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Autographed Sports Memorabilia, Sports Collectibles at autographedathelete.com :: Who is Bill Purdom
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Who is Bill Purdom |
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Who is Bill Purdom
 William
Scahill (Bill) Purdom was born in Charleston, West Virginia on October 27, 1953.
He grew up in Wyoming, Ohio where by age 9 his artwork was attracting local
attention. After Wyoming High School came Auburn University. He graduated in
1975 with a degree in visual design. The next 19 years were spent working and
living in New York City. He started working at Whistl’n Dixie Studio where his
art for Bloomingdales gained him international attention. This notoriety allowed
him to become self-employed.
Used by every major advertising agency in New York, Bill has also illustrated
billboards, movie posters, album covers and worked on national campaigns for
Mercedes Benz, Nikon, Panasonic, American Express, and three major television
networks. He was the first artist allowed by Steven Spielberg to paint the
character “E.T.” (in a national campaign for McDonald’s). While living in New
York he was a major contributor to The New York Times and his work appeared in
many magazines, among them Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, Fortune, Time, Esquire,
Sport and National Lampoon. While living in the city, Bill was on the Board of
Directors of the American Museum of Illustration and the Society of
Illustrators.
After 12 years of award winning advertising and editorial illustration, Bill
switched to the fine arts field. Since 1989 he has painted to date 78 great
moments in baseball, including 10 first pitch paintings of the various new
ballparks that have opened around the country. His baseball lithographs have
been seen on the television show Seinfeld and the HBO series Arliss. His
originals hang in private collections worldwide and lithographs of all 78 of his
paintings are a part of the permanent collection of the National Baseball Hall
of Fame. Bill has also done lithographs for the NBA, NFL, NHL, NCAA and
thoroughbreds for the Saratoga Raceway.
In the last year Bill became the most prolific artist in the history of the
Topps Co., Inc. To date he has painted 340 baseball, football and basketball
cards with projects scheduled for the next several years. Bill is the only
artist who has been officially licensed by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. to commemorate
the fallen hero. On QVC, when presented on air his eighty card set telling the
life story of Dale Earnhardt sold 18,000 units in 15 minutes. His stain
celebrating the life of Dale Earnhardt completely sold out as did his framed
lithograph of the great driver, which sold 54,000 units in 24 hours. Due to
Bill’s uncanny ability to capture likenesses, his portraits are highly sought
and in great demand.
Most recently Bill was a technical advisor for Billy Crystal’s Mantle and Maris
movie “61”. On April 15, 2004, Major League Baseball, in an unprecedented
combination of art appreciation and heritage celebration handed out 250,000
copies of Bill’s painting of Jackie Robinson’s first at bat to lucky fans in
ball parks across America.
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