William L. Hawkins

(Union City, Kentucky, 1895 - 1990, Columbus, Ohio)

North America, American

Hawkins, as African-American who lived in Columbus, Ohio, worked as a truck driver servicing the building trades. He was an outsider to the art world with no academic training in art when he began painting at age seventy-five out of personal impulse. Within a decade, however, Hawkins had received national recognition for his art.

Using household enamel on found pieces of masonite or plywood, Hawkins painted two main subjects: cityscapes (including individual buildings) and fantastic versions of animals. Like many contemporary artists, Hawkins worked from photographs.

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