William pajaud biography
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William Pajaud
Best known for his vibrant, celebratory watercolors, William Pajaud always looked to his ethnic and cultural backgrounds for inspiration in his work, which features images of full-figured, powerful African American women, jazz funerals, street scenes, and other imagery from his childhood in New Orleans and his adult life in Los Angeles.
Pajaud knew he wanted to be a painter from a ung age. When he was twelve, he painted his first watercolor, a picture of the windmill that appeared on Old Dutch Cleanser cans. Watercolor became his preferred medium. After the ninth grade, Pajaud moved with his mother, a social worker, to Chattanooga, stat i usa, where he was subjected to several racially motivated incidents, including being seriously beaten for waving at a bil with vit passengers. A year later, when his mother joined the faculty of Texas College, they moved to Tyler, Texas, where Pajaud experienced another racist attack, this time being thrashed with a rope.
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William Pajaud dies at 89; watercolorist amassed prominent collection of African American art
Artist William Pajaud was a highly respected watercolorist, but he was better known for collecting the works of others.
Over more than 20 years — and on a shoestring budget — he painstakingly put together one of the most prominent collections of African American art in the country, with works by Charles White, Betye Saar, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence and other well-known artists.
The collection became a point of pride to the African American community in Los Angeles — busloads of students toured it.
But Pajaud didn’t own the collection; it was underwritten by his day job employer, Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. And when the company got into financial trouble, the collection, which had rocketed in value, was quietly crated up in 2007 and sent to New York to be sold at auction.
Pajaud wasn’t told until the art was gone.
“He had kind of single-handedly put that collection to
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William Pajaud
William Etienne "Bill" Pajaud (August 3, 1925 – June 16, 2015) was an African-American artist, primarily working in watercolor, known for his paintings exploring themes of jazz.[1] He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and died in Los Angeles, California, on June 16, 2015, at the age of 89.[2] He was the curator of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Fine Art Collection.[3]
Early life and education
[edit]William Pajaud's father was a jazz musician, whose main source of income was working at funerals.[2] His mother was a trained pharmacist, but, as an African American woman, found it difficult to find work.[2]
Pajaud earned a fine arts degree from Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans in 1941.[2] Pajaud moved to Chicago in the early 1940s, where he took work as a sign painter and designer.[2]
In 1949 he moved to Los Angeles to study graphic design at Chouinard Art Institute.&#