Student of his father Jan Frederiken of the Middelburg Drawing Academy. Willem Johannes Schütz bought the house De groen Fortuyn on Korendijk (now number 44) in 1888. He set up his studio in the attic. His mother and sister Adriana lived with him, and in 1917 he married his housekeeper Josina Paulusse. Although he became increasingly successful as a painter, he would remain employed as a bookkeeper at the Hulpbank van de Maatschappij tot Nut van het Algemeen. This gave him a financial basis that made it possible to ask a good price for his paintings.

He also gave drawing lessons to students of good descent, such as Mies Elout-Drabbe. Like his father, he mainly painted sea and river views, especially of the Zeeland streams, but also of Dutch and Flemish harbours. His style is in line with the Hague school. He exhibited a lot inside and outside Zeeland and his work was very popular with Zeeland art lovers. The Zeeland Library of Zeeland owns a number of sketchbooks by him, which, in addition to landscapes from all over Zeeland, also contain many portraits and figure studies.

In 1992, two rooms in the Zeeuws Museum In Middelburg were furnished with work by the Schütz family. Wide recognition followed in 1998 when from June to November the triple exhibition 'The Summer of Schütz' was held in the Stedelijk Museum Vlissingen, the Zeeuws Museum and the Marie Tak van Poortvliet Museum in Domburg, together with the accompanying catalog ' From the storm into the silence.'