William Baziotes

William Baziotes (June 11, 1912 – June 6, 1963) was an American painter influenced by Surrealism and was a contributor to Abstract Expressionism.

Life and career

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Greek parents Angelos and Stella, Baziotes was raised in Reading, Pennsylvania and began his formal art training in 1933 at the National Academy of Design in New York City where he graduated in 1936. He later taught at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, lived in the Morningside Heights area of northern Manhattan until his death from lung cancer in June 1963, five days before his 51st birthday. During his lifetime, he and his wife shared a love of ancient Greek art and sculpture as well as the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. Many of his paintings are inspired by the latter's poetry as well as by ancient art.

Some of his famous works are Aquatic, Dusk, and The Room, all of which are in the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Notable awards Art Institute of Chicago Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Smithsonian American Art Museum Whitney Museum of American Art Reading Public Museum