William Berry

Who was William Berry?

William Augustus Berry was an artist and professor of art, known for his pencil figure illustrations and still lifes. As an undergraduate, Berry was a student of Everett Spruce at the University of Texas at Austin, earning his BFA in 1955 and his MFA from the University of Southern California in 1957. He returned as a professor to the University of Texas, subsequently moving to the University of Missouri, where he eventually served as the chair of the art department. In 1989, he was the recipient of that university's William H. Byler Distinguished Professor Award for outstanding abilities, performance, and character, and in 1991-1992 he was awarded a Curators' Professorship, an annual award given to a Missouri faculty member who is "an outstanding scholar with an established reputation".

In 1989, the Camargo Foundation awarded Berry a fellowship to complete a series of large geometric still lifes. In 1999, Berry had artworks in four national juried competitions including one sponsored by the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda, Maryland, and an exhibit of his works was held in that gallery in 2000.