strength, Congdon put his entire self into the work, in the smells, the incisions, the scrapings of medium across the hard board. His use of materials and on the painting’s surface indicate that his early training in sculpture never left him. He applied oil paints on a prepared – often black - board with masonry tools, palette knives, awls and spatulas, as well as large brushes, practically until the end of his life. Finally, in some cases, he would blow gold or silver powder on to the wet paint. In his later years, he forged a singular approach to painting that incorporated the physicality and spontaneity of action painting into forms of figuration and landscape. “Drawing with paint”: Pastels In the last fifteen years of his life, besides painting with oils, Congdon did an increasing number of works on paper, using pastels. The expression “Drawing with paint” is the one Congdon himself used in September 1982 to announce his use of what for him was a new medium (pastels are in fact, a sort of pencil made of paint). The William G. Congdon Foundation Established in 1980, the foundation bears Congdon’s name only since his death in 1998. Created at the artist’s behest, the foundation has the task of enhancing and communicating the significance of his work, by cataloguing his figurative and literary production and organizing exhibitions and other events. Since its creation, the foundation has gradually become the custodian responsible for the maintenance and care of Congdon's paintings, drawings and other artistic works. Through progressive acts of donations - and ultimately through his last will and testament - the artist’s private collection has become the William. G. Congdon Foundation Collection - the property of the Foundation, which manages it in accordance with its own statutory purposes and aims. Notes References Balzarotti, R. and Barbieri, G. William Congdon. An American Artist in Italy, Vicenza, 2001 – Balzarotti, R., Licht, F., Selz, P. William Congdon, Milano 1995 – Galli, S. From New York to Bergen Belsen: William Congdon’s Pacifist Mission Between Ethics and Politics – S.F. Vanni New York, 2006 Works Paintings : Naples Afternoon at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Canal at The Phillips Collection Venice at The Phillips Collection Destroyed City at the Addison Gallery Positano at the Addison Gallery Positano#1 at the Yale University Art Gallery Piazza San Marco at the Yale University Art Gallery Italian Moon