William Bailey

(American, b. 1930)

Still Life with Eggs, Candlestick and Bowl, from the Portfolio American: The Third Century, 1976

Collotype; 30 x 22 inches

Acquired in 1981

Hovering between abstract and hyper realistic art, William Bailey is known for his still-life paintings that often featuring bowls, vases, and other vessels. Although his works aligns with the classical tradition of the still life, Bailey paints from memory rather than from reality. His works transform generic objects with close attention to texture, colors, and overall design. Bailey’s first exhibition was in New York at the Robert Schoellkopf Gallery in 1968. Since that time, he has had numerous exhibitions around the world and his work is in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. In 1965 Bailey received the Guggenheim Fellowship in painting, and in the 1980s he was elected to the National Academy of Design and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Bailey was a longtime faculty member of Yale University’s School of Art, where he received his BFA and MFA degrees. He maintains studios in New Haven and Umbertide, Italy; continuing his works as a contemporary realist painter.

This portfolio of prints demonstrates the depth and breadth of art making in 1976 America. Commissioned for the 1976 celebration of the American Bicentennial, it includes works by James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Allan D’Arcangelo, Edward Ruscha, Christo, James Brooks, Costantino Nivola, Velox Ward, Raymond Saunders, Robert Andrew Parker, and Ben Schonzeit.

Location

University of Houston
Technology Bridge Building 1

Other Artworks in this Portfolio

Concord, 1976

Texas Mastaba, 1976

Beginning, 1976

Bicentennial Print, 1976

City, 1976

Sunrise, 1976

Deposit, 1976

Miles, 1976

America Whistles, 1976

Duck out of Water, 1976

Yankee Flame, 1976