William A. Motta (1934-2020) was a founding member of the Automotive Fine Arts Society. A graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles in 1957, Bill worked for 40 years at Road & Track magazine in Newport Beach, California, from 1959 to his retirement in 2000. 

 

He was their Art Director for 19 years, from 1969 to 1988, then became Art Editor of the Specials Division, which produced the Road Test Annuals and magazines such as Car Life, Open Road, etc. in 1997, he produced a commemorative book: 50 Years of Road & Track: The Art of the Automobile — which chronicled the magazine’s visual history with paintings, photographs, technical drawings, and cartoons. A painting by Bill graced the cover. He continued to contribute artwork after leaving Road & Track, and was an independent consultant for the magazine.

 

Bill portrayed the cover and poster art for many prestigious Concours d'Elegance around the world, including Pebble Beach in California, Amelia Island in Florida, Meadow Brook Hall in Michigan, Newport Coast in California, and Villa d'Este on Lake Como in Italy.

 

Motta won many awards and prizes over the years, and almost 1,000 of his paintings hang in private and corporate collections, including Alfa Romeo, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Subaru. He was a champion of automotive art and worked with artists around the world to elevate the quality of this special genre and promote its appreciation.

 

“For those of us who worked with Bill at R&T, he will be remembered for his absolute and complete dedication to creating the best damned automobile magazine in the world month after month and year after year.  Each issue was a new creative journey for Bill, and unless you were there working with us on a daily basis, it would be impossible to appreciate the impact Bill had at every level of magazine creation and production, starting with the thoughts, continuing with the writing, working with the editors on the visuals, laying out the book to keep the advertisers and the publisher happy and proofing everything . . . from the writing to the layouts to the blue lines. Bill’s hands and heart touched all of this. He understood every aspect of the publishing business to such a degree that he could have been the editor of R&T as well as the Art Director.” - John Dinkel