William Gaw was born in San Francisco, California on November 26, 1891, the son of artist Hugh Gaw.  As a boy of nine, Gaw was a pupil of James Martin Griffin and continued with him until the disaster of 1906. He enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1908, began exhibiting locally in 1912, and in 1923 moved across the bay to Berkeley where he taught at the California School of Fine Art. In 1940 he was appointed head of the art department at Mills College, a position he held until retiring in 1958. He was known to have painted using bright colors, and later in his career he lectured on the science of color and technique.  An exponent of modern art, he experimented with several art forms including Cubism (1913), Machinist art, and Post-Impressionism. Using a bright and colorful palette, he painted many landscapes of the area around his home and still lifes. He was a regular associate of the Society of Six but was not officially  included in the group because Selden Gile wanted to keep the number firmly at six. Throughout his life Gaw actively exhibited at museums and Galleries such as The Corcoran Gallery (1940's), J.B. Speed Museum of Art (1948), and The California Palace of Legion of Honor in the years; 1932,1945,1946,1949. Gaw died in Berkeley on Feb. 2, 1973.



Member: Bay Region Art Association, Oakland; Bohemian Art Gallery, 1932; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1933; Art Institute of Chicago, 1936;  California Palace of theLegion of Honor, 1935, 1945, 1946, 1949 (solo), 1951, 1952; Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1939, 1941, 1949, de Young Museum, 1935; San Francisco Museum of Art, 1935; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939; New York World's Fair, 1939; Carnegie Institution, 1941; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1942; and many others.



Works held: California Palace of the Legion of Honor; Mills College, Oakland; Oakland Museum; San Francisco Museum of Art; San Diego Museum; Museum of Modern Art, New York.