William H. Scott III, 1927-2013

Local artist’s works won several awards

5/7/2013

William H. Scott III, an award-winning Toledo artist whose still-life and landscape works were shown throughout the country, died Monday in Ebeid Hospice in Sylvania. He was 86.

Mr. Scott battled heart problems since 2001 and died of complications from congestive heart failure, said his wife, Gloria Scott.

A self-taught painter whose only education in art was through a correspondence course, he exhibited and sold his works in galleries in New York, Philadelphia, and Palm Beach, Fla., Mrs. Scott said.

"His artwork is displayed throughout the country and the world," she said. "He was much more scholarly than everyone ever realized. He studied the brush strokes of artists and mixed his own colors."

He was born Jan. 9, 1927, in Toledo, but moved with his family at age 4 to Alton, Ill., where he graduated in 1945 from Alton High School. He became interested in fine arts two years later and learned to paint in oils.

According to a biography he submitted to The Blade in 1965, he was awarded second prize in 1950 at the Alton Art Guild show with “Kitchen Objects,” which was accepted in New York's Allied Artists of America Exhibition. “Crow and Crocker,” another of his works, was accepted at the same show.

Mrs. Scott said her husband returned to Toledo in his 20s, expanding into pen and ink and watercolors and taking on large-scale works.

However, he took an hiatus from painting from 1952 to December, 1963, to study jewelry making and engraving in Paris, Texas, his wife said.

Inspired by the Dutch, Flemish, and Italian old masters, he resumed painting and drawing in 1964, winning honors that year in the Sandusky Exchange Club annual show and the Downtown Art Exhibition at the National Bank of Toledo in the Nicholas Building.

He met his future wife, the former Gloria Jean Kory, through their membership in the Toledo Artists Club. They married Aug. 27, 1968.

The subjects of his art ranged from still-life to landscapes.

"He did winter scenes, barns, and things like that," Mrs. Scott said. "I think his greatest art was still life. He put meaning into his objects that he painted and it really made people think about their lives and what it meant to them."

Mr. Scott painted in a studio in his Sylvania Township home, where he also taught art classes, and for several years had a studio in the Collingwood Arts Center.

Surviving are his wife, Gloria, and daughter, Bonnie Scott.

There will be no visitation, and services will be private. The family suggests tributes to Paws and Whiskers Cat Shelter.

— Mark Reiter