Original Mid Century William E. Preston (American, 1930-2015) Watercolor Maine Dock. Painted in the 1960s during his time at the Ogunquit Artists' Colony. Measures 15.50"x16.50"x1". Weight is 2 pds 13 oz. PROVENANCE: The Estate of a Charleston SC Art Dealer / Gallery Owner. William Preston was born on May 13, 1930, in Cleveland, Ohio. He spent his childhood years in Evanston, Illinois and then studied briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago. He then served as a Flight Chief in the Air Force during the Korean War. Upon his return he settled in California. where he made his first Oriental ink and brush works, served as a copy boy, and photographed the night beat for the Los Angeles Times. He later moved to Mexico City, where he became an aficionado practico, and sold pen and ink drawings of the sport. In 1956, he moved to New York City, where he illustrated books and book jackets, including Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King. Painting in watercolor & oils, he sold his work at shows in Greenwich Village and from a friend's brownstone stoop. William then moved to southern Maine, where he became a valued member of the Ogunquit Artists' Colony. Recognition of William's talent grew during those years. In 1963, he won First Prize for Watercolor at the Washington Square Sidewalk Show in New York City. The National Academy of Design of New York City awarded him the Obrig Prize in 1967. That same year, Allied Artists of America awarded him the Gold Medal of Honor for Watercolor at the National Academy. He sold his elegant watercolors to a growing number of art collectors through Shore Gallery in Boston, among other East coast galleries, and from his lobster shack gallery in Perkins Cove, Maine. His works were acquired by the Ogunquit Museum of Art, the Rockefeller Museum, and the La Jolla Museum of Art. When his first marriage ended suddenly and painfully, William's restlessness returned. He continued to work prolifically, painting seascapes and landscapes en plein air, traveling between Maine, North Carolina, and Key West. In 1982, William drove to Texas for a one-man show. His departure from Maine became permanent when he met and married a locally-renowned artist in Houston, Marianne (Cooper) Hornbuckle. A year later, the couple moved to the Pojoaque Valley north of Santa Fe; William was drawn to the peculiar landscape of New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. In his new home, William painted within the thick adobe walls of his tiny studio. Years of painting en plein air, from Maine to Mexico, distilled to form his vision of the stunning light and color of southwestern landscape. By 1985, he was named a "New Discovery Artist" at the Santa Fe Festival of the Arts. William was soon recognized as one of the noted Southwestern landscape painters, and was profiled in several books and magazine articles. After twenty years in his New Mexican home, with his works in corporate collections on both coasts, William once again grew restless. This journey, however, did not call for highways or strange towns. In this journey inward, William immersed himself in the study of Eastern spiritual writers, where he found his new artistic territory: the merging of his unique southwestern voice and the sumi-e painting tradition. His first sumi-e solo exhibition was fittingly entitled "Light that casts no shadow," marking the last decade of his long career. He was invited as a member of the International Chinese Calligraphy & Painting Society (ICCPS) in 2010. He instituted a sumi-e dojo, attracting both western and eastern international students to his home studio for multi-day intensives. In 2012, in a member exhibition of the ICCPS, William's entry was "Special Chosen". In 2014, his painting Longing for Spring won Best of Show at the Sumi Society of America's Annual Show, juried by the well-known Chinese painter Charles Chang-Han Liu.

good