William Dutterer

Who was William Dutterer?

William S. Dutterer was a Washington artist who moved to New York City in 1979 and continued to make innovative paintings until his death in January 2007.

Over his 40 year career Dutterer developed his own, idiosyncratic visual vocabulary that often referenced masks, wrapped objects, and the concept of the bystander from his minimalist work of the ‘60s. His work engages the viewer, encouraging us to consider the impact our culture and world events have on the way we see ourselves and allow others to see us.

Dutterer was born in Hagerstown, Maryland in 1943. His true roots, however, were in Pocahontas, West Virginia. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. After earning a Master of Fine Arts from MICA in 1968, he moved to Washington, D. C. and began teaching painting at the Corcoran School of Art, where he continued to teach until 1986.

He has shown his work in public institutions including The Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Instituto Guatemalteco Americana, the Kennedy Center and One Penn Plaza. He has shown in private galleries including the Pyramid, Osuna, Henri, Jack Rasmussen and Franz Bader Galleries in Washington, D. C., the Susan Caldwell, Frank Marino and Portico Galleries in New York City as well as galleries in cities throughout the U.S.