(1922 – 2004)
Born: December 31, 1922, San Francisco, CA
Education:
MA, University of California, Berkeley, 1951
BA, University of California, Berkeley, 1950
Studied at the California School of Fine Arts 1939-1943
Studies:
Studied with Rupert Garcia 1987-1988
Studied lithography with Richard Graf 1969
Studied etching with Gordon Cook 1968
Studied with Max Beckmann at Mills College 1950
Shared studio with James Weeks 1949 - 1955
Solo Shows:
2011 William Wolff: Persons & Portraits, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 William Wolff: A Printmaker’s Odyssey, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
William Wolff: Paintings form the Estate, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 William Wolff: The Invisible City, Warnock Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
William Wolff: Paintings form the 1950s-1960s, Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2002 Masquerade and Revelation: A William Wolff Retrospective, Heart Art Gallery,
St. Mary’s College of California, Moraga, CA, catalogue
1999 Write the Things Which Thou Hast Seen, woodcuts, etchings and paintings by William Wolff
Fetterly Gallery, Vallejo, CA, catalogue
1988 Woodcuts, Warner Roberts Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
1987 Pastel Drawings, F. J. Michaels Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1984 Woodcuts, F. J. Michaels Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1981 Recent Woodcuts, Printmakers Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1976 Actor Print Series, Berkeley Stage Company, Berkeley, CA
1975 Etchings and Woodcuts, Marquoit Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1975 Select Arts, San Francisco, CA
1974 Printmaker’s Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Vintage 1870 Depot Gallery, Napa Valley
1972 Serigraphs, etchings, Psyche and Symbol Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Etchings and Woodcuts, Marquoit Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1969 Etchings, Lithographs, Serigraphs, Print Room, John Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Arts Commission woodcut show, San Francisco, CA
1968 Woodcuts, Trutton Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1962-1968 Prints shown at Original Prints Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1962 Woodcuts, City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco, CA
1955 Oil Paintings, Lucien Labaudt Gallery
Group Exhibitions:
2010 Self Portraits & Others, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Drawings & Prints by Bay Area Artists, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 AQUA: Art on Water, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Un-titled, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 You Better Come See MF (my friends), ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008 Here and Now, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2005 Looking Back and Seeing Forward, Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco
2003 The Curatorial Eye: Fifteen Perspectives, (curated by Theres Rohan) Sonoma Museum
of Visual Art, Santa Rosa
Night Shift (Aspects of the Night) Collectors Gallery at the Oakland Museum
2002 Proof(s) of Life, The Graphic Arts Workshop 1952 - 2002, Meridian Gallery, San Francisco
2001 The Spirit of Handmade Prints, California Society of Printmakers, Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA
Unique Voices, six artists, Hayward Arts Council, Green Shutter Gallery, Hayward, CA
Multi-drop/Multi-plate, Fetterly Gallery, Vallejo, CA, curated by Daniel Robeski
2000 California Society of Printmakers annual exhibit 2000, College Art Gallery, Kentfield, CA
1999 California Prints From Wood IV, Collectors Gallery, Oakland, CA curated by Art Hazelwood
Fifth Anniversary Invitational Exhibit, Fetterly Gallery, Vallejo, CA curated by Daniel Robeski
The View From Here-10 Years of Art from the Street Sheet, 509 Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
Street Sheet Ten Year Anniversary, Art Show and Auction, SOMARTS Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Small Works from the California Society of Printmakers, 1999 Annual Exhibition, Claudia
Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, CA
On the Edge of the Century: Printmaking and Social Commentary in the 1990s, Berkeley Art
Center, juror Rene Yanez
From A to Z: How Prints are Made, Janet Turner Print Gallery, Chico, CA
1998 The Third Annual California Artists’ Prints From Wood, Collectors Gallery, Oakland, CA
Tradition and Transition in the 90’s, SOMAR Gallery, San Francisco, CA
A Tradition Continued: Relief Prints, Fetterly Gallery, Vallejo, CA Juror, Daniel Robeski
Points of Passing, Artists of the Street Sheet, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco
California Society of Printmakers 85th Anniversary Exhibition, Academy of Art College
Gallery, San Francisco
1997 Prints from Wood 2, Collectors Gallery, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
The Shakespeare Folio, Coastal Arts League Museum Gallery 92 West, Half Moon Bay, CA
Spiritual Pathways, SOMAR Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1994 Pacific Prints, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA
The Cutting Edge, Woodblocks and Linocuts, C. I. Clark Galleries, Bakersfield, CA
1993 Ink and Clay, Bay Area Edition Printmakers and Clay Artists, Holmes Fine Arts Gallery, San Jose
Annual Holiday Invitational, SOMAR Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Return of Amorphous Mollusc III, Bridge Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1992 Contemporary Relief Print-Making, College of the Mainland Art Gallery, Texas City, TX
Directions in Bay Area Printmaking: 3 Decades, Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, CA
Fourth Annual Figure Drawing Competition, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA
Pacific Prints, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA
Black and White, Woodcuts, Ebert Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Return of Amorphous Mollusc II, Onoshi and Nakayoshi Productions, San Francisco, CA
Current Trends in Printmaking, Art Works Galleries, Fair Oaks, CA
1991 Art Exhibition Series I, University of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ
Third Special Exhibition: Printmakers, Galerie Voyage, San Francisco, CA
Selections from the 5 Artists Folio, Memorial Union Graphics Gallery, University of Maine
Museum of Art, Orono, ME
1990 Original Prints by the Graphics Arts Workshop, Kerns Art Center, Eugene, Oregon
Memorial III, First Unitarian Church Center, San Francisco, CA
1989 Five Printmakers, Printmakers Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Woodcuts, Golden West College, Huntington Beach, CA
Poet as Artist - Artist as Poet, National Poetry Association, Herbst Pavilion, Ft. Mason, San Francisco, CA
The Funen Graphics Workshop, Odense, Denmark
Monday Morning Figure Drawings, drawing group with Charles Griffin Farr, Goat Hill Pizza, San Francisco, CA
1988 Angels, The Art Corridor, Menlo Park, CA
Multiples, Pro Arts, Oakland, CA, juried by William Wolff, Linda Boyd, Michele Ferandell
Prints North / South, Mills College Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA
Pacific Prints 1988, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA
In Relief. Contemporary Printmaking, Modesto Jr. College Art Gallery, Modesto, CA
1987 About Faces, Civic Arts Galley, Walnut Creek, CA
Memorial II, Lawson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Cutting Edge: Relief Prints, San Francisco, CA
Point of View, Women Portrayed, Sunnyvale Creative Arts Center Gallery, Sunnyvale, CA
1986 Northern California Print Competition, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA
1985 Seven San Francisco Printmakers, South of Market Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
1983 Bay Area Woodblocks, World Print Council, San Francisco, CA
1977 Seven Bay Area Artists (including Charles Griffin Farr, and Emmy Lou Packard) Marina
View Gallery, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
1976 San Francisco Annual Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA
1974 San Francisco Art Commission Group Exhibition, Palace of the Legion of Honor,
Three minute animated film, Act of War, shown in Ultra Films program, Oakland Museum,
Prints by 4 San Francisco Artists, The Depot Gallery, Yountville, CA with Emmy Lou
Packard, Ethel Weiner Guttman and Ken Byler
1972 New From San Francisco, 16 members artists, Graphic Arts Workshop, June 1 Gallery of
Fine Art, Washington DC, Artist’s Frame Shop and Gallery, Binghampton, New York
1971-74 Contemporary Miniature Prints, traveling show
1966 Drawings From San Francisco, traveling exhibition organized by the San Francisco Art
Institute’s Art Bank, catalog.
1965 The Figure: West Coast, Laguna Beach Art Association invitational exhibit.
5th Annual Mercyhurst National Exhibition, Prints and Drawings, Erie Art Center, Erie PA
California Society of Etchers National Print Exhibition 1965, San Francisco Museum of Art
1964-66 Natural and Supernatural, traveling exhibition of prints organized by the San Francisco
Art Institute’s Art Bank, catalog.
1963 Art in Embassies exhibition, toured 34 countries shown in New York at the IBM Gallery and
the Oakland Museum with 28 Bay Area printmakers, Catalogue produced for show in
Dacca Bangladesh with image of print “Landscape”
1962 The San Francisco Art Institute’s Art Bank catalog of 1962-63. Oil painting “Landscape
with Figures” reproduced
Second Summer Festival, Tacoma Art League, Tacoma, WA, oil painting “Landscape with
Figures” on back cover of catalog
1959 Contemporary Figurative Painting, traveling exhibition organized by the San Francisco Art
Institute’s Art Bank, catalog of Art Bank 1959-1960. (venues included San Francisco
Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, CA
1958 The San Francisco Art Institute’s Art Bank catalog of 1958. Oil painting “The Gate”
reproduced
Collections:
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
New York Public Library, New York
Library of Congress, print collection, Washington, DC
Hearst Gallery, St. Mary’s College of California, Moraga, CA, collection
Achenbach Collection, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
Janet Turner Print Gallery, Chico State University, Chico, CA, collection
The Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, collection
Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA, collection
Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley, CA, collection
Fetterly Gallery, Vallejo Community Arts Foundation Collection, Vallejo, CA
City and County of San Francisco, collection
Print Club of Albany, Albany, NY, collection
Awards:
2000 Honored by the Graphics Arts Workshop for his many years of artistic contribution
1976 Purchase Award, Annual San Francisco Arts Festival
1967 Graphics Award, Rochester Festival of Religious Art, Rochester, New York
1951 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Annual Art Show, Drawing Award
1960 Oil painting on Extended loan to the Oakland Museum
Artist Books:
1993-2002 in collaboration with Paper Crane Press, Half Moon Bay, CA
5 Artists Folio
The Shakespeare Folio, 12 artists
Poems - Poetry of James Campbell, 14 woodcuts with letterpress
Simon Peter Saith Unto Them, “I go a fishin’,” 5 etchings with letterpress
1962 in collaboration with San Francisco Arts Commission
Poets and Printmakers
Associations: Graphic Arts Workshop, San Francisco, CA member since 1970
California Society of Printmakers, Berkeley, CA (Past President 1988-1989)
Teacher:
1994 Guest Speaker, Academy of Art College, San Francisco, CA
Catherine Julie Cunningham Visiting Scholar, Lectured on “James Weeks: An
1992 Artist’s View” College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA, Spring
1957-1983 Special Ed., San Francisco School District, Youth Guidance Center
1980 Introduction to Woodcut Printmaking, Fort Mason, San Francisco
Animation Workshop Artist in Residence with Todd Flinchbaugh
1971 SF Museum of Art
