Wheeler Williams (1897-1972) was a distinguished American sculptor whose refined figurative works and portrait busts secured him a substantial place within American sculpture of the twentieth century. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Williams was the son of Lawrence and Adèle H. Williams. He pursued his early artistic training at the Art Institute of Chicago before entering Yale, where he graduated in 1919 as a member of the class of 1918, his studies having been interrupted by service as a lieutenant in the United States Balloon Corps during the First World War.

Williams initially turned to architecture, earning his master's degree from Harvard in 1922, along with the medal of the American Institute of Architects that same year. He had continued his sculpture studies at Harvard under John Wilson, and this parallel work earned him second place with honorable mention in the Prix de Rome competition of 1922. Encouraged by this success, he chose sculpture as his profession and spent the next eight years in Paris, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Jules Coutan before establishing his own studio in the city. Since his return to the United States in 1928, he maintained a studio in New York, though much of his mature work was carried out in California.

Williams remained keenly aware of the varied expressive possibilities offered by different sculptural materials in his highly finished works. He employed lacquered bronze for effects of polychromy, white-glazed porcelain for decorative figures, and for his many portrait busts he preferred terra cotta, following the technique of the eighteenth-century French sculptors he admired. His years in France schooled him thoroughly in fine craftsmanship and left an impress of rarefied beauty on his art that distinguished his mature practice.

Williams received many awards over the course of his career, including gold medals from the National Arts Club and the American Artists Professional League. The Herbert Adams Memorial Medal was awarded to him by the National Sculpture Society in 1962 in recognition of his contributions to American art and his leadership in establishing the National Sculpture Review, which began publication during his tenure as president of the Society. He was a member of the National Academy of Design and served as vice president of the Architectural League of New York. His sculptures are held today at Brookgreen Gardens and in other significant American collections.