Artist William Frederick Foster
Cincinnati, Ohio, 1883-1953
William Foster became a noted figure painter and illustrator, living the last twenty-one years of his career in Los Angeles, California. At age 12, he moved with his family to Colorado, but in 1898, he returned to Cincinnati and enrolled at the Art Academy where he studied with Joseph Henry Sharp and Frank Duveneck. His early ambition was to be a violinist, but he saw a painting by Albert Ceck Wenzell, which refocused him to fine art. In 1902, he went to New York City where he painted scenery and studied at the New York School with Robert Henri and William Merritt Chase. From 1903 to 1931 he worked as an illustrator, with a brief teaching stint in 1919 at the Art Institute of Chicago. He sold his first illustration to "Life" magazine in 1903. After that he worked for most of the major magazines including "Collier's", "The Saturday Evening Post", and "Harper's Monthly". He won the National Academy of Design's Clark Prize (1926) for the best figure composition painted in the United States by a non-academician. The following year, he was voted an Associate Member based on recognition for "The Girl in Brown." After the War he moved to Los Angeles and devoted his energy to painting, exhibiting, and teaching. He taught at the Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles and gave private classes in his studio. He also worked on a mural project at the Hearst estate in Wyntoon, California and was an active member of the California Art Club.
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