Frank Avray Wilson (3 May 1914 – 1 January 2009) was a British artist, author and

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

. He was one of the first British artists to use Tachist or

action painting Action painting, sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical ...

techniques."Frank Avray Wilson"
Whitfordfineart.com. Retrieved 8 April 2021.

Early life

Wilson was born in Vacoas,

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

, in 1914, the son of Albert James Wilson, a sugar manufacturer, by his marriage to Anna Avray. He was educated at

Brighton College Brighton College is a fee-charging, co-educational, boarding and day public school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton and Hove, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18), Brighton Co ...

and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, where he took a degree in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

, before studying art in Paris and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

."WILSON, Frank (Avray)" in ''Contemporary Authors'' (1975), p. 679

Career

Inspired by both American

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

and French

Tachisme __NOTOC__ Tachisme (alternative spelling: Tachism, derived from the French word ''tache'', stain; ) is a French style of Abstract art, abstract painting popular in the 1940s and 1950s. The term is said to have been first used with regards to the ...

, Avray Wilson produced amongst the most dynamic abstracts during the

post-war A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...

period in Britain. His work ranged from spiky linear compositions, through others more spare and geometric towards a mature style that comprised images both disciplined and energetic. Critic Peter Davies described this contrast as ‘a meaningful, if tense, dichotomy between structure on the one hand and what Avray Wilson termed "Vitalist" or impulsive free form on the other’, whilst Cathy Courtney characterised Avray Wilson’s paintings as ‘articulating something sensed but not fully seen’. Seeking to 'create a synthetic vitality, more living than life, the means of supplying our anti-vital, anti-human society with intense symbols', Avray Wilson's scientific background was of key importance in understanding his approach to painting, which he expounded in several books. The first London showing of his work was in 1951 at The Redfern Gallery's ''Summer Exhibition''. In 1953, Wilson met Denis Bowen and they formed the ''New Vision Group'' then, in 1956, the ''New Vision Centre Gallery'', a showplace for abstract and other modern art near

Marble Arch The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 as the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today th ...

in central London. Avray Wilson had his first solo show at the Obelisk Gallery in 1954, before being included in the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

's influential ''La Peinture Anglaise Contemporain'', which toured in France and Switzerland. He also took part in the New York Foundation's ''New Trends in British Painting'' in Rome in 1957 and was shortlisted for the John Moore's prize exhibition in Liverpool in 1959. He later showed at

Leicester Galleries Leicester Galleries was an art gallery located in London from 1902 to 1977 that held exhibitions of modern British, French and international artists' works. Its name was acquired in 1984 by Peter Nahum, who operates "Peter Nahum at the Leiceste ...

, the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

and Austin/Desmond Fine Art amongst others. He was represented for many years by the Redfern Gallery and gained a reputation in Europe, notably in Belgium and in France where he also exhibited. Major retrospectives were held by the Paisnel Gallery in 2011 and by the Whitford Fine Art Gallery in 2016 and 2018. Avray Wilson’s work is held in the United States by the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg and

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...

in Ohio among others. His work can also be found in Australia in the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

. Public collections in the UK include the

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

, the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

and galleries in Durham, Leeds, Leicester, Swansea and Wakefield.

Personal life

Avray Wilson married Higford Eckbo, a Norwegian, on 28 April 1936, and they had four children: Wendy-Ann, Raymond, Jason, and Norman. His daughter, Anglo-Norwegian artist, Wendy-Ann Wilson, went on to marry an American architect, Thomas J. Holzbog, and is the mother of Arabella Holzbog. Avray was a vegetarian for ethical reasons. He became a vegetarian through influence from his wife. Avray authored two books supportive of vegetarianism for C. W. Daniel Company. He identified as a philosophical

vitalist Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

Selected public collections

Avray Wilson's work can be found in the following collections: *

, London *

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London *

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...

, Cambridge *

National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, Cardiff * Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum *

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

* Leeds City Art Gallery *

Manchester City Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre, England. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupi ...

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is a public museum in Northampton, England. The museum is owned and run by West Northamptonshire Council and houses one of the largest collection of shoes in the world, with over 15,000 pairs,Southampton City Art Gallery * Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea * The Hepworth Wakefield * The Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh * The

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

, California *

, Ohio * The Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio * The National Museum, Gdańsk

Selected exhibitions

* 1954: Obelisk Gallery, London * 1955: ''Frank Avray Wilson: Recent Paintings'',

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Gallery, London * 1956: Galerie Helios Art, Brussels * 1957:

touring exhibition * 1957: ''Metavisual, Tachist, Abstract'', The Redfern Gallery, London * 1957: ''Frank Avray Wilson,'' Galerie Craven, Paris * 1958: ''New Trends in British Painting'', Rome * 1958: ''Survey of Contemporary British Painting'', Howard Wise Gallery, New York * 1959: John Moores Prize Exhibition, Liverpool * 1959: ''Six Young Painters'', Arts Council touring exhibition * 1960: ''Art Alive'',

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is a public museum in Northampton, England. The museum is owned and run by West Northamptonshire Council and houses one of the largest collection of shoes in the world, with over 15,000 pairs,Commonwealth Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust was a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pr ...

, London * 1962: ''Avray Wilson'', Galerie im Griechenbeisl, Vienna * 1970: ''Works from the Personal Collection of Sir Herbert Read'', The Morley Gallery,

Morley College Morley College is a specialist adult education and further education college in London, England. The college has three main campuses, one in Waterloo on the South Bank, and two in West London namely in North Kensington and in Chelsea, the ...

, London * 1986: ''Frank Avray Wilson: recent work and some recent paintings'', Warwick Arts Trust, London * 1995: ''Frank Avray Wilson. An Exhibition of Recent Paintings and Work from the 50s to 80s'', The Redfern Gallery, London * 2011: ''Frank Avray Wilson – the Vital Years'', Paisnel Gallery, London * 2016: ''Frank Avray Wilson: British Taschist'', Whitford Fine Art Gallery, London

Bibliography

Wilson was the author of the following books: * ''Poems of Hope and Despair'', 1949, Port Louis, Mauritius * ''Food for the Golden Age'', 1954, C. W. Daniel Company * ''Art into Life: An Interpretation of Contemporary Trends in Painting'', 1958,

Centaur Press Donald Metcalf Grant (April 3, 1927 – August 19, 2009) was an American publisher. Biography He was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1927 and graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1949. Grant's interest in fantasy and scienc ...

* ''Art as Understanding'', 1963,

Routledge and Kegan Paul Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

* ''Human Existence as a Whole'', 1963, Routledge and Kegan Paul * ''Food Fit for Humans'', 1975, C. W. Daniel Company * ''Alchemy as a Way of Life'', 1976, C. W. Daniel Company * ''Nature Regained'', 1976, Branden Press * ''Crystal and Cosmos'', 1977, Coventure Ltd * ''Art as Revelation'', 1981,

, London * ''The Way of Creation: Cosmos, Consciousness and the New Sciences'', 1985, Coventure * ''Seeing is Believing: A Painter's Search for Meaning'', 1995, Book Guild To mark his 1995 exhibition, The Redfern Gallery published ''Frank Avray Wilson: An Exhibition of Recent Paintings and Work from the 50s to 80s'' by Cathy Courtney.

References

External links

Frank Avray Wilson's obituary
in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Frank Avray 1914 births 2009 deaths 20th-century British painters Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge British male painters English vegetarianism activists Mauritian non-fiction writers People educated at Brighton College Vitalists 20th-century British male artists