"Into the Sunlit Splendor" - William S. Phillips-World War II Aviation Art

William S. Phillips

“Aviation was my first artistic love,” says William S. Phillips, “but my true, enduring love remains my Christian faith, home and family. So it is my pleasure to combine all of it in my work. The historical aviation subjects, I research; the contemporary and nostalgic subjects, I live.”

Phillips grew up loving art but never thought he could make it his livelihood. At college he majored in criminology, and he had been accepted into law school when four of his paintings were sold at an airport restaurant. That was all the incentive he needed to begin his work as a fine art painter.

Bill Phillips is now the aviation artist of choice for many American heroes and the nostalgic landscape artist of choice for many collectors. Bill’s strengths as a landscape painter are what gave him an edge in the aviation field: respect and reverence for a time and place. When one sees his aviation pieces, thoughts are about the courageous individuals who risked their lives for our freedom. In Bill’s nostalgic works, the viewer understands fully what that freedom is... the precious values that make life worth living.

After one of his paintings was presented to King Hussein of Jordan, Phillips was commissioned by the Royal Jordanian Air Force. He developed sixteen major paintings, many of which now hang in the Royal Jordanian Air Force Museum in Amman. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum presented a one-man show of Phillips’ work in 1986; he is one of only a few artists to have been so honored.

In 1988, Phillips was chosen to be a U.S. Navy combat artist. For his outstanding work, the artist was awarded the Navy’s Meritorious Public Service Award and the Air Force Sergeants Association’s Americanism Medal. In 1991, three of Phillips’ works were chosen as part of the top 100 in “Art for the Parks,” the prestigious annual fund-raiser for the National Park Service, and one painting received the “Art History Award” from the National Park Foundation.

William S. Phillips Signed & Numbered Collector Book with Limited Edition Giclee Canvas "Into the Sunlit Splendor"

This deluxe Collector’s Edition book and fine art canvas set in an extremely limited edition (100) comes, jacketed and slipcased with a special, bound-in certificate sheet signed by the artist.The set is completed by the Limited Edition Fine Art Giclée Canvas, Lightning from the Sun, signed by the artist and numbered. Over 130 Paintings are featured in this definitive collection Of William's aviation art.

Lightning from the Sun showcases the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, the first fighter with two engines. Nearly 10,000 P-38s were produced, in eighteen variants. Known to the Germans as the “Forked Tailed Devil,” a leading P-38 Ace called it, “ ... one of the great aircraft of WWII.” And Japanese Ace Saburo Sakai said,“I was astonished to find an American aircraft that could outrun, outclimb and outdive our Zero ....”