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Ad Code: 4
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from Auction House Records.
A Path Through the Bluebonnets
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| William David Berry was born in San Mateo, CA on May 20, 1926. Berry spent his childhood in Arizona where he spent much of his time outside studying everything that moved and drawing animals. He moved to Los Angeles in 1943 and entered the Art Center School. He moved to Fairbanks, Alaska in 1965 and continued producing sketches, cartoons, and paintings of wildlife. His last work was a mural in the Noel Wien Public Library in Fairbanks. He was shot and killed in May 1979 before he could finish the mural.
| Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
| | Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here. |
Biography from Fine Arts Collection, Luther College:
| William D. Berry was born on May 20, 1926, in San Mateo, CA. During
World War II, he served in the army, working for part of the time as a
cartoonist for “Stars and Stripes.” After the war, he attended the
School of Allied Arts in Glendale, CA. He also studied at the Art
Center of Los Angeles, Glendale Junior College and the University of
Alaska.
Berry worked for several years as a curator at the California
Junior Museum in Sacramento. He was especially interested in creating
wildlife drawings. He was commissioned to create paintings,
illustrations and murals. After visiting Alaska, he and his wife,
Elizabeth, became interested in the state and its wildlife. He lived
there for several years, returning to California in 1959. He also
worked for Disneyland for a period of time. The family returned to
Alaska in 1961 living in Denali Lakes and moving to Fairbanks in 1965.
Berry taught drawing classes at the Tanana Valley Community College. He
was working on a mural for the children’s room in the Noel Wien Public
Library in Fairbanks but died in 1979 before it was completed. The
mural, An Alaskan Fairytale, was completed by the illustrator Trina Schart Hyman. The children’s room was named the Berry Room in his honor.
Berry wrote several books including children’s books and also
illustrated a number of books for other authors. After his death, his
wife published a compilation of the Alaskan field sketches he drew
between 1954 and 1956.
The eleven drawings by William D. Berry in the Fine Arts Collection
were donated to Luther College by his wife in 1985. The gift was
facilitated by former Art Department faculty member, Dean Schwarz.
Sources:
Berry, William D. Buffalo Land: The Untamed Wilderness of the High Plains Frontier. Sunnyvale, CA: Press North America, 1980;
Berry, William D. Deneki; An Alaskan Moose. New York: Macmillan, 1965;
Berry, William D. and Elizabeth Berry. Mammals of the San Francisco Bay Region. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959;
Berry, Elizabeth. William D. Berry: 1954-1956 Alaskan Field Sketches. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press, 1989;
Wikipedia, William D. Berry.
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| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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