing his canvases into two clear sections.

The 1980s

Williams's painting, Equinox, 1987.

In 1982, Williams's art was added to the Schomburg Collection in New York. In 1984, Williams was part of a show called Since the Harlem Renaissance. This show traveled to many universities and museums across the United States.

From 1984 to 1985, Williams was a visiting art professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 1985, he had a solo exhibition at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in North Carolina.

In 1986, Williams became the first Black modern artist to be included in a standard art history textbook. This book was H.W. Janson’s The History of Art. Henry Ossawa Tanner was also in the book.

In 1987, William received the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. He also showed his art in Tokyo, Japan, in a show called The Art of Black America in Japan. Williams also took part in Contemporary Visual Expressions. This show was at the Anacostia Museum and Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Williams traveled to Venezuela with other artists. They went for the opening of their exhibition called Espiritu & Materia. This show was at the Museum of Visual Arts, Alejandro Otero.

The 1990s

In 1992, Williams received the Studio Museum in Harlem Artist's Award. This award recognized his lifetime achievements. It also honored his role in creating the museum's artist-in-residence program.

Artist Robert Blackburn first asked Williams to make a print in 1975. Over the next 22 years, Williams worked with Blackburn. They created 19 different print editions and many unique print projects. His last project at the Printmaking Workshop was in 1997.

In 1994, Williams took part in a Jazz at Lincoln Center program. It was called "Swing Landscapes: Jazz Visualized". This program explored how jazz music inspires painters. Williams and author Alfred Appel, Jr. talked about how jazz influenced modern art. This program was part of a city-wide celebration for the artist Romare Bearden.

The 2000s

In 2000, Williams participated in a large traveling exhibition. It was called To Conserve a Legacy: American Art from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The show visited eight major museums. These included the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.

In 2005, Williams was asked to create a print at the Brandywine Workshop. This was when he received the James Van Der Zee Award for Lifetime Achievement. He made several trips to Philadelphia for this project. These trips resulted in four print editions and many unique hand-colored prints. The Brandywine Workshop helps promote printmaking and cultural diversity in art.

In 2006, Williams was a visiting scholar and artist at Lafayette College. He gave a lecture about his work there. In the same year, Williams's art was shown at the Studio Museum in Harlem. This exhibition was called Energy and Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction 1964–1980.

In 2006, Governor Mike Easley gave William T. Williams the North Carolina Governors Award for Fine Arts.

In 2007, Williams was part of a group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The show was titled What Is Painting? Contemporary Art from the Collection.

The 2010s and 2020s

In 2016, Williams's work was featured in the first exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. This show was called Visual Art and The American Experience.

In 2017, his art was included in a very important exhibition. It was called Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. This show started at the Tate Modern in London. It then traveled to six major museums across the United States until 2020.

In 2024, Williams was part of a group exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This show was called "Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now". It was on display until February 2025.

Collections

Williams's art is part of more than thirty museum collections. These include:

• The Museum of Modern Art
• The Whitney Museum of American Art
• The National Gallery of Art
• The North Carolina Museum of Art
• The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
• The Menil Collection
• The Fogg Art Museum (part of Harvard Art Museums)
• The Studio Museum in Harlem
• The Library of Congress
• The Yale University Art Gallery
• The Brooklyn Museum
• The Jewish Museum
• The National Museum of African American History and Culture
• The Colby College Museum of Art
• The David C. Driskell Center
• Fisk University
• The Nasher Museum of Art
• The Philadelphia Museum of Art
• The Saint Louis Art Museum
• The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Awards and Honors

• Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award, New York Foundation for the Arts, 2024
• Oral History Project with LeRonn Brooks and Shanna Farrell, 2022
• Lifetime Achievement Award, James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art, Howard University, 2019
• Pratt Institute Legends Award, 2018
• Oral History with Mona Hadler, BOMB magazine, 2018
• Inducted into the National Academician, National Academy Museum & School, 2017
• Skowhegan Governors Award for Outstanding Service to Artists, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, 2017
• Alain Locke International Award, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2011
• North Carolina Governor's Award for Fine Arts, North Carolina, 2006
• James Van Der Zee Award, Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2005
• Joan Mitchell Foundation, Grant Award, 1996
• Mid-Atlantic/NEA Regional Fellowship, 1994
• National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Artist Award, Painting, 1994
• The Studio Museum in Harlem Artist's Award, 1992
• City University of New York, Faculty Research Award, Painting, 1987
• John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, 1987
• Creative Arts Public Service Grant, Painting, New York, 1985
• City University of New York, Faculty Research Award, Painting, 1984
• Creative Arts Public Service Grant, Painting, New York, 1981
• Creative Arts Public Service Grant, Painting, New York, 1975
• City University of New York, Faculty Research Award, Painting, 1973
• National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Artist Award, Painting, 1970
• Yale University, Grant for Graduate Study, New Haven, Connecticut, 1966
• National Endowment for the Arts, Traveling Grant, 1965