Fred Williams (1927–1982) was a painter and printmaker whose distinctive vision of the Australian landscape fundamentally altered the way the Australian continent is viewed and depicted. One of Australia’s most eminent and influential landscape artists, Williams’ work can be seen as a modernist reinterpretation of the Heidelberg tradition, representing the most significant development in Australian landscape painting since the impressionism of the Heidelberg School in the late 19th century.
While studying at the National Gallery School in the 1940s, Williams was exposed to the work of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Australian artists including Hugh Ramsay, Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Rupert Bunny held in the permanent collection, and through curated exhibitions, of the National Gallery of Victoria. By viewing and considering the work of these earlier artists Williams received an invaluable grounding in the importance of compositional construction, form, tone, materials, and significantly, painting from the landscape outdoors – en plein air. Towards the end of his studies at the National Gallery School, Williams attended classes with modernist George Bell, and in February 1951 held a joint exhibition with friends Harry Rosengrave and Ian Armstrong at the Stanley Coe Gallery before travelling to London.
While abroad he attended the Chelsea Art School and briefly the Central School of Arts and Crafts. It was while in the UK Williams absorbed himself in printmaking. Through habitual visits to music halls and theatres – due to their warmth and affordability – Williams produced a body of work focusing on stage performers and theatre audiences, the Music Hall series. The monograph published by Rudy Komon Gallery in 1968 on the artist’s etchings remains a significant and highly considered source on the artist’s graphics for curators and collectors alike.
Williams’ work was exhibited extensively both in Australia and abroad throughout his lifetime, as so today. In 1970 the National Gallery of Victoria curated the exhibition Heroic Landscape: Streeton to Williams. Seven years later, in 1977, the Museum of Modern Art, New York curated Fred Williams: Landscapes of a Continent which toured Florida, Nebraska, and Texas. Shortly after the artist’s death, an exhibition of works from his Pilbara series toured Asia with the work shown in Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo in 1983/84. In the late 1980s a further touring exhibition of the series followed on in the UK, with the exhibition visiting London, Ulster, Belfast, and Kilkenny. More recently in 2011 the National Gallery of Australia curated a major touring retrospective of the artist’s Fred Williams: Infinite Horizons. In 2018, works from his Weipa series were shown at the Cairns Art Gallery.
Williams’ work is represented in institutional and distinguished private collections worldwide including all Australian state, major regional and university collections; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Tate Gallery, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; British Museum, London; Queen Elizabeth II Collection, UK; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Image: Fred Williams, Hammersely Landscape, 1981, oil on canvas, 96.5 x 107 cm
