This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| James Belton Bonsall was a native of the tiny island of Grand Chenier, LA.. During WWII, he was drafted at 17, and assigned to the 99th Infantry Division, which served in three European campaigns, suffering eighty-five percent casualties.
Bonsall served in forward roles (rifleman, scout, runner). After college, he was a reporter for a San Francisco paper, and had a few minor acting roles, such as a policeman smashing slot machines in the 1958 picture "Damn Citizen". He moved to New Orleans, where he worked in advertising, later becoming a welfare case-worker. There he painted prolifically, with more than 500 works now accounted for. After 30 years in the French Quarter, he returned to the family estate in Grand Chenier, and continued to paint.
Written and submitted February 2005 by a nephew of the artist Jerry Sims, Assocciate Professor, University of Illinois.
|
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|