Bidding on this item has ended.
Frederick Edward McWilliam
SCREEN, 1961
Lot 46
Price Realised:
€10,000
Estimate:
€10,000 - €15,000
Frederick Edward McWilliam R.A., 1909-1992
SCREEN, 1961
Bronze, 15" x 19 ½" (38 x 49cm), signed with initials and numbered 2/5.
Provenance: Private collection, USA
Literature: Roland Penrose, McWilliam, London, 1964, no.83, illustrate...
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Lot 46
Frederick Edward McWilliam
SCREEN, 1961
Lot 46
Frederick Edward McWilliam
SCREEN, 1961
Estimate:
€10,000 - €15,000
Frederick Edward McWilliam R.A., 1909-1992
SCREEN, 1961
Bronze, 15" x 19 ½" (38 x 49cm), signed with initials and numbered 2/5.
Provenance: Private collection, USA
Literature: Roland Penrose, McWilliam, London, 1964, no.83, illustrated; Derry Journal, 7 April 1987; Denise Ferran and Valerie Holman, The Sculpture of F.E. McWilliam, Farnham, 2012, no.223, p.132, illustrated
Exhibited: London, Waddington Galleries, F.E. McWilliam, 1961; Belfast, Ulster Museum, F.E. McWilliam Retrospective, Arts Council of Ireland touring exhibition, 1981, no.45 (illustrated in exh. cat., p.44); Londonderry, Gordon Gallery, 1987; Dublin, Solomon Gallery, 1995; Banbridge, The F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, F.E. McWilliam at Banbridge, 2008 (illustrated in exh. cat., p.72); Drogheda, Highlanes Gallery, F.E. McWilliam at Banbridge, 2009
McWilliam was so pleased with Screen that he insisted on its inclusion in his 1981 retrospective exhibition, organised by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, at the Ulster Museum. He made this work halfway through his long, productive career, in 1961. This was one of his most productive periods and a time when his international reputation was given recognition in the Unites States through his inclusion in the exhibition "British Artist Craftsmen" circulated by the Smithsonian Institute and shortly after his inclusion as one of "Ten British Sculptors" at the Sâo Paulo Biennale in Brazil.
This exhibition was subsequently shown by the British Council, in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela. As a consequence, McWilliam was described by the critic and artist, Roland Penrose as "an inventor of styles" and although this, is to a large extent, true, he was, nonetheless, moved by the spirit of his time and influenced by his immediate European predecessors, Alberto Giacometti and Germaine Richtier. He was also a major figure amongst the group of British Sculptors who emerged in the post 2nd World War years, which included Lynn Chadwick, Reg Butler, Kenneth Armitage and Bernard Meadows. They evolved an idiom, which was the sculptural equivalent of abstract painting of the time. Works were primarily cast in bronze and preoccupied with variations in surface textures. Indeed McWilliam frequently claimed that he learned more from painters than from sculptors.
In 1964, the Tate Gallery in London presented an exhibition entitled "Painting and Sculpture of a Decade 54/64" and McWilliam threw a party for friends in the garden of his Holland Park studio/home, following the opening. The photograph he took of the group included the five artists Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Bryan Winter, William Scott and Roger Hilton who were included in the exhibition and who were all closely associated with the generation which gathered in St. Ives, Cornwall when it attracted international attention in the late 1950's and could, at that time, been justifiably described as a world art centre. McWilliam has carefully positioned Moet et Chandon bottles and close by, two casually placed Gitanes cigarette packets, one open, one closed. On the white gabled background of his home, McWilliam has displayed his low relief bronze Bilateral Relief, 1959, on two long legs, more as a painting than a sculpture.
Screen is an important example of McWilliam's work of this period and it displays abstract forms with a play of voids against solids. It encapsulates satisfying contrasts of rough painterly textures as opposed to smooth sculptural surfaces, much in keeping with the period practice.
Brian Ferran, June 2020
SCREEN, 1961
Bronze, 15" x 19 ½" (38 x 49cm), signed with initials and numbered 2/5.
Provenance: Private collection, USA
Literature: Roland Penrose, McWilliam, London, 1964, no.83, illustrated; Derry Journal, 7 April 1987; Denise Ferran and Valerie Holman, The Sculpture of F.E. McWilliam, Farnham, 2012, no.223, p.132, illustrated
Exhibited: London, Waddington Galleries, F.E. McWilliam, 1961; Belfast, Ulster Museum, F.E. McWilliam Retrospective, Arts Council of Ireland touring exhibition, 1981, no.45 (illustrated in exh. cat., p.44); Londonderry, Gordon Gallery, 1987; Dublin, Solomon Gallery, 1995; Banbridge, The F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, F.E. McWilliam at Banbridge, 2008 (illustrated in exh. cat., p.72); Drogheda, Highlanes Gallery, F.E. McWilliam at Banbridge, 2009
McWilliam was so pleased with Screen that he insisted on its inclusion in his 1981 retrospective exhibition, organised by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, at the Ulster Museum. He made this work halfway through his long, productive career, in 1961. This was one of his most productive periods and a time when his international reputation was given recognition in the Unites States through his inclusion in the exhibition "British Artist Craftsmen" circulated by the Smithsonian Institute and shortly after his inclusion as one of "Ten British Sculptors" at the Sâo Paulo Biennale in Brazil.
This exhibition was subsequently shown by the British Council, in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela. As a consequence, McWilliam was described by the critic and artist, Roland Penrose as "an inventor of styles" and although this, is to a large extent, true, he was, nonetheless, moved by the spirit of his time and influenced by his immediate European predecessors, Alberto Giacometti and Germaine Richtier. He was also a major figure amongst the group of British Sculptors who emerged in the post 2nd World War years, which included Lynn Chadwick, Reg Butler, Kenneth Armitage and Bernard Meadows. They evolved an idiom, which was the sculptural equivalent of abstract painting of the time. Works were primarily cast in bronze and preoccupied with variations in surface textures. Indeed McWilliam frequently claimed that he learned more from painters than from sculptors.
In 1964, the Tate Gallery in London presented an exhibition entitled "Painting and Sculpture of a Decade 54/64" and McWilliam threw a party for friends in the garden of his Holland Park studio/home, following the opening. The photograph he took of the group included the five artists Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Bryan Winter, William Scott and Roger Hilton who were included in the exhibition and who were all closely associated with the generation which gathered in St. Ives, Cornwall when it attracted international attention in the late 1950's and could, at that time, been justifiably described as a world art centre. McWilliam has carefully positioned Moet et Chandon bottles and close by, two casually placed Gitanes cigarette packets, one open, one closed. On the white gabled background of his home, McWilliam has displayed his low relief bronze Bilateral Relief, 1959, on two long legs, more as a painting than a sculpture.
Screen is an important example of McWilliam's work of this period and it displays abstract forms with a play of voids against solids. It encapsulates satisfying contrasts of rough painterly textures as opposed to smooth sculptural surfaces, much in keeping with the period practice.
Brian Ferran, June 2020
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In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
PLEASE BID EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.
In order to allow rival bidders the opportunity to respond to a late bid the following extensions will apply:
IF A BID IS RECEIVED WITHIN THE FINAL 45 SECONDS OF THE COUNTDOWN THE CLOCK WILL RESET TO 60 SECONDS.
At any point you can leave a maximum bid, representing the highest price you are prepared to pay for a particular lot. Bidding only advances when there is competition from a rival bidder. In that case the system bids on your behalf, only up to the maximum if required. All bids are relayed to you be email, along with notification if you have been outbid.
All maximum bids are confidential and not disclosed. The system will endeavor to purchase the lot for you for the least price. Bids are subject to buyer’s premium of 25% (incl vat), with no additional charges.
In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
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