Williams Posthumously Awarded Distinguished Fellowship

Peter Williams ’75 has been selected to be a United States Artists Fellow.

Williams (1952–2021) was a chronicler of current and historical events, interspersing pictorial narratives with personal anecdotes and fictional characters to create colorful paintings about the diverse experiences of Black Americans. With boldness and humor, Williams tackled even the darkest of subjects, including but not limited to police brutality, lynching, slavery, mass incarceration, and other realms of racial oppression. He used cultural criticism to form new creation myths, retelling the history of America from fresh and cosmic perspectives. He was recently retired from his position as senior professor in the Fine Arts Department at the University of Delaware and had previously taught for seventeen years at Wayne State University.

Learn More

• Williams on United States Artists
• Williams's Artsy Profile