William Woodward

American, 1859–1939

Death placeBiloxi, Mississippi, United States

Birth placeSeekonk, Massachusetts, United States

BiographyBorn in Seekonk, Massachusetts, William Woodward studied art at the Normal Art School in Boston, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Academie Julien in Paris. In 1884 Tulane College and High School (today Tulane University) hired him to teach free-drawing classes. With his brother Ellsworth he helped organize the art department at Newcomb College, a new school for women, in 1887. Woodward’s great interest in architecture was evident in his efforts to save the Cabildo and Arsenal from demolition in 1895 and in his instrumental role in founding the Tulane School of Architecture in 1907.
Through his paintings, Woodward recorded historic buildings of the French Quarter and the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast. He adopted the use of a solid Raffaelli oil crayon, which he felt emphasized the effects of natural light and color. Working in the impressionist style favored by many early twentieth-century American artists, he captured these effects by painting en plein air, or out-of-doors.

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