Pajaud, William E., William E., Jr. (William Etienne)
Biographical Statement
William Pajaud is an African-American painter, printmaker, curator, and advertiser. His oils and watercolors have appeared in major exhibits and galleries throughout the country. He also served as curator of the art collection owned by Golden State Mutual Life Insurance, considered one of the most important African American art collections in the world.
William Etienne Pajaud Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 3, 1925. He was the only child of William Etienne Pajaud Sr. and Audrey Du Conge. Pajaud's father, nicknamed Willie, was a musician who favored playing at jazz funerals. As a young boy, Pajaud was hospitalized due to an almost fatal reaction to a mosquito bite. This experience, however, placed Pajaud on the path to a career as an artist. His roommate in the hospital was an elderly man who was a cartoonist and who sparked Pajaud's interest in drawing. At 12-years-old, Pajaud painted his first watercolor.
After Pajaud's hospital release, his parents divorced. Pajaud and his mother moved around in his youth, from Nashville to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then to Tyler, Texas. He returned to New Orleans to attend Xavier University on a full academic scholarship. At Xavier, Pajaud's watercolor skills greatly developed thanks in part to his art instructor, Numa Rousseve. In 1946, Pajaud graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a minor in Romance languages.
After moving to Los Angeles, California, with his family, Pajaud worked a number of odd jobs before pursuing another degree in advertising art at Chouinard Art Institute on a Chrysler Corporation scholarship. He was the first African American to be admitted to the institute's day school and complete a degree, but not without discrimination and difficulty. It was only until Golden State Mutual Life Insurance -- one of the largest African American-owned companies at the time -- hired him in 1957 that his career as an artist was set in motion.
At Golden State Mutual Life Insurance, Pajaud designed advertisements, as well as produced and distributed the company's publications. Later in his career, he spent twenty years curating one of the most important African American art collections in the world. Some artists represented in this 250-piece collection included: Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, and Pajaud himself. Eventually, Pajaud rose to Vice President of Public Relations and Advertising at Golden State. He retired on August 31, 1987, to focus on his art.
In his free time, Pajaud worked with many different art mediums, including drawing, prints, oils, and watercolors. Pajaud's experiences as an African American in the South greatly influenced his work. The artist's pieces include themes of African American tradition as well as hardships. Pajaud used black female figures in much of his work, as he believed they were essential regarding the survival of his race from slavery to present times. He favored displaying the human concept of coping with the cycles of life and death. After his father's death in 1960, Pajaud began focusing his artistic work on traditional New Orleans jazz funerals. In 1994, after the loss of his son, Ernest, to cancer, Pajaud again turned to art to deal with a family member's death.
Pajaud has been a member of various art institutions -- the Society of Graphic Designers, the Los Angeles County Art Association, and the National Watercolor Society, of which he served as President from 1974 to 1975. His works were featured in many exhibitions throughout the United States. He also had a number of one man shows in Los Angeles. Pajaud's art was and is collected and owned by many. For his oeuvre, he has been granted many awards throughout his life, including the 1969 PRSA Art Exhibition Award of Merit, the 1971 National Association of Media Women Communications Award, the 1975 University of the Pacific Honor, the 1978 Paul Robeson Special Award for Contribution to the Arts, the 1981 PR News Gold Key Award, and the 1981 League of Allied Arts Corporation Artists of Achievement Award.
In 1946, Pajaud married his first wife, Harriet Craft, from Chicago, Illinois. Two years later, they had their first of three children, William III. After moving to Los Angeles from Chicago, the births of Ernest and Joseph followed. Pajaud also has two children, Gayle and Anne, with his second wife, Donlapy Wangcharoensuk. He currently resides in Los Angeles.