Paul Wonner (b. 1920 – d. 2008)
Paul Wonner, was a prominent American artist who made significant contributions to the Bay Area Figurative Movement. He studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, earning his Bachelor’s degree in 1941. After serving in the military and briefly studying in New York, Wonner returned to the Bay Area, where he completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in fine arts at UC Berkeley by 1953. Wonner’s early work featured a brushy style that evolved in the late 1970s into a crisp, light-filled approach, focusing on still life themes. His mature works, collected by major U.S. museums, are renowned for their surrealistic spatial arrangements. Wonner’s later years saw a return to painting human figures in allegorical settings.
