author
Wayland Wells Williams
1888–1945
A Yale-connected writer and painter, he moved between literature and the visual arts at a time when Connecticut’s cultural life was changing quickly. He is best remembered today for novels and poems as well as for his work with the Federal Art Project in the 1930s.
1 Audiobook
The Whirligig of Time
by Wayland Wells Williams
About the author
Born in 1888, he came from a Yale family and studied art under John Ferguson Weir at the Yale School of Fine Arts. He was on the staff of the Yale University Art Gallery, belonged to the New Haven Paint and Clay Club, and worked as a painter as well as a writer.
His literary work included the 1916 novel The Whirligig of Time, and library records also connect him with other books including poetry and fiction. Archival records at Yale describe him as a New Haven author and artist, and his papers preserve drafts of plays, essays, and other writings from the early twentieth century.
In the 1930s, he became voluntary state director of Connecticut's WPA Federal Art Project, a role that places him within the wider story of public arts support during the Depression era. He died in 1945, leaving behind a career that bridged books, painting, and arts administration.