William Pidgeon

Who was William Pidgeon?

William Edwin Pidgeon, aka Bill Pidgeon and WEP, was an Australian painter who won the Archibald Prize three times.

Pidgeon began his drawing career by doing comic illustrations for his Technical High School magazine; at 16 years of age he began a newspaper artist cadetship at The Sunday Times. He studied for a period of 6 months under J. S. Watkins.

Pidgeon was war correspondent for the Australian Women's Weekly and his drawings were often on the front cover.

Pidgeon won the Archibald Prize in 1958 with a portrait of journalist Ray Walker, in 1961 with a portrait of Rabbi Dr I Porush and again in 1968 with a portrait of fellow artist and friend, Dr Lloyd Rees.

Cartoonist Les Tanner studied under Pidgeon.