Fred Williams: An Australian Vision/Etchings, Drawings and Gouaches in the British Museum

Fred Williams (1927-82) is a key figure in Australian art of the second half of the twentieth century, best known for his paintings of the Australian landscape. Printmaking, which he took up in London in 1954, was always of central importance in his work, and no other Australian artist of comparable stature produced such a large and significant body of prints, the vast majority of them etchings. From the beginning Williams' practice as an etcher closely paralleled his development as a painter, and a striking feature of his work is the cross-fertilization of ideas and motifs between his painting and his printmaking.After five years spent working and studying in London, where his subject-matter focused on the music hall, Williams returned to Australia in late 1956 and realized immediately that he wanted to concentrate on painting the Australian landscape. Within months his distinctive vision began to emerge. Etching played a primary role in the development of his understanding of the subject, imposing the need to simplify and render abstract the motif. Williams' portrayal of the Australian landscape through a discrete language of marks and new compositional formats profoundly transformed the way in which that landscape is viewed today.This catalogue features 76 prints plus 9 gouaches and drawings, all but three of which were recently presented to the British Museum by the artist's widow, Lyn. The exhibition will be the first comprehensive show of Williams' etchings to be held in the UK. Irena Zdanowicz was Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, from 1981 to 2001. Stephen Coppel is an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum.