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

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

. 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 a ...

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

Early life

Wilson was born in

Vacoas Vacoas-Phoenix () also known as French: ''Villes Jumelles'' (Twin Cities), is a town in Mauritius, located in the Plaines Wilhems District, the eastern part also lies in the Moka District. The town is administered by the Municipal Council of Vaco ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

, 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 an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18); Brighton College Preparatory Sc ...

and St John's College, Cambridge, where he took a degree in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, before studying art in Paris and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

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

Career

Inspired by both American Abstract Expressionism and French

Tachisme __NOTOC__ Tachisme (alternative spelling: Tachism, derived from the French word ''tache'', stain) is a French style of abstract painting popular in the 1940s and 1950s. The term is said to have been first used with regards to the movement in 19 ...

, Avray Wilson produced amongst the most dynamic abstracts during the post-war 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 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is toda ...

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 lan ...

'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 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, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

in Ohio among others. His work can also be found in Australia in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Public collections in the UK include the Arts Council, the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

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 Arabella Laura Holzbog (born 1 October 1966) is a British-American actress and visual artist, occasionally credited as Arabella Tjye. Early life and education Born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, Holzbog is the daughter of Thomas Jerald ...

. 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 ...

Collections

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

, London *

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London *

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities 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 FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

, 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 The Wilson, formerly known as Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, was opened in 1899. It offers free admission, and has a programme of special exhibitions. It was renamed The Wilson in honour of polar explorer Edwar ...

Leeds City Art Gallery Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance ...

* Manchester City Art Gallery *

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 The Southampton City Art Gallery is an art gallery in Southampton, southern England. It is located in the Civic Centre on Commercial Road. The gallery opened in 1939 with much of the initial funding from the gallery coming from two bequests, o ...

Glynn Vivian Art Gallery The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery is the public art gallery of the City and County of Swansea, in Wales, United Kingdom. The gallery is situated in Alexandra Road, near Swansea railway station, opposite the old Swansea Central Library. History The ...

, Swansea *

The Hepworth Wakefield The Hepworth Wakefield is an art museum in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, which opened on 21 May 2011. The gallery is situated on the south side of the River Calder and takes its name from artist and sculptor Barbara Hepworth who was born a ...

* 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 The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...

, Ohio * The

National Museum, Gdańsk The National Museum in Gdańsk ( pl, Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku), established in 1972 in Gdańsk (although the history goes back the third quarter of 19th century), is one of the main branches of Poland's national museum system. History Its main ...

Selected exhibitions

* 1954: Obelisk Gallery, London * 1955: ''Frank Avray Wilson: Recent Paintings'', AIA 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 is 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 pro ...

, 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 la ...

, 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 * ''Art as Understanding'', 1963,

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

* ''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, Centaur Press, 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 publish ...

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