William E. Singer was born July 10, 1909 in Chicago to Libbie Joffe and Alter Singer (per Chicago Birth Index). He graduated from the University of Chicago, then studied painting at the Chicago Art Institute and in Paris with Andre L’Hote. Newspapers mention Singer’s artwork on exhibit in group shows in Chicago (including the Chicago Society of Artists) beginning, c. 1932. His mainstay appears to be figure compositions along with portraits of notables, and he appears to have worked for the WPA in the late 1930s. He traveled to California in 1939 to view his portrait of Gertrude Lawrence on view at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, and took a “winter” s...