Bill Anton

Artist Biography

After seeing the American west for the first time as a seven year old, Bill Anton vowed to return for good someday. He left his home in the Midwest some 12 years later and the Arizona high country has been home ever since. Exposed to art early and often, Anton drew constantly from the time he was old enough to hold a pencil. Inevitably, his two great loves in life united when he turned to western art, prints and posters full time in 1982.

After several years of making a living as an artist, Bill Anton began getting national exposure, but wasn't satisfied with the progress of his art, prints and posters. Through the influence of some of the country's best painters, he realized painting outside from life was the only way he would see the artistic growth he wanted. And the passion and spontaneity needed for plein air painting began to help him solve problems in the studio as well. Drawn to the work of Zorn, Sorolla, Payne, and Frank Tenney Johnson, Anton works from field studies whenever possible to achieve the vitality photos cannot match.

Bill Anton's paintings reflect his fascination with the cowboy lifestyle. In an interview in Art of the West, he said about his art, prints and posters, "The cowboy is connected with the land, like a ponderosa pine. He is unassuming, but he can do anything. He is amazing. A painting all starts with my own reverence and excitement with that person on horseback. I never get tired of the nobility of a man on horseback."

Bill Anton Art, Prints and Posters Collection