Masterpieces for Tasmania Fund 2013-14 brochure

MASTERPIECES
Fred Williams
Australian artist Fred Williams (1927-1982), was one of the
greatest landscape painters of his generation and changed
the way Australians viewed the landscape. He conveyed a
sense of the vastness of the Australian continent – from the
arid centre to remote coastlines – by experimenting with his
own unique pictorial style.
A figurative painter, he successfully captured the abstract
qualities of the Australian bush by reconfiguring space
within the picture plane, often constructed without an
obvious focal point.
After completing his studies in London, Williams returned to
Australia in 1957 and became fascinated with the vastness
of the Australian landscape, in all its diversity. By 1970 he
was recognised as a major artist. Having been included in
exhibitions of Australian art at the Whitechapel Gallery,
(1961) and The Tate Gallery (1962), both in London, he was
recognised with a major solo exhibition, Fred Williams –
Landscape of a Continent, at the Museum of Modern Art,
New York in 1977.
FOR TASMANIA FUND
Williams was inspired by remote landscapes. In January
1974, he visited Flinders Island, Bass Strait on a family
holiday. This visit, and a subsequent journey to nearby
Erith Island in March of the same year, enabled him to
pursue his interest in the depiction of water. He captured
the movement of the sea and the ever-changing qualities
of the coastline, with images reflecting the time of day and
weather effects.
2013 – 14
Potboil shoals, Flinders Island, 1974-75, is based on a series
of gouaches depicting the littoral zone, including the
shallow sands and shoreline of the Potboil’s intertidal zone.
‘A revelation in conception, composition and colour’1 they
were painted en plein air in the vicinity of Vinegar Hill,
overlooking the Tasman Sea
In Potboil shoals, Flinders Island, 1974-75, Williams uses the
narrow, horizontal format to great effect, capturing the
uninhabited, dark and somewhat foreboding coastline,
the seemingly endless horizon and the sky beyond, in long
strips of luminous colour. The painting depicts a dynamic
area where the tidal flow rushes from Bass Strait through
Franklin Sound into the Tasman Sea.
Williams is considered a visionary and a respected
artist of renown whose work is avidly collected by both
connoisseurs of art and galleries around the world. It
is essential that this important legacy and vision of
landscape is one that will be available for all Tasmanians
for generations to come.
Help us bring this masterpiece into the
QVMAG collection in 2013–2014
We thank you for your donation.
QVMAG Arts Foundation
PO Box 403, Launceston TAS 7250
T 03 6323 3777
F 03 6323 3776
E Foundation@qvmag.tas.gov.au
Cover detail Fred Williams, Potboil shoals, Flinders Island,
1974-75, oil on canvas, 61.3 x 267.7cm
1 Hart D, Fred Williams Infinite Horizons, NGA, 2011
Photograph Fred Williams on Flinders Island, 1974
Reproduced with the permission of Mrs Lyn Williams AM.
Masterpieces for Tasmania
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For the amount
Your gift to Tasmania
impressive and powerful representations of a Tasmanian landscape
by one of the most significant Australian landscape artists of all
time. Hung with its pair, Ti-tree swamp, Flinders Island, 1974-75,
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these works are majestic companions that will become destination
works for lovers of Fred Williams’s work.
Richard Mulvaney, Director Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery
The Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery (QVMAG) tells
stories about who we are – our town – our environment –
our region – our state – our country and place in the world.
Our aim is to acquire artworks by artists whose works
tell us about our Tasmanian heritage—past, present and
future. This can only been done with the assistance and
generosity of the people of Launceston, the wider region
and its many visitors from further afield.
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c Visa The Masterpieces for Tasmania is an annual appeal that
gives everyone the opportunity to help QVMAG to acquire
a masterpiece for the QVMAG collection. In this way
Tasmanians from all corners of the state have the chance
to have a permanent, immediate and important impact on
the development of what is an art collection of national
significance.
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This is the inaugural launch of the Masterpieces for
Tasmania Fund. Fred Williams’ work, Potboil shoals,
Flinders Island, 1974-75 has been made available through
the remarkable generosity of the artist’s widow, Mrs Lyn
Williams AM and will be the first of many great works
acquired through this fund.
the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery in my will.
Thank you for supporting the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery.
Please return to QVMAG Arts Foundation, PO Box 403 Launceston TAS
7250 F 03 6323 3776 E Foundation@qvmag.tas.gov.au
QVMAG is collecting the information on this form to process your contribution and your
preference for further information about gallery fundraising and, where relevant, to update your
membership details. This information will not be given to a third party other than in accordance
with the Privacy Act 1988.
Please help us to continue to build a world-class collection
of works of Australia’s finest artists and continue the
QVMAG tradition of collecting excellence.
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Potboil shoals, Flinders Island, 1974-75. . . is one of the most
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$1000 or more will entitle you to become a member of the QVMAG Arts
Foundation and acknowledged on the QVMAG Arts Foundation Donor
Board at the QVMAG Art Gallery, Royal Park.
QVMAG Arts Foundation
PO Box 403 Launceston TAS 7250
T 03 6323 3777
F 03 6323 3776
E Foundation@qvmag.tas.gov.au