William King was a pivotal figure in American sculpture. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1925, he grew up in Coconut Grove, Miami. He arrived in New York in 1945, enrolled in Cooper Union, and upon graduation in 1948, won a scholarship to the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, in Maine. He traveled to Rome on a Fulbright scholarship, and later to Athens, and to London. His first solo show was at the Alan Gallery, in New York, 1954, and he continued to show his work, both at home and abroad, for the next 60 years.
King’s art is in the permanent collections of the Guggenheim Museum, the Hirshhorn, the Whitney, the Met, among many others, and his public commissions are placed in 18 locations throughout the U.S. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he also served as president of the Academy of Design, 1994-98. He received Lifetime Achievement Awards from Guild Hall in 1997, and from the International Sculpture Center, 2007.
He lived with his wife, Connie Fox (2024 Hall of Fame inductee), in the Northwest Woods for 33 years. Hilton Kramer wrote: “The sculpture of William King is a sculpture of comic gesture.” He appeared in 3 of the now famous Stable shows (1955-57).