William Alexander (artist)

For other people named William Alexander, see William Alexander (disambiguation).
William "Bill" Alexander

William Alexander & Dr. Leo Buscaglia on KOCE-TV's Holiday Festival Pledge Drive (1984)
Born April 2, 1915(1915-04-02)
Prussia, German Empire
Died January 24, 1997(1997-01-24) (aged 81)
Powell River, British Columbia, Canada
Nationality German
Field Painter

William "Bill" Alexander (April 2, 1915 – January 24, 1997) was a German painter, art instructor, and television host. He is best known as the creator and host of The Magic World of Oil Painting and later the The Art of Bill Alexander & Robert Warren, television programs that ran on PBS in the United States.

Born in East Prussia, Alexander's family escaped during World War I to Berlin. Apprenticed as a carriage maker, Alexander was drafted into the Wehrmacht during World War II. Captured by Allied troops, he made himself notable by painting portraits of Allied officer's wives and he soon made his way to the United States.[1]

Contents

Television show

From the early 1970s until 1982, Alexander was the host of the public television series The Magic World of Oil Painting. In the show he highlighted his mastery of the alla prima or wet-on-wet style of oil painting in order to promote his paint supply business, Alexander Art and his painting classes. One of his students, and later a Bill Alexander instructor, was Bob Ross, whose series The Joy of Painting was picked up by many of the PBS stations that carried The Magic World of Oil Painting.[2] In the late 80s, Alexander started another television show, The Art of Bill Alexander & Robert Warren with Robert Warren another one of his students that ran for 91 episodes.[3] [4]

Rivalry with Ross

At the beginning of The Joy of Painting's second season in 1984, Ross dedicated the show to Alexander and Alexander filmed a promo for his former student: "I hand off my mighty brush to a mighty man, and that is Bob Ross."[2][5] In 1987 someone from Alexander Art told Ross that they couldn't keep up with the demand generated by the The Joy of Painting and suggested that Ross start his own line of art supplies.[2] As Bob Ross Incorporated grew into a $15 million a year business Alexander told the New York Times that he felt "betrayed" by his one-time student. [6]

References

  1. ^ Alexander, William (1983). The Bill Alexander Story: An Autobiography. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Pub Co. pp. 244. ISBN 0840329903. http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Alexander-Story-Autobiography/dp/0840329903/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324890717&sr=1-1. 
  2. ^ a b c Bob Ross: The Happy Painter.
  3. ^ Warren, Robert (2006). Robert Warren's Guide to Painting Water Scenes. Cincinnati: North Light Books. pp. 5. ISBN 1581808518. http://books.google.com/books?id=5OpqUxle_aIC&dq=Art+of+William+Alexander+%26+Robert+Warren&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
  4. ^ "MSN Episode Guide to The Art of Bill Alexander & Robert Warren". http://tv.msn.com/tv/series/art-of-william-alexander-and-robert-warren/. Retrieved 26 December 2011. 
  5. ^ "The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross: Meadow Lake", season 2, episode 1, 01-11-1983
  6. ^ Stanley, Alessandra (22 December 1991). "Bob Ross, the Frugal Gourmet of Painting". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/22/arts/television-bob-ross-the-frugal-gourmet-of-painting.html?pagewanted=4&src=pm. Retrieved 26 December 2011. "He betrayed me. I invented 'wet on wet.' I trained him and he is copying me -- what bothers me is not just that he betrayed me, but that he thinks he can do it better." 

External links