Henry Billings

Henry Billings was an American artist known for his distinctive paintings and murals that often reflected his fascination with machinery, technology, and elements of surrealism. Born in Bronxville, New York, on July 13, 1901, he was the grandson of John Shaw Billings, the renowned surgeon and founding director of the New York Public Library. He studied at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire and later trained at the Art Students League of New York. Billings was also associated with the art colony in Woodstock, New York, which played a key role in shaping his artistic outlook.

During the New Deal era, Billings received several commissions from the U.S. Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture, producing murals for public buildings across the country. Notable works include a series of five winter sports murals for the Lake Placid, New York post office, as well as murals in Medford, Massachusetts; Wappingers Falls, New York; and Columbia, Tennessee. One of his most memorable contributions was a dramatic mural of a panther for Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center. In 1945, he also created a series of paintings for Life magazine illustrating the view of strafing targets through a fighter pilot’s gunsight. Billings remained active in the New York art scene until his death in Sag Harbor in October 1985.