William Wegman (1943 - )

Study of Painting (MFA) University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
National Endowment for the Arts (Photography)
Creative Arts Public Service
Guggenheim Fellowship
Born Holyoke, MA
Study of Painting (BFA) Massachusettes College of Art, Boston, MA
Guggenheim Fellowship

  William Wegman was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1943. As a young boy Wegman was always fascinated with art. One year he received a Polaroid camera for his birthday which began his fascination with photography. He graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, in 1965 with a BFA in painting, then enrolled in the Masters painting and printmaking program at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, receiving a Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1967.

After teaching at various universities, Wegman found that his interests in areas beyond painting led him to photography and video. In 1970, while living in Long Beach, California, Wegman got his first Weimaraner. Naming this dog, Man Ray, Wegman made him the main figure in his videos and most enduring photographs for the next 12 years, even including a "Man of the Year" award from the New York City newspaper the Village Voice. 1970 was also the year Wegman made his first video, "Spit Screen".

In 1972, Wegman and Man Ray moved to New York. In 1986, a new dog, Fay Ray, came into Wegman's life, and with Fay Ray another famous collaboration began, marked by Wegman's use of the Polaroid 20 x 24 camera. With the birth of Fay's litter in 1989 and her daughter's litter in 1995, Wegman's cast grew.

Wegman has received numerous awards and grants from some of the most prestigious art institutions of the country. He has also had his works exhibited in museums and galleries internationally, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., The Whitney Museum of Art in New York, F.R.A.C. Limousine in France, and The Museum of Natural Art in New York.

His most recent exhibitions have gone to Japan, Sweden, and the Orange County Museum of Art in California. Recently he has turned in film and video works for the cable channel Nickelodeon, as well as the television show Saturday Night Live. Wegman also has regularly created work for Sesame Street on PBS.

His most recent film 1996's "The Hardly Boys in Hardly Gold" was screened for the first time at that year's Sundance Film Festival. The film starred his dogs, of course, including the newest addition to the family, Chip. Wegman's most recent video, "Mother Goose" was presented in 1998. His other works include the books, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, ABC, 123, Circle Triangle Square, Farm Days and Mother Goose (all Hyperion), and the videos Alphabet Soup, Fay's Twelve Days of Christmas.