AUBREY WILLIAMS: Elemental Force
22 May – 26 July 2025
Oil on canvas, 122 x 153 cm.
© Estate of Aubrey Williams.
Oil on canvas, 132 x 208 cm.
© Estate of Aubrey Williams.
Yet, Williams’ work can be viewed as a uniquely evolved expression of abstraction and a powerful contribution to post-war art. In displaying his intuitive grasp of the possibilities open to abstraction, these striking works deploy an entirely original use of colour. The range of paintings underline the breadth of Williams’ interests: ecology, cosmology, music and pre-colonial civilisations. Certain paintings demonstrate an obvious lyrical organisation of form and colour, such as Sun and Earth IV, 1963, which illustrates the extraordinary manner in which he could fuse the two to luminous effect. A keen admirer of the music of Dimitri Shostakovich, Williams coined the phrase “feeling colour” to describe his own painterly interpretations of the Russian composer’s symphonies and quartets. This extensive series is represented by several paintings, including the ethereal, yet seldom seen, Quartet No 5, opus 92 (Shostakovich series), 1981. Natural phenomena are highlighted in the large-scale work, Time and the Elements, 1985, wherein Williams’ soft-edged boundaries exemplify his mastery of colour, which is skilfully applied.
As the art critic and curator, Mel Gooding noted, ‘These effects of natural dynamics persist in Williams’ work in such a way as to become a characteristic expressive trope that is so utterly personal as to be signature.’
Aubrey Williams' distinctive contribution to 20th century British art is now recognised by his increasing prominence in significant international exhibitions. Tate Britain dedicated a room to works by this master of abstraction in their rehang of meaningful examples of British art in 2023 – 2024. Following The Earth Will Open Its Mouth, at the Museum Sztuki in Lodz, Poland, placing Williams’ canvases as a revelatory counterweight to Erna Rosenstein’s surrealist, impressionist art, a major exhibition, Feeling Color: Aubrey Williams and Frank Bowling has recently opened at The Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States.
Last year, Paul Mellon Centre published Aubrey Williams: Art, Histories, Futures, the first major monograph on pioneering modernist Aubrey Williams. Edited by Ian Dudley and Maridowa Williams, with a foreword by Alex Farquharson and an introduction by Kobena Mercer, the book reveals Williams’ extraordinary breadth of vision and compelling work connecting Caribbean, British, and Atlantic histories. The monograph is available to order on October Gallery’s website and can be purchased at the gallery for £40 or from our online shop.
