William Williams Condensed Narrative Vitae 2020
William E. Williams is Audrey A. and John L. Dusseau Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Fine Arts and Curator of Photography at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania; he has been affiliated with Haverford since 1978, after receiving his M.F.A. in photography that year from the Yale University School of Art. He has organized over eighty exhibitions in thirty-eight years, including work by Lewis Hine, Diane Arbus, Roy De Carava, Walker Evans, Paul Strand, Andy Warhol, Harold Edgerton, Lisette Model, and Man Ray. His photographs have been widely exhibited including group and solo exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art, George Eastman House, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The National Gallery, Smith College and the Smithsonian. His photographs are in many public collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Baltimore Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Princeton University Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., The Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Williams is a 1997 Pew Fellow in the Arts, and has received individual artist fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in 1986, 1997 and 2003. He was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for 2003-04.
EDUCATION:
Graduate: Yale University School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut
M.F.A, Photography, 1978
Thesis: Flash Portraiture of People in Dark Places
Undergraduate: Hamilton College, Clinton, New York
B.A., History 1973
Thesis: Farm Security Administration Photography
EXPERIENCE:
Professor of Fine Arts, Haverford College - Teaching introductory, intermediate and advanced photography courses, focusing on developing the technical, aesthetic, historical and creative aspects of photography. Also arranging and setting up various lecture programs, including speakers with different critical approaches to the photographic medium. (September 1978 to present)
Gallery Director, Haverford College - Responsible for exhibitions, budget, administration and acquisitions. (September 1981 to July 1993)
Curator of Photography. Haverford College - Founded the photography collection in 1979. Presently, the collection numbers over 5,000 photographs from the beginning of the medium to the present day. (September 1979 to present)
Audrey A. and John L. Dusseau Professor in the Humanities- Appointed 2008
Grants Fellowships Commissions:
Exhibition Grant American Express Company - Revelaciones: The Art of Manuel Alvarez Bravo 1992.
Commission, The Philadelphia Convention Center. Permanent installation of 4 large Gettysburg Photographs 1993.
IMS Museum Assessment Program Grant - Production of governing documents, personnel management policies and long range planning for New Art Galley 1993.
Haverford College Sabbatical in Residence 1994-1995.
Haverford College Faculty Research Grant 1995.
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts - Individual Artist’s Fellowship 1986, 1997, 2003
Pew Fellowship in the Arts Fellow 1997
Chester Springs Art Center 1998; 40 photographs of Underground Railroad in Chester County sites
Haverford College Sabbatical 1998-1999
Commission, Philadelphia Print Collaborative Artist Print for a Portfolio with Seven
Other Artists 2002
Guggenheim Fellowship 2003-04
Light Work Artist Residency 2003
Haverford College Sabbatical 2003
Haverford College Faculty Research Grant 2007
Haverford College Sabbatical 2008
Pew Supplemental Fellowship in the Arts 2008
Haverford College Faculty Research Grant 2010
Haverford College Sabbatical Spring Semester 2013
NEA Publication Grant with Print Center, Philadelphia 2016 for Party Pictures book 2016
Haverford College Sabbatical Spring Semester 2016
Selected Publications by William E. Williams
Nelson, Anne, Stephen Perloff, and William Williams. Adolphe Braun, Walker Evans, André Kertéz: Photographers of Sculpture. Haverford, PA: Comfort Gallery of Haverford College, 1988.
Stephens, David and William Williams. Spirit of Earth, Echoes of Light: Richard A. Johnson, Bruce Edmond Byrd. Philadelphia: Esther Klein Gallery at the University City Science Center, 1995.
Williams, William. Signs and Symbols: Communication and Interpretation from the Brandywine Workshop. Washington, DC: United States Information Agency, 1994.
Williams, William and Alan Tractenberg, Gettysburg A Journey In Time. Philadelphia: Esther Klein Galley at the University City Science Center, Philadelphia, and PA 1997.
Williams, William, Joan Hinde Steward, David Nathans and William Salzillo. Hamilton Collects Photography: The First Hundred Years. Clinton: Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, Clinton, and New York 2003.
Williams William, Laura Guth, Richard Reid, Contact Sheet 140-William Earle Williams Unsung Heroes: African American Solders in the Civil War. Syracuse, New York, 2007.
Williams William, Katerina Adair, Ilana Carlin, Sophia Franck, Eds. Deborah Polanski and Susanna White, Uncovering the Path to Freedom: Photographs of the Underground Railroad. Clinton: Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, and Clinton, New York, 2008.
Wainwright, Paul, Peter Benes, Brent D. Glass, William E. Williams, A Space for Faith: The Colonial Meetinghouses of New England. Portsmouth, N H : Jetty House, 2009.
Cathcart, E. Odin, William E. Williams. The Relentless Eye: Global Cellphone Photography, Department of Fine Arts, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania. 2011
Williams, William. Walker Evans in Color Railroad Photographs, Department of Fine Arts, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania. 2011
Williams, William. Walker Evans & The American Social Landscape Photographers (brochure), The Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania. 2012
Williams, William and Alan Tractenburg. A Stirring Song Sung Heroic: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom, 1619 to 1865, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery Haverford College and Lehigh University Art Gallery Lehigh University, Pennsylvania. 2013
Williams, William. The Fogel Collection: A collection Within a Collection, Department of Fine Arts, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania. 2013
The Female Gaze: A Survey Exhibition of Women Photographers from the 19th to 21st n Centuries, Department of Fine Arts, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania. 2014
Williams, William, essay, introduction, Nathan Huggins. Carl Van Vechten: ‘O, Write My Name’ Portraits of the Harlem Renaissance and Beyond, Magill Library, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania. 2016
Gold, Susanna. Expanded Caribbean, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. 2017
Williams, William. A Survey of Color Photography from its Prehistory to the Present Day, Department of Fine Arts, Haverford College, Pennsylvania. 2018
Selected Publications about William E. Williams
Aichele, K. Porter. William Earle Williams. Haverford, PA: Comfort Gallery of Haverford College, 1990. 32 pp.
Bruschi, Albert. Philadelphia Past and Present. Florence, Italy: Museo Bordini, 1990. Unpaginated.
Cleveland Museum of Art. Annual Report 1990, Volume 78, Number 4. Cleveland, Ohio, 1991, p. 175.
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Searching out the Best: A Tribute to the Morris Gallery of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Philadelphia, 1988. pp. 202-203.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Contemporary Philadelphia Artists: A Juried Exhibition. Philadelphia, 1990. pp. xxi, 55, 152.
Saul, Julie. Photography in America 1910-1983. Tampa, FL: Tampa Museum, 1983. pp. 1, 64.
Smith, Michael A. Intentions and Techniques 1987. Bethlehem, PA: Dubois Gallery of Lehigh University, 1987. pp. 9, 12.
Spano, Michael. The Human Presence. New Haven, CT: A + A Gallery of Yale University School of Art, 1989. pp. 1, 5, 15.
Beck, Tom and Cynthia Wayne. Visual Griots. Baltimore, MD: Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery, 1996. pp. 8-9, 18-21.
Willis, Deborah. Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000.
Benston, Kimberly. Memory, Mourning, and Revision:William Earle Williams’s Gettysburg-A Journey in Time. EXPOSURE 2002 VOLUME 35:2. Journal, Society for Photographic Education, Miami University, Ohio, pp. 27-42.
The Light Work Annual 2004. Contact Sheet Number 127. Syracuse, New York, 2004. Pp. 69-73 with an essay by Dennis Connor, Pp.69
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 2008. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Members Magazine Summer. Houston, Texas, 2008. Pp. 18-19 with essay by Margaret Mims Pp.18
Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer. Envisioning Emancipation. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, 2013. Pp. 144, 205
Sarah Greenough, Nancy K. Anderson, Lindsay Harris, Renee Ater, Tell it with Pride: 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus-Saint Gauden’s Shaw Memorial. Washington, DC National Gallery of Art, 2013. Pp. 110-111,148-151
Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Other Authors, Richard J. Powell, William Earle Williams,
Timothy Rub, Dr. Constance E. Clayton. Represent: 200 years of African American art in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Museum of Art In association with Yale University Press, 2014. Pp. 194
Gold, Susanna. The Unfinished Exhibition: Visualizing myth, memory, and the shadow of the Civil War in Centennial America. London and New York: Routledge, 2017.
Katherine D. Alcauskas. Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection. Clinton, NY Hamilton College Wellin Museum of Art. 2017. Pp. 309
Selected Exhibitions
Solo Shows
1984 Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
1989 Comfort Gallery, Haverford, PA
1990 Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
1995 Smith College, Northampton, MA
1997 Esther Klein Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1999 Manchester Craftsman’s Guild, Pittsburgh, PA
2002 Gallery, Canaday Library, Bryn Mawr College, PA
2004 Cecil Community College, North East, MD
2007 Light Work, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
2007 Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
2007 Emily Davis Gallery, University of Akron, Akron, OH
2007 Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, Haverford, PA
2008 Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
2008 Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN
2009 Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC
2009 Widener University Museum, Widener University Chester, PA
2010 Richard Stockton College, Pomona, New Jersey
2010 Sheldon Art Galleries and Concert Hall, St. Louis, MO
2011 Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
2013 Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, Haverford, PA
2014 Lehigh University Art Gallery, Bethlehem, PA
2015 Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery, University of Maryland Baltimore County MD
2016 Davidson Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
2018 Sardoni Gallery, Wilkes University, Wilkes Barre, PA
2019 Syracuse University Art Galleries, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Group Shows
1978 Yale University, School of Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
1983 Tampa Museum, Tampa, FL
1985 The Print Club, Philadelphia, PA
1989 Bordini Museum, Florence, Italy
1990 Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
1992 Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
1995 Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
1995 Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
2000 African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2000 Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
2001 South East Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL
2002 University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2003 Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Lancaster, PA
2004 African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2005 Princeton University Museum, Princeton, NJ
2005 Lehigh University Art Gallery, Bethlehem, PA
2006 Arts Fellowships Pew Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
2006 William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
2007 New York Public Library, New York City, NY
2007 Cazenovia College, Cazenovia, NY
2009 Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
2009 Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
2011 International Museum of Photography George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
2013 Schomburg Center New York Public Library, New York, NY
2013 The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
2014 Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA
2014 Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2015 Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2015 Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2016 Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ
2017 Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
2017 Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Selected Permanent Collections
Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA
Baltimore Art Museum, Baltimore, MD
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Haverford College, Haverford, PA
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
LaSalle Bank, Chicago, IL
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Minneapolis Art Institute, Minneapolis, MN
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX
Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC
Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO
New York Public Library, New York City, NY
Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Public Library, Philadelphia, PA
Princeton University Museum, NJ
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
Anacosta Museum, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
South East Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach FL
University of Maryland Baltimore County, MD
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greensburg, PA
Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Revised 4.11.20