1512461199William L. Hawkins18951990William L. Hawkins almost systematically included autobiographical elements in his work. His date and place of birth appear in large text—“WILLIAM L. HAWKINS BORN KY. JULY 27, 1895”—on the painted frames or edges of his pieces. His bold and vibrant art was usually made at a monumental scale on Masonite, using a single brush until it was nothing but short bristles, giving intensity to his whirling brushwork in the enamel paint. His depictions, from animals and religious themes to landscapes and cityscapes, were based on printed images, but reduced to their simplest forms and heightened with exaggerated colors. He kept in a suitcase the discarded magazines, newspapers, books, and other media that he collected for what he called his “research.” Born in 1895 in rural Kentucky, Hawkins claimed Black, Indigenous, and white heritage. Following the death of his mother, he spent his childhood on his grandmother’s farm, where he enjoyed drawing the animals. In 1916, he moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he spent most of his life. Working at odd jobs such as truck driving inspired his paintings of the city’s architecture. As he would declare, “I was born to be an artist. All these other people had to study to be an artist. That’s the reason I’m so great. I was born to do these things.” Although he began selling art around the 1930s and 1940s, he didn’t start seriously painting until the 1970s. Initially, he painted muted scenes in black, white, and gray. His work gained recognition in the 1980s, spurred by his winning first prize in the professional art category (despite being entered as an amateur) at the 1982 Ohio State Fair and bolstered by subsequent exhibitions in Columbus and New York. After this, he experimented more with color and materials and began to incorporate clippings and three-dimensional elements with a mix of cornmeal and paint. Hawkins died in 1990. The American Folk Art Museum hosted his first retrospective in 1997. Allison C. Meier, 2025 Text written as part of “Rethinking Biography,” an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). WilliamHawkinshttps://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/2792/full(1895–1990)ColumbusDaytonUnion CityColumbusDaytonUnion CityColumbusDaytonUnion CityWilliam L. HawkinsWilliam Lawrence Hawkins