FRANK AVRAY WILSON: British Tachist

FRANK AVRAY WILSON

FRANK AVRAY WILSON BRITISH TACHIST

The uniqueness of a work of art is a mark of its cosmological significance, and that of the individual appreciating it.

FAW

2

FOREWORD

Twenty-six years ago, Adrian Mibus, director of Whitford Fine Art, London, asked Tachist Abstractionist painter Frank Avray Wilson to write an essay to accompany a possible exhibition.

Avray Wilson’s artistic creative capacity was matched by a formidable mind and a talent for writing, and within a short timespan he duly produced a thirty-three-page long typescript, a bitesize introduction to his work, his thought process, his world. By then Avray Wilson had already published several academic books and essays in which he scholarly clarified his views on art in relation to Nature and Cosmos, on the human aesthetics being a reflection of Nature’s art through the process of metaphysics and revelation, quantum theory and alchemy.

Avray Wilson’s 1990 typescript poignantly bears testimony to his consciousness that, almost forty years after establishing his unique style and thought process, the British art world and general public was still not attuned to his type of painting.

Although during the 1950s, eminent scholars and art critics, such as Lawrence Alloway, Eric Newton, Sir Herbert Read and Denys Sutton, had firmly established the importance of Avray Wilson’s contribution to Abstraction in Britain, manifold are the reasons why the commercial market fell behind in promoting his art. Critical and commercial success during 1956-1966 resulted from his intense activity in recently established avant-garde enterprises such as the New Vision Centre Gallery, ICA, and Free Painters Group. The intellectual elites welcomed a new radical form of art and Avray Wilson was celebrated alongside Sandra Blow, Lynn Chadwyck, Anthony Caro, Paul Feiler, Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, Ivon Hitchens, Terry Frost, William Scott, Richard Smith, William Turnbull and Bryan Wynter. In Paris and Brussels, Avray Wilson’s work and thoughts were esteemed by Hans Hartung, Georges Mathieu, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Pierre Soulages with whom he exhibited at the Galerie Internationale and Galerie Helios.

Yet, Avray Wilson disposed of independent means and withdrew from the art market for two decades, devastated and disillusioned by the loss of his son Austin Raymond to cancer in 1968.

His come-back onto the market with a large one-man show at the Redfern Gallery in 1995, turned out to be ill-timed for the 1980s preoccupation with wealth and power had rendered art into a commodity. Fuelled by the unprecedented economic prosperity of the 1980s and 1990s, contemporary art became the subject of monetary speculation as never before and the immediacy of the art made by the YBAs satisfied an insatiable desire to acquire the status of ‘cool’ by collecting pieces of shock value. Drawing on Minimalism and Conceptualism, the YBA artists are post-modern in their fusing of high and low culture, the rejection of fine materials, and a focus on the spectacle with an inclination to shock their audience, calling for sensationalist media exposure. The intellectual depth of Avray Wilson’s art was incongruous with the reigning materialism, which had no time nor willingness to engage in an understanding of the interdisciplinary practice Avray Wilson adhered to in order to define the development of aesthetics 3

through science and his arrival at Abstraction. Avray Wilson’s own comment that good abstract painters have come to Abstraction in an exhausting trek similar to climbing a mountain, seemed outdated. To promote an artist who explained his work eloquently in terms of ‘Florarised’, ‘Surreality’, ‘Hyper-Vitalism’, ‘Crystalline’, ‘Field’, ‘Function’ and other principles, proved rather problematic for the art market during times when materialism had distanced any form of mysticism, the esoteric or the occult. Lastly, Avray Wilson was a passionate man of complex personality fashioned by fragile emotional intelligence, deep personal struggle and skill for survival.

Avray Wilson’s art is not easy on the aesthetically blind. His explosions of colour and shapes burst in strength and liveliness, and are, in their dignity and abstract grandeur, challenging our predisposed understanding of what art should be. Hence, to the aesthetically blind, Avray Wilson’s art could in instances lead to a certain level of discomfort. However, to the real art lover, Avray Wilson’s works present the opportunity of a functional involvement leading to the experience of cosmic participation, which can prove life-enhancing. Creating functional paintings which could help the viewer enter ‘Surreality’ was Avray Wilson’s key intention as an artist.

Avray Wilson was a man of intellectual honour. He never sold out to naïve triumphalism or populism. He never deferred from real Nature and the meaning of art in Life. In his case, the painter and his painting come to one, in the knowledge that all one would think before one thought it: hence Avray Wilson could talk about experiencing the conscious unconsciousness. According to Avray Wilson the paintings made in this state are his best ‘hyper-vital’ works, meaning works of art that are alive as Life itself. As Avray Wilson himself has stressed, this state of mind should not be confused with trance.

Avray Wilson’s works are the conclusion of years of intellectual scientific research into the meaning and place of human art-making. Once he found the answers in science, namely that colour is not matter but energy, that an image could be as alive as a living cell under a microscope, that it is Nature’s first art of flowers, crystals and birdsong which existed before human art-making came about, that human art-making is a reflection of Nature’s art-making, then he was able to deliver himself to ‘Surreality’, giving him the ability to create his so-called ‘hyper-vital imageries’.

From the early 1930’s until the early 1950s, Avray Wilson went from making ‘floralised art’ or art imitating nature, to ‘vital art’ or art trying to convey metaphysics to finally reach ‘hyper-vitalism’ or art which is as alive as Life itself and leads to the sphere of his so-called ‘Surreality’.

Avray Wilson’s painting methods represent a certain incongruity with the classic art historical view, and it is this incongruity that creates real perception, which is per se something violent but freeing. It can bring the viewer to moments one rarely reaches, and which vanish as fast as they come once the mind stabilises, and the outer shell of oneself reconstitutes, and life continues.

In that respect, Avray Wilson’s paintings are demanding.

4

However, once one takes the time and willingness to learn of his vision, one has a chance to undergo a true Revelation to come to a real understanding. Thus the painting becomes functional, the true aim of Avray Wilson’s art.

As such, experiencing Avray Wilson’s paintings on the level of ‘Surreality’, ‘Revelation’ or ‘Hypervitality’ can be analogue to witness the vibrant rainbow cast by the stained glass windows of a medieval cathedral. More than being aesthetical depictions, these coloured glass windows were the accidental discovery during the middle ages of the intricate nanotechnology within the glass. By adding gold and silver chloride to the molten glass to create spectacular tints of red and yellow, the chloride nanoparticles were acting as quantum dots. Quantum dot nanotechnology, based on proper scientific research, played an integral component in Avray Wilson’s art. Fittingly, during the 1960s, Avray Wilson was commissioned to produce stained glass windows for Hillingdon Hospital, Uxbridge, London and for St. Mary’s Church at the Devon village of Bickleigh.

Without doubt, Avray Wilson’s interdisciplinary study and inspiration to make art, would have earned him the status of an ‘homo universalis’ during Renaissance times. Since his childhood, marvelling at crystals, during his education as a biologist, looking at micro-structures, and whilst studying philosophy, psychology and religion, Avray Wilson has ultimately been on a quest to attain ‘sophia perennis’ or ultimate truth, which he eventually found during the early 1950s and displayed in his works dating 1953-1966. Avray Wilson possessed the rare innate quality of being in touch with the human ancestral oral tradition, dating a time when the human brain was fully attuned to mysticism, the spiritual, the supernatural, and the human knowledge was eternal, inscribed in the Universe and Cosmos. Once the oral tradition was lost, and humanity started to write, common universal knowledge became factual and historical. As such, humans lost their capability to listen with the heart and act on impulses. As a consequence, humans failed to recall the knowledge of their natural position in the Universe and the need for religion appeared.

However, some gifted humans have retained the ability to arrive at ‘sophia perennis’, which involves listening with the heart, or inner ears, in a state where the notion of time has no place.

In 1981 with the publication of Art as Revelation Avray Wilson was visionary in his deep belief that humans suffer from disintegration at all levels: physical, mental, social and ecological. Thus he pleaded for an urgent search for a new life-enhancing wholeness in which the arts could play a central role for its integrating powers.

Avray Wilson’s paintings can prove holistic as they aim to inspire the viewer to contemplation and meditation in order to position the human existence in Nature, Universe and Cosmos. However, for those who do not wish to choose the doctrine Avray Wilson is proposing, the paintings offer the experience of aesthetically wonderful and accomplished explosions of colour and form vigorously displayed and art historically firmly categorised as the European form of American Action Painting known as ‘Tachisme’.

An Jo Fermon 5

1. Tropical Sea, c. 1948 Oil on canvas 21.6 x 35 cm

2. Reflections, c. 1948 Oil on canvas 33 x 76.2 cm

3. Harbour, 1952 Oil on canvas 112 x 86.5 cm

6

7

8

4. Talisman, 1954 Oil on canvas 90 x 68 cm

5. Integrant, 1953 Oil on canvas 104 x 40 cm 9

6. Conjugation, 1953 Oil on canvas 40 x 104 cm

10

7. Vital Geometry, 1955 Oil on canvas 185 x 58 cm 11

8. Interaction: Blue, c. 1955 Oil on board 40.5 x 15.2 cm 12

9. Interaction: Red, c. 1955 Oil on board 40.5 x 15.2 cm

10. Interaction: Grey, c. 1955 Oil on board 40.5 x 15.2 cm 13

14

11. Synthesis, c. 1954 Oil on canvas 183 x 110 cm

12. Oracle, 1956 Oil on board 122 x 91.5 cm 15

13. Nucleus, 1957 Oil on canvas 89.5 x 68 cm 16

14. Configuration, 1953 - 1957 Oil on board 77 x 56 cm 17

15. Arising, 1957 Oil on panel 122 x 30 cm 18

16. Presence, c. 1955 Oil on canvas 183 x 60.5 cm 19

20

17. Evident, c. 1955 Oil on canvas 183 x 88 cm

18. Myth Form, 1958 Oil on canvas 152 x 122 cm 21

19. Thrusting Reds, 1959 Oil on canvas 122 x 152 cm

20. Reactive, 1959 Oil on canvas 198 x 152 cm

22

23

21. Energy, c. 1959 Oil on canvas 183 x 183 cm

24

22. Vertical in Blues, 1960 Oil on panel 153 x 29 cm 26

23. Meeting, 1960 Oil on canvas 101 x 76 cm 27

24. Exaltation, c. 1960, oil on board, each panel 122 x 92 cm 28

25. Configuration: Yellow and Pink, 1961 Oil on canvas laid on board 30.5 x 12.5 cm

26. Blue Nucleating, 1962 Oil on canvas 253 x 76 cm 30

27. Rejoice, 1962 Oil on canvas 243 x 76 cm 31

28. Launching (Unison), 1961 Oil on canvas 153 x 61 cm 32

29. Action-Generated, 1962 Oil on canvas 90 x 90 cm

33

30. Event, 1962 Oil on canvas 122 x 50.5 cm 34

Avray Wilson’s Calligraphic Signet

35

EXHIBITIONS

SOLO SHOWS 1944 1950 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1960 1961

1986 1995 2002 2003 2011 2016

King Haakon Fund, Mauritius.

King Haakon Fund, Mauritius.

Obelisk Gallery, London.

Frank Avray Wilson: Recent Paintings, AIA Gallery, London.

L’Institut français, London.

Galerie Internationale, Paris.

Paintings by Avray Wilson, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Avray Wilson, Galerie Helios Art, Brussels.

Frank Avray Wilson: Paintings, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Frank Avray Wilson, Galerie Craven, Paris.

New Paintings by Avray Wilson, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Avray Wilson: Recent Gouaches, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Avray Wilson: Recent Paintings, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Avray Wilson, Galerie Fricker, Paris.

Frank Avray Wilson: Recent Work and Some Early Paintings, Warwick Arts Trust, London.

Frank Avray Wilson: Recent Paintings and Work from the 50s to the 80s, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Frank Avray Wilson, Paintings, Gouaches and Prints, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Frank Avray Wilson: Early Works, Whitford Fine Art, London.

Frank Avray Wilson: The Vital Years, Paisnel Gallery, London.

Frank Avray Wilson: Thinking About Painting, Whitford Fine Art, London.

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS 1951 Summer Show, The Redfern Gallery, London.

1952 Summer Show, The Redfern Gallery, London.

London Group Annual Exhibition, New Burlington Galleries, London.

1953 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London.

Artists of Fame and Promise I, Leicester Galleries, London.

Le Salon 1953, Société des Artistes français, Paris.

AIA Autumn Exhibition, AIA Gallery, London.

1954 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London.

Artists of Fame and Promise II, Leicester Galleries, London.

Abstract, Cubist, Formalist and Surrealist, The Redfern Gallery, London.

36

1955 Contemporary Painting and Sculpture London Group, AIA Travelling Exhibition, Southampton Art Gallery.

1956 New Vision First Exhibition, The Coffee House, London.

Summer Exhibition, The Redfern Gallery, London.

London Group Annual Exhibition, RBA Galleries, London.

Contemporary Painting and Sculpture London Group, AIA Travelling Exhibition, Cheltenham Art Gallery.

1957 Metavisual, Tachiste, Abstract, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Le peinture anglaise contemporaine: Metavisuel, Tachiste, Abstract, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Liège, travelling to Galerie du Perron, Geneva, and Galerie Creuze Salle Balzac, Paris.

New Vision 1957, New Vision Gallery, The Coffee House, London.

Summer Exhibition, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Abstract 1957, AIA Gallery, London.

Free Painters 5th Annual Exhibition, Walker’s Gallery, London.

Abstract and Tachiste Painting, Univision Gallery, Newcastle.

Dimensions: British Abstract Art 1948 – 1957, O’Hana Gallery, London.

1958 Survey of Contemporary British Painting, Howard Wise Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio.

Pittsburgh Bicentennial International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh.

New Trends in British Painting, New York Foundation, Rome.

Guggenheim Painting Awards, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London.

AIA 25th Anniversary Exhibition, RBA Galleries, London.

Free Painter’s Group, New Vision Gallery and Walker’s Gallery, London.

Abstract Art, Stone Gallery, Leeds.

1959 John Moores Biennale, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

Six Young Painters, Arts Council Travelling Exhibition.

Galerie Internationale, Paris.

Architects’ Choice, ICA Galleries, London.

Summer Exhibition, The Redfern Gallery, London.

1960 The British Guggenheim Award Paintings, R.W.S. Galleries, London.

Six Young Painters, Arts Council Travelling Exhibition, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle, Southampton Art Gallery and Leicester City Art Gallery.

Six Young Painters, Arts Council, New York.

Free Painter’s Group Exhibition, Walker’s Galleries, Woodstock Gallery, London.

Critic’s Choice, Arthur Tooth and Sons, London.

Summer Exhibition, The Redfern Gallery, London.

37

1961

1962

1966

1967

1984 1986 1992 1994 1996 2001 2006 2007 2008

38

Art Alive, Northampton Art Gallery and Museum.

John Moores Liverpool Exhibition 1961, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

AIA Travelling Exhibition, Harrogate and Huddersfield City Art Galleries.

Summer Exhibition, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Commonwealth Vision Painters 1961, Commonwealth Institute, London.

Summer Exhibition, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Paintings, Drawings, Reliefs, AIA Gallery, London.

Collector’s Choice, Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London and Stone Gallery, Newcastle.

The Free Painters’ Group 9th Annual, F.B.A. Galleries, London.

AIA Travelling Exhibition, Bowes Museum, Billingham.

Summer Exhibition, The Redfern Gallery, London.

1966 Open Painting Exhibition, Arts Council, Ulster Museum, Belfast.

10th Anniversary Exhibition, New Vision Gallery at Stroud Municipal Art Gallery.

British Sculpture and Paintings: Leicestershire Education Authority Collection, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London.

Contemporary British Painting, Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, USA. New Vision 56-66, Bede Gallery, Jarrow and Gdansk Museum, Poland.

Post-War British Abstract Art, Austin Desmond Gallery, London.

British Abstract Art of the 1950s and 60s, Belgrave Gallery, London.

20th Century Paintings, Belgrave Gallery, London.

Spring Exhibition, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Modern British, The Redfern Gallery, London.

The Redfern Gallery: Artists and Friends, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Metavisual, Tachiste, Abstract: Staking out New Territory, The Redfern Gallery, London.

Summer Show: 25 Years of Post-War British Art 1952 – 1976, Paisnel Gallery, London.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

British Museum, London Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, USA Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum City Art Gallery, Manchester City Art Gallery, Leeds Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA Durham University Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea Imperial College, London Leeds Art Gallery Leicester Museum and Art Gallery National Museum of Wales, Cardiff Northampton Museum and Art Gallery Southampton City Art Gallery Toledo Art Gallery, Ohio, USA Victoria and Albert Museum, London Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

39