- William Baziotes
William Baziotes (1912–1963) was an American painter influenced by
Surrealism and was a contributor toAbstract Expressionism .Born and raised in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania to Greek parents, Baziotes began his formal art training in 1933 at theNational Academy of Design inNew York City . He studied with Charles Curran,Ivan Olinsky ,Gifford Beal , andLeon Kroll . He was employed by theFederal Art Project in the late 1930s. In the 1940s he became friends with many artists in the emergingAbstract Expressionist group. Although he shared the groups' interest in primitive art and automatism, his work was more in line with Europeansurrealism Later in his career he taught extensively. He became a founding member of the school onEighth Street in 1948. He also taught at theBrooklyn Museum Art School,People's Art Center , theMuseum of Modern Art , and at the City University of New York,Hunter College in Manhattan during the last ten years of his life.Baziotes and his wife Ethel lived in the Morningside Heights area of northern Manhattan until his death from cancer in 1963.
Some of his famous works are "Aquatic", "Dusk", and "The Room", all of which are in the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Other famous works by Baziotes can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the MoMA, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
References
* Marika Herskovic, [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/50253062&tab=holdings "American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s An Illustrated Survey,"] (New York School Press, 2003.) ISBN 0-9677994-1-4
* Marika Herskovic, [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/50666793&tab=holdings "New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists,"] (New York School Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-9677994-External links
* [http://www.hollistaggart.com/artists/baziotes.htm William Baziotes Biography, Hollis Taggart Galleries]
* [http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_13.html William Baziotes Biography, Guggenheim Museum]
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