William Posey Silva

William Posey Silva (1859–1948) was an early 20th century American painter noted for atmospheric landscapes painted in a lyrical impressionist style. His work is associated with the Charleston Renaissance and with the art colony in Carmel, California, where he lived for thirty-six years.

Biography William Posey Silva was born in Savannah, Georgia, on October 23, 1859. His paternal grandfather was a Portuguese immigrant from the Azores. He graduated from Chatham Academy in 1875 and went on to study engineering for a short time at the University of Virginia. He became an exhibiting member of the Salmagundi Club of New York, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Water Color Clubs on Chicago and New York. He was a frequent contributor between 1926 and 1942 to the prestigious National Art Exhibition in Springville, Utah, where he won medals in 1927 and 1929.

Silva's paintings won numerous awards, including a silver medal at the Appalachian Exposition in Knoxville, Tennessee (1910) and second prize at the California State Fair (1920). For several years thereafter his son Abbott sold his father's paintings at the Carmelita Art Gallery. However, his grandson, William H. Silva, retained a sizable collections of his works which remain in the family to this day.