Baziotes, William (1912 - 1963)

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and growing up in Reading, Pennsylvania, he was an Abstract Expressionist closely aligned with Gestural painting and Surrealism. He painted to express his own emotions about the mysteries of life and used rich colors symbolism. He worked briefly for a newspaper and in a stained glass factory where his friends encouraged his art talent. He moved to New York City in 1933 and taught for the next three years at the National Academy of Design with Leon Kroll. From 1936 to 1938, he was a WPA artist, and in the early 1940s came under the influence of European Surrealists who were expatriates in New York. He was also close to Robert Motherwell and Mark Rothco, with whom he founded the Subjects of the Artists School in 1948. He died in New York in 1963, and in 1965, a memorial exhibition of his work was held there at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.