{{Short description|African-American sculptor}} {{for|the British Olympic shooter|William Artis (sport shooter)}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = William Artis | honorific_suffix = | image = William E. Artis, sculpturing - NARA - 559176.jpg | image_size = | alt = man at potter's wheel | caption = William Artis at work | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = February 2, 1914 <!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living artists, {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}} for dead. For living people supply only the year unless the exact date is already WIDELY published, as per WP:DOB. Treat such cases as if only the year is known, so use {{birth year and age|YYYY}} or a similar option. --> | birth_place = Washington, North Carolina, US | death_date = April 3, 1977 <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | death_place = | education = | alma_mater = Art Students League of New York, <br> Syracuse University | known_for = Sculptor | notable_works = | style = | home_town = | movement = | spouse = | partner = | awards = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) --> | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = <!-- {{URL|Example.com}} --> | module = }} '''William Ellisworth Artis''' (February 2, 1914 – April 3, 1977)<ref name="veteran">''Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010''</ref><ref name="AAR">[http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/gifted-hands-william-artis "Gifted Hands, William Artis"], African American Registry. [https://web.archive.org/web/20241130052004/https://aaregistry.org/story/gifted-hands-william-artis/ Archived] from the original on 2024-11-30. Retrieved 2025-05-02.</ref> was an African American sculptor active from the Harlem Renaissance until his death.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Fields |first=Kiah |date=2016-02-02 |title=Today In Black History: Celebrating Sculptor William Artis |url=https://thesource.com/2016/02/02/today-in-black-history-celebrating-sculptor-william-artis/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230319014102/https://thesource.com/2016/02/02/today-in-black-history-celebrating-sculptor-william-artis/ |archive-date=2023-03-19 |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=The Source |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Davis Jones |first=Shirley |title=Uncovering Uncle William: A Search for Meaning in Art |publisher=Rootfolkz Poetz Press |year=2023 |isbn=9798218260262 |edition=1st |location=Fort Wayne, Indiana}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> His favorite medium was clay for its ability to provide a broad range of expression. He dabbled in oil painting and, during the latter part of his life, began to focus on potting.<ref name=":0">Heralds of Life: Artis, Bearden and Burke, 4–30 November 1977, by Norman E. Pendergraft, Museum of Art, North Carolina Central University; Evans-Tibbs Collection, Artist file: NC-Central University. National Gallery of Art Library, Washington D.C.</ref> His art style focused on representations of Black features and "figurative tradition".<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Cadiz |first=Sharon M. |date=2024-03-06 |title=Footnote To Harlem Renaissance: Meet William Artis |url=https://www.qgazette.com/articles/footnote-to-harlem-renaissance-meet-william-artis/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240321100509/https://www.qgazette.com/articles/footnote-to-harlem-renaissance-meet-william-artis/ |archive-date=2024-03-21 |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Queens Gazette}}</ref>
==Early life== Artis was born in Washington, North Carolina to Elizabeth Davis and Thomas Midgett. He and his older half-brother, Warren Allen Davis, were raised on a farm by their great grandmother, Liza Lane.<ref name=":1" /> He became interested in pottery in part due to playing with local red clay deposits. One day during Boy Scouts, he sculpted a hand from local clay and brought it to school the next day, impressing his class.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Cook |first=Tena L. |date=2023-12-22 |title=William Artis revealed |url=https://www.csc.edu/news/2023/william-artis-revealed.html |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Chadron State College}}</ref>
In 1927, he moved to Harlem, New York largely due to the Great Migration.<ref name="AAR" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Ledbetter |first=George |date=2015-06-23 |title=CSC host to a legacy from noted Black artist |url=https://www.csc.edu/news/2015/csc-host-to-a-legacy-from-noted-black-artist.html |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Chadron State College}}</ref><ref name=":2">Haag, Justin (2008-07-28). [http://www.csc.edu/modules/news/public_news/view/4402 "Artis collection gaining significance"], Chadron State College. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190224062558/https://www.csc.edu/modules/news/public_news/view/4402 Archived] from the original on 2019-02-24. Retrieved 2025-05-06.</ref> He lived with his mother, brother, stepfather George Artis, and grandmother Elva Lane. Unlike his brother, he claimed his stepfather’s surname.<ref name=":1" />
== Education and career == Artis graduated from Frederick Douglass Junior High School 139 in 1932 and from Haaren High School in 1936, majoring in the arts. He was a pupil of Augusta Savage as a teenager. In high school, he presented in the Harmon Foundation 1933 exhibition with ''Head of a Girl''. This earned him the $100 John Hope prize, a mention in ''Time'' magazine, and a full-ride scholarship for a year at Art Student League.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" /> He studied under Robert Laurent during that time.<ref name=":1" /> After, Audrey McMahon hired him for the College Art Association to teach crafts and paint communal spaces.<ref name="AAR" /><ref name=":3" /> He was featured in the 1930s film, ''A Study of Negro Artists'', along with Savage and other artists associated with the Harlem Renaissance.<ref name=":7">[https://archive.org/details/study_of_negro_artists ''A Study of Negro Artists''] at Internet Archive.</ref><ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/561208/a-study-of-negro-artists#synopsis "A Study of Negro Artists (1937)"]{{dead link|date=December 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} at TCM.</ref> He taught at the Harlem YMCA after finishing high school,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> before joining with Works Progress Administration artist projects, such as with Harmon Foundation and Rosenwald Fund.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> He was also under the tutelage of Roberta Laber from 1936 to 1938, and Maude Robinson in 1938. Between 1933 to 1940, he was involved in over 14 exhibitions.<ref name=":1" />
From the late 1930s until 1941, he lived with Langston Hughes and two others.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5" /> In the summers of 1940, ‘46, and ‘47, Artis pursued education as a special student and eventual instructor at New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":8" />
He closed his studio near Apollo Theatre upon being drafted into World War II.<ref name="veteran" /><ref name=":1" /> After being discharged from his U.S. army service in Europe, he resumed his art. In 1945, Artis, Romare Bearden, and Selma Burke were in the landmark Albany Institute of History and Art exhibit. Over the next decade, they helped advance Black representation in national exhibits and galleries.<ref name=":0" /> In 1946, he received a Harmon Foundation grant to teach a four-day ceramics class at twenty Philadelphia schools.<ref name=":1" />
Soon after, he pursued higher education at Syracuse University. Artis earned a Bachelor in Fine Arts in 1950. A year later, he graduated with a Master in Fine Arts. He studied under Ivan Meštrović.<ref name="AAR" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name=":2" /> He taught at Holy Rosary School at Pine Ridge Reservation in North Dakota because of his interest in Sioux culture, where he taught pottery production for two years.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":8" /> In 1954, he was hired by Bill Boehle as a ceramic associate professor at Nebraska State Teachers College.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name=":2" /> Artis is cited as a popular professor for his efforts in creatively pushing his students and uncovering their strengths.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":8" /> In 1959, he defended a modern mural on campus as environmental symbolism, helping it remain for 25 years after controversy.<ref name=":8" />
He eventually sought new creative career endeavors, becoming an art associate professor at Mankato State College from 1966 until 1975, stopping due to ill health.<ref name="AAR" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name=":2" /> His goal was to study local clay deposits and share with the local Native American tribes to highlight a resource for economic development.<ref name=":1" />
He received many accolades during his decades long artistic career. His work was found in schools such as Atlanta University, Fisk University, Hampton University, and Chadron State College along with museums like Whitney Museum of American Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, and Joslyn Art Museum.<ref name="AAR" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":8" /> Many of his pieces are still in private collections and copyrighted.<ref name="AAR" /><ref name=":4" /> In the 1950s and ‘60s, he won Atlanta’s National Art Exhibition multiple times for his African American terra cotta sculptures.<ref name=":8" />
== Personal life == From 1941 to 1945, Artis served in the Army as staff sergeant of the 366th Infantry Regiment.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5" /> During his tour in Bari, Italy, his sculpture of two Italian children won the $100 prize in the American Red Cross Club’s art exhibition against fellow artist soldiers. Other notable works during his service include portraits of his infantry officers.<ref name=":1" />
He was described as a short and reserved man with a great sense of humor, generosity, and knowledgeability.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":8" />
He commonly wore a white shirt, tie, and smock when working.<ref name=":8" />
His ancestors were freed Black people and Blackfoot Natives.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5" />
Artis never married<ref name=":1" /> or learned to drive.<ref name=":8" />
A core family value taught by Artis was the importance of education.<ref name=":1" />
He commonly signed his work but rarely dated the pieces.<ref name=":1" />
He belonged to the American Ceramic Society, New York Society of Craftsmen, and New York Society of Ceramic Art.<ref name=":1" />
== Death and legacy == Artis died in North Port, New York on April 3, 1977.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":8" /> It is believed he was battling a brain tumor.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":8" />
He was considered a prominent Black sculptor and ceramist whose art was displayed nationally. It has been theorized{{whom|date=March 2026}} that Chadron State College has the most extensive inventory of his work, with at least 25 donated and saved pieces, correspondences, and photos.<ref name=":2" /> There, his works are exampled in courses, displayed on campus, and loaned to exhibitions.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":2" />
He is said to have impacted many people's lives due to his artistic guidance.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":8" />
Posthumously, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from North Carolina Central University, which was given to his brother.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5" /> Since 2005–2006, a scholarship at Chadron State College was set up in his name for visual arts majors.<ref name=":8" /> Artis was reported to be featured in at least twenty books, and commonly appears in Black art history.<ref name=":2" />
==Gallery== <gallery> File:"Head of Dr. Louis Wright" - NARA - 559035.jpg|Portrait of Louis T. Wright File:"A Decorative Head" - NARA - 559036.jpg|Decorative Head File:"Head-Terra Cotta" - NARA - 559037.tif|Head in terracotta </gallery>
==References== {{reflist|30em}} *[http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/gifted-hands-william-artis Biography] at the African American Registry
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Artis, William}} Category:1914 births Category:1977 deaths Category:People from Washington, North Carolina Category:African-American sculptors Category:Sculptors from North Carolina Category:Art Students League of New York alumni Category:Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts alumni Category:Chadron State College faculty Category:Minnesota State University, Mankato faculty Category:20th-century American sculptors Category:20th-century American male artists Category:American male sculptors Category:Sculptors from New York (state) Category:20th-century African-American artists Category:Haaren High School alumni