

Bill Paskewitz
This early 1980s pastel and charcoal drawing is by Bill Paskewitz (1953-2014). Paskewitz was a New York-born painter and influential Bay Area art educator whose work bridged the traditions of European art history and the expressive experimentation of postwar American painting. Raised and educated in New York City, he studied at Cooper Union and regularly visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art to draw from its collections, developing a lifelong engagement with the Old Masters. Deeply influenced by the gestural abstraction of Willem de Kooning and the layered imagery of David Salle, Paskewitz developed a distinctive visual language that moved fluidly between figuration and abstraction. Fascinated by traditional artistic materials and methods, he frequently made his own drawing media, burning gathered twigs to produce charcoal and harvesting natural ochres from the earth to create pigments. After relocating to California in the late 1970s, Paskewitz continued his prolific artistic practice while becoming a highly respected college professor of art and art history in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Early 1980s
Pastel & Charcoal on Paper
31.25"x41" framed, 31.25"x39" unframed
Signed lower right. Framed floating in a contemporary wood frame with a black finish using clear archival spacers behind plexiglass. Excellent vintage condition; small pinholes in each corner.