William Pidgeon

William Edwin Pidgeon, known as Bill Pidgeon and 'Wep', (7 January 1909 – 16 February 1981) was an Australian artist, known as an illustrator, cartoonist and caricaturist, as well as a painter who won the Archibald Prize three times. He was most active as a black-and-white artist in Sydney from the mid-1920s, working as a cartoonist and illustrator for a variety of newspapers. In 1933 Pidgeon was involved in the establishment of The Australian Women's Weekly and was closely involved with the magazine until the late 1940s, his work including the creation of the long-standing comic strip 'In and Out of Society' and producing seventy cover illustrations for the magazine. During World War II he worked as a war correspondent for the parent company, Consolidated Press Ltd. From the 1950s Pigeon focussed on painting and was widely recognised for his skills as a portrait painter.