William Berry (artist)

For other persons named William Berry, see William Berry (disambiguation).

William Augustus Berry (born September 29, 1933 in Jacksonville, Texas, died January 3, 2010, in Columbia, Missouri)[1][2] was an artist and professor of art, known for his pencil figure illustrations and still lifes. As an undergraduate, Berry was a student of Everett Spruce at the University of Texas at Austin,[3] earning his BFA in 1955 and his MFA from the University of Southern California in 1957.[1]. He returned as a professor to the University of Texas,[1] subsequently moving to the University of Missouri, where he eventually served as the chair of the art department.[4] In 1989, he was the recipient of that university's William H. Byler Distinguished Professor Award for outstanding abilities, performance, and character, and in 1991-1992 he was awarded a Curators' Professorship, an annual award given to a Missouri faculty member who is "an outstanding scholar with an established reputation".[5]

In 1989, the Camargo Foundation awarded Berry a fellowship to complete a series of large geometric still lifes.[6] In 1999, Berry had artworks in four national juried competitions[7] including one sponsored by the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda, Maryland, and an exhibit of his works was held in that gallery in 2000.[4] In 2002, he won the CPSA Award for Exceptional Merit and CIPPY Trophy from the Colored Pencil Society of America for his work Still Life With Option, a white-on-white still life scene of a creased piece of paper on a tablecloth-draped table.[8] Berry's work has appeared in over 500 juried and solo exhibits.[9]

Berry was the author of Drawing The Human Form: Methods, Sources, Concepts,[10] a widely used textbook on figure illustration. Berry also worked as an illustrator for Newsweek, The Reporter, Opera News, and Esquire.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c AskART biography of Berry.
  2. ^ Paid Notice: Deaths. Berry, William Augustus, New York Times, January 27, 2010.
  3. ^ The University of Texas College of Fine Arts Department of Art and Art History: A Modern Institution, Robert Summers and Chelsea Weathers, CASETA Spring Symp., San Antonio, Texas, May 2005.
  4. ^ a b Fraser Gallery – Our 2000 shows.
  5. ^ University of Missouri-Columbia Office of the Provost: William H. Byler Distinguished Professor Award. University of Missouri-Columbia Office of the Provost: Curators' Professorships.
  6. ^ The Camargo Foundation: Fellow Project Details.
  7. ^ USC Trojan Family Magazine - Spring 1999: Alumni News.
  8. ^ William Berry - 2002 CPSA Award Winner.
  9. ^ a b Westminster College Hosts Columbia Artist for Showing. Press release from Westminster College, Mar. 21, 2005.
  10. ^ Berry, William A. (1977). Drawing The Human Form: Methods, Sources, Concepts. Van Nostrand Reinhold.  Reprinted in 1994 by Prentice Hall, ISBN 978-0132197830.