William Baziotes (1912-1963)
Catalogue Raisonné Project
Michael Preble, Editor
[Biography][Recent Exhibits][Catalogue Raisonne][Submission Form]
To
take a step closer to the art
and spirit of William Baziotes,
you have to take a step back
from what you think you know
about the history of modern
art. Many writers tell us he
was a brush-wielding member
of the Abstract Expressionist
club or connect him – and
rightly so – to the esprit
de corps found among the Surrealists
in America. Yet, his art work
and his sensibilities about
the world lead us on a far
more complicated odyssey.
William Baziotes was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1912 to Stella and Frank Angelus Baziotes, who were Greek-Americans.
A loving brother, a devoted husband, a caring teacher are what we find in Baziotes, a man for whom integrity and eloquence meant everything. Yet, we cannot overlook the passion of the artist who embraced all within his grasp.
We must, for example, reconcile a student of the art of boxing with a devotee of classical antiquity. Can work in a stained glass factory, an appreciation for the 18th-century French classicist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and a friendship with the Chilean surrealist Roberto Matta Echaurren possibly begin to explain Baziotes’ love of line and color? Can the exoticism of Baudelaire’s poetry find a parallel in the wafting smoke from Bill’s favorite cigarette. Yes is the answer to all of these.
He had a never-tiring, never-casing
commitment to universal motifs – the
primordial, the cultural myth,
the exploration 
of the psyche.
He found a metaphor in the “arena.” However,
his arena was not one of the
bullfight or the gladiator.
Rather it was one illuminating
the struggle for perfection – for
the survival of the essence
of a thing – that was
the greatest and most worthy
of battles. It is in his watercolors
and paintings that Baziotes
gave full flight to his fancy.
Recent Exhibitions
Baziotes, Works on Paper. Joseph Helman Gallery, New York, New York. October 3-November 3, 2001. Brochure.
William Baziotes, Paintings and Drawings, 1934-1962. Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy (September 5, 2004-January 9, 2005). Catalogue.
William Baziotes, Retrospective Exhibition. Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania. (February-May 2009). Catalogue.
Questions
Please email your questions or call Michael Preble at 757-423-3735 in Norfolk, Virginia.