Boys Reading

William Winter was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1909. He studied at the Winnipeg School of Art from 1923 to 1929 under notable instructors including L.L. Fitzgerald and Frank H. Johnston of the Group of Seven. After graduating, Winter worked as a commercial artist at Brigden's in Winnipeg from 1930 to 1935 before relocating to Toronto in 1937.

In Toronto, Winter co-founded the commercial art firm "Wookie, Winter, and Bush" with Jack Bush and Leslie Wookie in 1942. He balanced commercial work with fine art until 1955, when he devoted himself entirely to painting. Winter's early artistic focus centered on urban scenes and city life in Toronto, capturing the vitality of downtown streets. Later, his work shifted almost exclusively to depictions of children engaged in everyday activities—playing baseball, hockey, riding bicycles, reading, or at the beach—rendered in a social realist style with bright colors.

Winter was an active member of several prestigious art organizations, including the Royal Canadian Academy of Artists (joining in 1953), the Ontario Society of Artists (from 1938), the Canadian Group of Painters, and the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour. His work was regularly exhibited at Eaton's Gallery in the late 1940s and early 1950s, followed by 19 exhibitions at Roberts Gallery beginning in 1959.

Throughout his career, Winter completed several public commissions, including murals for the Children's Aid Society in Toronto and the Robert S. McLaughlin Public Library in Oshawa. In the 1960s, he taught at the Ontario College of Art while also traveling extensively on painting trips to Greece, Spain, Italy, and Mexico. His works are held in numerous public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Gallery of Vancouver, and Art Gallery of Hamilton.

After spending most of his life in Toronto, Winter moved to England in 1994 to be near family, where he died in 1996 at the age of 87.