WILLIAM A. (BILL) REILY, JR. (1930-2014)

Born in San Antonio, Texas, Bill Reily was interested in art from an early age. With encouragement from his godmother, Marion Koogler McNay, he received his first formal instruction from Mrs. Mamie Price, an accomplished art teacher trained at the Art Institute of Chicago. He continued his studies at the San Antonio Art Institute. After earning his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin, Reily began a career as a full-time artist.

With his friend and UT colleague, Cecil Casebier, Reily founded the San Antonio Men of Art Guild, a loose-knit group of contemporary painters within the city. Working and exhibiting together, these men shared an aesthetic synergy in advancing a style of abstract painting in a city famous for its impressionism. Reily joined the faculty at the University of the Incarnate Word, remaining as professor, advisor, and chairman of the fine arts department until his retirement.

Selected Biographical and Career Highlights

1930 Born in San Antonio, Texas
1948 San Antonio Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas
1952 BFA, University of Texas at Austin, Texas
1959 Artist of the Year, San Antonio Art League, San Antonio, Texas
1962 MFA, University of Texas at Austin, Texas
1962–2000 Professor, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas
2014 Died in San Antonio, Texas

Selected Prizes, Awards

Texas Watercolor Society: Cash Prize 1952 (2 works), 1953, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1964; Honorable Mention 1955
- 1952 Cash Prizes (2), Untitled, watercolor; Legation from Far Cathay, watercolor
- 1953 Cash Prize, Deiseality, watercolor
- 1955 Honorable Mention
- 1957 Cash Prize
- 1958 Cash Prize
- 1961 Cash Prize, Waves, watercolor
- 1964 Cash Prize
Texas Fine Arts Association: Purchase Prize 1952; Honorable Mention 1951
1951 Honorable Mention, Metamorphosis
1952 Purchase Prize, Secrets of Black Bird
San Antonio Local Artists: Purchase Prize 1952, 1961, 1980; Cash Prize 1955, 1958; Honorable Mention 1950
1950 Honorable Mention, Planted Green
1952 Purchase Prize, Landscape ’52
1955 Cash Prize
1958 Cash Prize
1961 Purchase Prize
1980 Purchase Prize, Blue Harlequin

Selected Exhibitions

· 1950 San Antonio Local Artists Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (honorable mention)

· 1950 12th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture 1950-1951, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

· 1951 Texas Fine Arts Association Annual Exhibition, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas (honorable mention)

· 1952 San Antonio Local Artists Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (purchase prize)

· 1952 Solo, Pan-American Galleries, San Antonio, Texas

· 1952 Texas Fine Arts Association Annual Exhibition, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas (purchase prize)

· 1952 Texas Watercolor Society 3rd Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (cash prizes, 2 entries)

· 1953 Solo, The Art Center, San Antonio, Texas

· 1953 San Antonio Local Artists Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1953 Texas Fine Arts Association Annual Exhibition, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas

· 1953 Texas Watercolor Society 4th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas, selection circulated: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Texas A&M University, College Station; Texas A&I College, Kingsville; Centennial Museum, Corpus Christi, Texas (cash prize)

· 1954 Solo, Men of Art Guild Galleries, San Antonio, Texas

· 1954 San Antonio Local Artists Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1954 16th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture 1954, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas

· 1954 Texas Watercolor Society Exhibition 5th Annual, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

· 1955 San Antonio Local Artists Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (cash prize)

· 1955 Texas Watercolor Society 6th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (honorable mention)

· 1955 Texas Fine Arts Association Annual Exhibition, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas

· 1956 Texas Watercolor Society 7th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1956 Reily, McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas (catalogue)

· 1956 San Antonio Local Artists Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1956 Boston Printmakers, Boston Museum of fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

· 1956 Bay Printmakers’ National Exhibition, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland California

· 1956 Texas Invitational: San Antonio Men of Art Guild, McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas

· 1956–58 Contemporary American Drawings, Chateau Des Rohan, Strasbourg, France, September 29–October 28, circulated: Musee, Metz; Musee, Dunkerque; Musse Reattu, Arles; Musee Ernest Rupin, Birve-La-Gaillarde; Musee Des Beaux-Arts, Rodez; Foundation Clews, La Napoule; Musee Des Beauz-Arts, Toulouse; Musee Des Beaux-Arts, Angers, France (catalogue)

· 1956–59 Contemporary American Paintings, arranged by the American Federation of Arts and the U.S. Information Service, European Tour (catalogue)

· 1957 Fifty Paintings from Fifty Texas Collections, McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas

· 1957 U.S. Embassy Selections, Meltzer Gallery, New York, New York

· 1957 The Found Object, Men of Art Guild Gallery, San Antonio, Texas

· 1957 Survey of Painting in Texas, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, circulated by American Federation of Arts (catalogue)

· 1957 Texas Fine Arts Association Annual Exhibition, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas

· 1957 Texas Watercolor Society 8th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (cash prize)

· 1957 19th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1957-1958, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, Texas

· 1958 San Antonio Local Artists Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (cash prize)

· 1958 Texas Watercolor Society 9th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (cash prize)

· 1958 Collages, Watercolors, Drawings, Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York, New York

· 1958 American Art in San Antonio Collections, McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas

· 1959 Texas Watercolor Society 10th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

· 1959 Solo, San Antonio Art League Artist of the Year, Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, Texas (catalogue)

· 1959 Made in Texas by Texans, Dallas Museum of Contemporary Art, Sheraton-Dallas Hotel, Dallas, Texas (catalogue)

· 1959 21st Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1959-1960, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; Museum, Texas Tech, Lubbock; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

· 1961 San Antonio Local Artists Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (purchase prize)

· 1961 Centennial Exhibition, American Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities, Nelson-Adkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri

· 1961 Solo, Art Forum for Contemporary Arts, Waco, Texas

· 1961 Texas Watercolor Society 12th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas, selection circulated: Junior League, Galveston; Texas A&M University, College Station; Public Library, Dallas; A&I College, Kingsville; Gates Gallery, Port Arthur; Art Association, Wichita Falls; Art Forum, Waco; Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin; Texas Western College, El Paso, Texas (cash prize)

· 1961 San Antonio Contemporary Art Group, Albuquerque Museum of Fine Arts, Albuquerque, New Mexico

· 1962 Solo, MFA Show, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

· 1962 24th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1962-1963, circulated: Witte Museum, San Antonio; Centennial Art Museum, Corpus Christi; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

· 1963 Texas Watercolor Society 14th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, March 10 – March 31, selection circulated: Texas A&M University, College Station; Art Association, Wichita Falls; Centennial Museum, Corpus Christi; Texas A&I College, Kingsville; McAllen State Bank, McAllen; Galveston Junior League, Galveston; Art Center, Lubbock; Sul Ross State College, Alpine; Midland Public Library, Midland, Texas

· 1963 25th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1963-1964, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Centennial Art Museum, Corpus Christi; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso; Witte Museum, San Antonio; University of Texas at Austin, Texas

· 1963, 1964 Solo, Hill Country Arts Foundation, Ingram, Texas

· 1963-64 San Antonio Contemporary Artists Group, circulated: Del Mar College, Corpus Christi; Texas A&M College, College Station; South Plains College, Levelland; St. Edward’s University, Austin; Texas A&I College, Kingsville, Texas

· 1964 Festival of the Bible in the Arts, Temple Emmanuel, Houston, Texas

· 1964 New Accessions, U.S.A., Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado (catalogue)

· 1964 San Antonio Local Artists Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1964 Texas Watercolor Society 15th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (cash prize)

· 1967 San Antonio Art League Artists of the Year Retrospective, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1968 The Sphere of Art in Texas, Texas Fine Arts Commission, Texas Pavilion, HemisFair ’68, San Antonio, Texas

· 1968 Tenth Annual Invitation Painting Exhibition, Junior League, Longview, Texas

· 1969 Contemporary Artists’ Group of San Antonio, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas

· 1969 Solo, Incarnate Word College, San Antonio, Texas

· 1970 Bill Reily, University of Texas Medical School, San Antonio, Texas (catalogue)

· 1971 Prints of Bill Reily, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas (catalogue)

· 1971–72 Texas Painting and Sculpture: The 20th Century, Pollack Galleries, Owen Arts Center, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, circulated: Witte Confluence Museum, HemisFair Plaza, San Antonio; University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; The Museum, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas (catalogue)

· 1971-73 Process: Growth of the Artist, sponsored by National Endowment for the Arts and the Texas Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, September 2 – September 26, circulated: Kilgore Junior College, Kilgore; East Texas State University, Commerce; Beaumont Art Museum; Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas

· 1976 200 Years of American Prints in San Antonio, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas

· 1976 65 Years of Prize-Winning Artists, Texas Fine Arts Association, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas

· 1976 San Antonio Artists Exhibition, Koehler Cultural Center, San Antonio, Texas

· 1977 Senior San Antonio Art Faculties: Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1980 San Antonio Artists Exhibition, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas, catalogue (purchase prize)

· 1981 Contemporary Artists Group of San Antonio Retrospective, McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas

· 1981 Miniature Show, San Antonio Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas

· 1988 The McNay and the Texas Artist, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1991 Amy Freeman Lee: A Texas Collector, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas (catalogue)

· 1992 Art Faculties of San Antonio Universities and Colleges, Downtown Gallery, San Antonio, Texas

· 1993 Incarnate Word Art Faculty Exhibition, Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, Texas

· 1994 Putting it on Paper: Contemporary Graphics by San Antonio Artists, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1995 One More Time: The Men of Art Guild, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas

· 1996 Texas Art of the 50s and 60s, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas

· 1996 1950s Artists of the Year, San Antonio Art League Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1999 U.I.W. Art Faculty, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas

· 2000 Collage in Contrast, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 2002 Texas Modern: Bill Reily, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 2003 The Moderns: Twentieth-century American Prints, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 2008 Rediscovering Reily: Splendid Renderings of a San Antonio Modernist, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

· 2009 Painting West Texas: 35 Artists/100 Years, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

· 2009 A Texas Sampler: Vintage Paintings by Thirty Texas Artists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2009 Back to the Future: Elements of “Modern” in Mid-Century Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2009 Texas Paper: Watercolors, Pastels and Drawings from the Lone Star State, 1938-2008, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2009-10 Texas Art Seen, Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas

· 2010 Water Rites: Rivers, Lakes, and Streams in Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2010 Texas Collages: A Tribute to Kurt Schwitters, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2010 The Presence of Light: Sky and Light in the Texas Landscape, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2011 Lone Star Modernism: A Celebration of Mid-Century Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2011 Breakthrough: Sixty Years of Texas Abstraction, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2012 A Survey of Texas Modernists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2012 Texas Expressionism, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2013 Restless Heart: The Collectors’ Quest to Find Texas in Art, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas

· 2013 A Tribute to Texas Rivers, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2013 Rhythms of Modernism, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2014 A New Visual Vocabulary: Developments in Texas Modernism 1935-1965, One Allen Center, Lobby Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 2015 Tribute to Bill Reily, William Reaves Art, Houston, Texas

· 2018 The Art of Bill Reily, The University of Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas

· 2018 100 Years of Printmaking in San Antonio: Bill Reily, The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas

Selected Public Collections

Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio Art League Museum, San Antonio, Texas
Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, Texas
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
U.S. Information Service, Washington, D.C.
Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

Bill Reily Works on Paper

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