Thousands watched him work at Keeneland. Now you could own one of his paintings.
For years, renowned artist Peter Williams was a fixture at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, capturing the beauty of the tracks and the excitement of racing in oil paintings that came to life as onlookers gathered around.
This week, fans of his work will have an opportunity to purchase an original.
More than 400 paintings by Williams will be auctioned by Biederman Real Estate & Auctioneers at Fasig-Tipton on Newtown Pike in Lexington Nov. 1.
Biederman’s website says these are “the remaining paintings from his personal collection and archives.”
Williams, a native of New Zealand, died in 2018 at his home in Goshen, Ky., after struggling with Lyme disease and dementia. He was 84.
While there are plenty of equestrian-themed paintings — including scenes from Keeneland, Churchill Downs and the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event — among the paintings to be sold Tuesday, the estate auction also includes subjects including landscapes and seascapes, nudes, florals, classic cars and studies of animals.
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Over the years, Williams held more than 50 one-man exhibitions and traveled throughout the world, painting what he saw.
Fran Taylor, former executive director of the Keeneland Foundation who wrote and produced Williams’ book, “Peter Williams Retrospective: Paintings and People Dear to Me,” in 2012, said in an email that Williams was a prolific artist who sold many paintings but often kept for himself the best that didn’t sell.
“The ones he didn’t like, he destroyed or painted over,” she wrote. ”He didn’t throw them away because he had once seen someone carting one away that had been thrown in the trash.”
She said Williams loved to chat with the people he met while painting.
“If he really liked someone he would hand them a paintbrush and tell them to add something to his painting,” she wrote. “Of course they would be flattered and quite often would purchase one of his paintings. I’ll never forget seeing him hand the paintbrush to a little boy, telling him to paint a little ‘mousie’ in the corner. The little boy painted a mouse that was about 3 inches high on an all-but-finished painting and Peter just laughed.
“He loved to include funny details in his paintings — a sunbathing girl up in the tree tops or a jockey and bicycle in the saddling paddock. He was a character.”
The auction begins at 1 p.m. and will be conducted both online and in person. The auction’s website says the works will be available for inspection from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday and Monday.
This story was originally published October 29, 2022 at 8:28 PM.
