WILLIAM PERSA
1917-2002
William Persa was a native son of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the Philadelphia Museum School of Art and served for nearly 40 years as the art director for advertising agencies in Atlanta, New York City, and Allentown, PA. He taught commercial art for nine more years and retired in 1982 to paint full time, specializing in watercolors and pastel paintings.
He was a member of The American Watercolor Society, The Pastel Society of America (Master Pastelist), The National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylics, Knickerbocker Artists, Audubon Artists, The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, The Philadelphia Watercolor Club, The Coast Guard Arts Program, The Lehigh Art Alliance, among others.
His work has been published in American Artist, The Artist’s Magazine, Modern Maturity, North Light Magazines, Manhattan Arts International, Pastel Highlights (American Artist), Watercolor Magic (The Artist’s Magazine), Daily Life in Still Life (American Artist), and Master Pastel Artists of the World (Pastel Artist International), and in books Pastel Interpretations (Madlyn-Ann C. Woolwich), How to Discover Your Personal Painting Style (North Light), The Best of Pastel 2 (Kristina Feliciano), The Best of Colored Pencil (Rockport Publishers), Easy Watercolor (Marcia Moses), and Keys to Painting Fruits and Flowers (North Light), to name a few.
He was the recipient of over a hundred awards, including many gold and silver medals, and was invited to participate as a presenter or juror in shows internationally.
Mainly though, he was happy to paint. His career began when he was in 4th grade, when he actually earned depression-era payment for doing portraits in school, and continued for the rest of his life. He had a photo-realist presentation of what he saw as the truth and beauty of people and objects. He treasured the beauty and wonder of nature. Developing his scenes slowly and deliberately, he created as much three-dimensional effect as possible, painting in minute detail (which he called “magni-vision”), sometimes taking as much as one month to complete a piece.
His love of old things is apparent in his work, primarily rural scenes, birds, flowers, rusty farm implements, Indian corn, ropes, jugs, buckets and the like. He studied objects with acute awareness, matching colors, textures, lights and shadows, complex patterns and hues to his perceptions. It was his wish to preserve these things, with a sense of nostalgia, the joy of familiarity, and the love of nature with its changing seasons and scenes. His talent preserves images of a gentler era, capturing life during simpler times, and provides admirers of his work some serenity and calm, in our fast changing and stressfully paced world. He was content to paint and to capture the precious beauty of nature and life as he saw it. It was reward enough for him to create and leave us these treasures, to be appreciated by his peers and people everywhere.
It is our sincere wish to make these pieces of art available to current and future fans, far and near, and to spread the joy he felt in capturing a sweet, simple time, treasuring nature and the goodness of life, and too, most especially, to honor a true, good man, and most exceptional artist. For further information please call Susan Repič at 862 432 7265.