William Congdon
Painter
Remembered for his acclaimed pastel and oil paintings, this twentieth-century Abstract Expressionist artist created such pieces as Moon Night Subiaco, Italian Moon, and Piazza San Marco. His work was exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and several other renowned galleries.
In 1934, he graduated from Yale University with a degree in English. He went on to study painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and with artist Henry Hensche.
His experience of working for the American Field Service during World War II and, especially, of being present at the liberation of the Bergen Belsen concentration camp inspired his artwork.
Born in Rhode Island, he later moved to New York City and afterwards settled in Europe. He died in Milan, Italy, on his eighty-sixth birthday.
His cousin, Isabella Stewart Gardner, was a wealthy arts patron and the wife of American poet Allen Tate.