Bill Purdom
Bill Purdom is an American artist, who has an innate ability to capture likeness in portrait art.
He is a painter who can visually capture feeling, expression, and emotion in memorable moments in time. Bill is internationally acclaimed with his works in private and public collections around the world.
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.
Of his paintings, 78 of them are a part of the permanent collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame (Cooperstown). His originals hang in private collections worldwide.
His baseball lithographs have been seen on the television show Seinfeld and the HBO series Arliss.
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. He was the first artist approved by Steven Spielberg to paint the character "E.T." for a national campaign for MacDonald's Restaurants.
Bill has become the most prolific artists in the history of the Topps Co., Inc. To date he has painted 340 baseball, football and basketball cards. He has been asked to paint lithographs for the NBA, NFL, NHL, NCAA and thoroughbreds for the Saratoga Race Course.
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 stein 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.
His works of art span from corporate to editorial to film and most notably sports. He has worked with top New York advertising agencies on award winning advertising and editorial illustrations.
Bill is a contributor to the New York Times and is a director at the American Museum of Illustration, Society of Illustrators.
Other credits include lithographs for National Baseball Hall of Fame, NFL, NHL and NCAA and Saratoga Raceway. Technical art advisor on the motion picture "61". Commissioned by Major League Baseball for Jackie Robinson's first at bat.
Commissioned by Champion Boston Red Sox, World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Colts World Champions 50th reunion. The Cincinnati Reds and National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum both selected Bill to create ongoing fine art lithograph programs celebrating their respective classic moments.
Families of Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson selected Bill to paint their legendary ancestors.
In 2008 every Reds ticket featured a painting by Mr. Purdom, the first time in history that every game day ticket has utilized fine art.
In 2009, Bill was chosen to officially paint the last pitch at Old Yankee Stadium and the first pitch ant the new Yankee Stadium.
He is the latest artist to be chosen by the U.S. Department of State to have his work hung in U.S. Embassies around the world.
Due to Bill's uncanny ability to capture likenesses, his portraits are highly sought and in great demand.