William Palmer studied at the Art Students League in New York with Boardman Robinson, Thomas Hart Benton, and Kenneth Hayes Miller. He also studied with M. Badouin in Fontainbleau, France, at École des Beaux-Arts.
Palmer taught at the Art Students League, and served as the director of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute School of Art from 1941 until the 1970's.
Exhibited: Art Students League, 1932 (solo); Washington, D.C., 1932 (solo); Des Moines, Iowa, 1932 (solo); Younkers Tea Room Galleries, 1933 (solo); Salons of America, 1934; Carnegie Institute, 1936; Paris Salon, 1939 (gold medal); Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annual, 1940-1953, 1958, 1964; National Academy of Design, 1946 (prize); Audubon Artists, 1947-1947 (gold medal), 1957 (honorary mention); Salmagundi Club, New York, 1948 (award); Cazenovia Junior College, New York, 1949 (solo); Des Moines Artists Association, 1949 (solo), 1962; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 1952 (solo), 1956, 1971 (solo); Corcoran Gallery biennials, 1937-53 (6 times); Midtown Galleries, New York, solos: 1932, 1938, 1940, 1944, 1947, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1957, 1959, 1963, 1963-1969; Cummer Art Gallery, Jacksonville, Florida, 1971 (solo); Kansas City Art Institute; Brooklyn Museum; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Art Institute of Chicago; Whitney Museum of American Art; Toledo Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art.
Works Held: Addison Gallery of American Art, Massachusetts; Allied Maintenance Company; American Academy & Institute of Arts and Letters; Arlington, Massachusetts, Post Office; Atlanta University; Baltimore Museum of Art; Columbia, South Carolina, Museum of Art; Columbus Gallery of Fine Art, Ohio; Continental Grain Company; Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Dallas Museum of Fine Art; Des Moines Art Club; Empire Trust Company; Encyclopaedia Brittanica Collection; First National City Bank, New York (mural); Homestead Savings & Loan Association, Utica, New York (mural); Museum of the City of New York (mural); Metropolitan Museum of Art; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, new York; Phoenix Art Museum; Queens General Hospital, Jamaica, New York (mural); Saint Lawrence University; Sara Roby Foundation Collection; United States Post Office Building, Washington, D.C. (mural); University Club, New York City; University of Texas, Austin; Utica Collection, Syracuse University; The Upjohn Company; White House, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art.
Further Reading: Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Vol. 3. Peter Hastings Falk, Georgia Kuchen and Veronica Roessler, eds., Sound View Press, Madison, Connecticut, 1999. 3 Vols.
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