William Persona

American, 1903-1996

Biography

Born in West Virginia on April 12, 1903.  A painter, art teacher and cartoonist, William Persona (né William A. Parsons) completed over 4000 paintings. He studied in Chicago at the Academy of Fine Arts, and in the 1920s moved to Los Angeles to study at the Otis Art Institute. He was a cartoonist for the “Hollywood Citizen News” and an artist for the “Long Beach Telegram”. He also created masks for motion picture studios and taught in the public schools in Los Angeles and Mexico.