paul winthrop wood
August 29, 1922 - August 24, 2003
“My basic philosophy is that art is an extension of a person and therefore it’s the most personal form of expression. The impetus of my paintings is to share my feelings of joy, wonder, and enthusiasm. I’d like to leave a beautiful trace behind me, in living and affecting other people.”
To say that Paul W Wood was a blazingly original talent as an Abstract Expressionist painter is too limiting to his unique variety of genius. He was not only a brilliant colorist and abstract landscape painter, but also a painter of portraits, including of corporate leaders. He ran his own artist studio in his hometown of Port Washington, New York, where he taught a large group of students along with providing a studio area for his painting and stained glass activities.
He was a working artist who made a living with his artistry in a time when being self-employed in any creative field was an anomaly. Along with his wife Jacqueline (herself an accomplished pianist and artist) they raised four sons, all of whom have made their careers in music and film/video.
Paul was born in 1922 in Detroit, Michigan, the youngest boy in a large family. His father, Albert Wood, was a distinguished architect who founded his own architecture firm Albert Wood & Five Sons which flourished when the family moved to Port Washington, NY.
After studying portraiture at the Art Students’ League in NY, Paul was drafted in 1943. He was stationed in Hawaii where he painted the interior of the barracks with extraordinary images of war battles.
In 1948, he established an art school in Port Washington, N.Y., where he taught his unique method of painting for more than 50 years. He was the long-time head of the Art Council at the Port Washington Public Library where one of his large mosaics is on display.
He was well versed in numerous artistic mediums, including oils, watercolors, mosaics and stained glass. He designed stained glass windows, mosaics and tapestries for more than one hundred churches and synagogues in almost every state.
In addition, Paul also authored two books, one on painting abstract landscapes and the other on stained glass crafting.