William Pajaud is one of the finest watercolorists in the United States. He possesses great creative strength and technical skill, destroying any piece that does not meet his standard of excellence. Eight decades of observation, drawing, painting and teaching uniquely qualify him as one of the living watercolor icons of our time.
With sweeping brushstrokes, he completes most of his watercolors, large or small, in less than an hour. His use of color to illustrate emotion, movement and storyline is extraordinary. Ranging from impressionistic to abstract, minimalist to over the top complexity of color and subject, he masters it all.
He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and graduated from Xavier University with a BA in Fine Arts. He obtained a degree in graphic design from Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, Ca. A former president of the National Watercolor Society, co-founder of Tutor Art and the creator and curator of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Fine Art Collection, Mr. Pajaud currently resides in Los Angeles, Ca.
His paintings are in the private art collections of Joe Sample, Angela-Bassett-Vance, Ken Lombard & Pat Harvey Lombard, Mr. & Mrs. Denzel Washington, Norton Simon, Bill & Camille Cosby, Bishop Desmond Tutu and a host of others. He is also represented in the permanent collections of the Las Vegas Art Museum, The Pushkin Museum, Leningrad, The California African American Museum in Los Angeles and Hunter Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
He has had solo exhibitions at Harris Brown Gallery, Boston, Ma., M. Hanks Gallery, Santa Monica, Ca., and Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans, La. Recently he was included in the Los Angeles blockbuster exhibition at the UCLA Hammer Museum "Art & Black Los Angeles 1960 - 1980.