William Feaver (born 1 December 1942) is a British art critic,

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

, artist and lecturer. From 1975–1998 he was the chief art critic of the

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

, and from 1994 a visiting professor at Nottingham Trent University. His book ''The Pitmen Painters'' inspired the play of the same name by Lee Hall.

Education

Feaver was educated at

Nottingham High School , motto_translation = Praise to the end , address = Waverley Mount , city = Nottingham , county = Nottinghamshire , postcode = NG7 4ED , country = England , coordinates = , type = Independent day school , established = , closed = , religious ...

and

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

. After graduating from Oxford he became a teacher at Newcastle's Royal Grammar School (1965–71) before being appointed the Sir James Knott Fellow at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

. He is currently an academic board member of the

Royal Drawing School The Royal Drawing School is a not-for-profit educational organisation and registered charity in the London Borough of Hackney in England. It was founded in 2000 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and artist Catherine Goodman as The Prince ...

Career as art critic

While at Newcastle, Feaver became the art critic of the Newcastle

Journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

before being appointed successively to the Listener (1971–75) and the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

(1974–75) before being joining the Observer. He won the ''Art Critic of the Year'' award in 1983. Feaver conducted an exemplary interview with Lucian Freud in 1992, ''The artist out of cage'' on Freud's 70th birthday, which has been re-published in English and German in the catalog of the

Museum für Moderne Kunst The Museum für Moderne Kunst (''Museum of Modern Art''), or short MMK, in Frankfurt, was founded in 1981 and opened to the public 6 June 1991. The museum was designed by the Viennese architect Hans Hollein. Because of its triangular shape, it i ...

Frankfurt exhibition ''Lucian Freud: Naked Portraits''. His 2019 book, ''The Lives of Lucian Freud'', was shortlisted for the 2019

Baillie Gifford Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...

Exhibitions curated

Feaver has curated a number of exhibitions in the UK and abroad, including: *

George Cruikshank George Cruikshank (27 September 1792 – 1 February 1878) was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached ...

, V&A, 1974 * ''Thirties'',

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Roy ...

, 1979 * The

Ashington Group The Ashington Group was a small society of artists from Ashington, Northumberland, composed largely of mine workers. They met regularly between 1934 and 1983 to encourage their progress. Although most of the men had no formal artistic training, the ...

, Beijing, 1979 *

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

exhibitions at Abbot Hall, Kendal (1996),

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

and La Caixa, Barcelona (2002),

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's o ...

(2002-3) and

Museo Correr The Museo Correr () is a museum in Venice, northern Italy. Located in St. Mark's Square, Venice, it is one of the 11 civic museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. The museum extends along the southside of the square on the upper ...

, Venice (2005) * Michael Andrews, Tate Gallery, 2001 *

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

Grand Palais The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arro ...

, 2002

Books published

* ''The Art of John Martin'', 1975 * ''When We Were Young'', 1976 * ''Masters of Caricature'', 1981 * ''Pitmen Painters'', 1988 * ''

Frank Auerbach Frank Helmut Auerbach (born 29 April 1931) is a German-British painter. Born in Germany, he has been a naturalised British subject since 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon ...

'', 2009 * ''The Lives of Lucian Freud: Youth 1922–1968'', 2019 * ''The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame 1968-2011'', 2020

Family

His father was the Rt Rev

Douglas Feaver Douglas Russell Feaver (1914–1997) was the Bishop of Peterborough in the Church of England from 1972 to 1984. Fever was educated at Bristol Grammar School and Keble College, Oxford; and ordained in 1938. He was a curate at St Alban's Abbey t ...

. In 1964 Feaver married Victoria Turton (the poet

Vicki Feaver Vicki Feaver (born 1943) is an English poet. She has published three poetry collections. Feaver's poem "Judith", from her book, ''Handless Maiden'', was awarded the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. The book was also the recipient of a Heinem ...

). They had one son and three daughters. He married, secondly, in 1985, Andrea Rose OBE; they have two daughters, Alice and Dorothy.Who's Who

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feaver, William 1942 births Living people People from Nottingham People educated at Nottingham High School Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Academics of Newcastle University Academics of Nottingham Trent University English art critics English male journalists Financial Times people The Observer people