William Dunlap

William is a painter, writer, arts advocate, and commentator.

​The American landscape, its flora, and fauna are essential elements in Dunlap’s art, as are certain iconic Old Masters, such as Rembrandt’s series of self-portraits, which he quotes in paintings and constructions.

​He calls what he does Hypothetical Realism. “The places and situations I paint aren’t real…but they could be.”

​Allegory is ever present in this work. Whether on the page or in the picture plane, Dunlap expects the viewer to meet him halfway. There is nothing backward-looking about narrative art. On the contrary, one can hardly contemplate something more contemporary or edgy.

​In a career spanning more than four decades, Dunlap has exhibited internationally and is included in numerous public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art. He has received awards and honors from the Danforth, Rockefeller, Lila Wallace, and Warhol Foundations, as well as the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters and the Mississippi Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Dunlap, (University Press of Mississippi, 2006) with essays by Rick Gruber and Julia Reed, remains a definitive book of the artist’s work. Short Mean Fiction - Words and Pictures (Nautilus Press, 2016) is Dunlap’s initial foray into literary fiction with stories drawn from decades of sketchbooks accompanied by reproductions of original drawings.

​William Dunlap maintains studios in Coral Gables, Florida; McLean, Virginia; and Mathiston, Mississippi, and can be contacted through his website.