William Andrew Christenberry Jr. was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on November 5, 1936. He studied painting and sculpture at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, receiving a B.F.A. in 1958 and an M.F.A. in 1959. He taught art at the Corcoran School of Art from 1968 to 2009.
He created photographs, drawings, paintings, and sculptures about Hale County, Alabama, which is one of the poorest counties in the state. His work can be found in numerous public collections including those of the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Menil Collection in Houston. His autobiography, Working from Memory, published in 2008. He died from complications of Alzheimer's disease on November 28, 2016 at the age of 80.
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