Aubrey Williams

Aubrey Williams (8 May 1926 – 17 April 1990) was a Guyanese

artist. He was best known for his large, oil-on-canvas paintings,
Aubrey Williams
which combine elements of abstract expressionism with forms, Born 8 May 1926
images and symbols inspired by the pre-Columbian art of indigenous Georgetown,
peoples of the Americas. Guyana

Born in Georgetown in British Guiana (now Guyana), Williams Died 17 April 1990
began drawing and painting at an early age. He received informal art (aged 63)
tutoring from the age of three, and joined the Working Peoples' Art London, England
Class at the age of 12. After training as an agronomist he worked as Occupation Artist (painter)
an Agricultural Field Officer for eight years, initially on the sugar
Notable work Shostakovich, The
plantations of the East Coast and later in the North-West region of
the country—an area inhabited primarily by the indigenous Warao Olmec-Maya and
people. His time among the Warao had a dramatic impact on his Now, Cosmos
artistic approach, and initiated the complex obsession with pre- Awards Commonwealth
Columbian arts and cultures that ran throughout his artistic career. Prize for Painting
(1964), The Golden
Williams left Guyana at the height of the Independence Movement
in 1952, and moved to the United Kingdom. Following his first Arrow of
exhibition in London in 1954, he became an increasingly significant Achievement (1970),
figure in the post-war British avant-garde art scene, particularly The Cacique's
through his association with Denis Bowen's New Vision Centre Crown of Honour
Gallery. In 1966, he came together with a group of London-based (1986)
Caribbean artists and intellectuals to found the Caribbean Artists
Movement, which served as a dynamic hub of cultural events and activity until its dissolution in 1972. From
1970 onwards, Williams worked in studios in Jamaica and Florida as well as the UK, and it was during this
period that he produced three of his best-known series of paintings: Shostakovich, The Olmec Maya and
Now and Cosmos.

Contents
Life
Early years
Adult life in British Guiana
Agricultural Officer on the East Coast
The Working People's Art Class
Time among the Warao in the North-West
Return to Georgetown
England
The first few years
Recognition: from New Vision to the Commonwealth Prize
The Caribbean Artists Movement
Later years: between London, Jamaica, Florida and Guyana
Legacy
Style
Exhibitions
Awards
See also
References
Notes
Sources
External links

Life

Early years

Aubrey Williams was born on 8 May 1926 in Georgetown in British Guiana.[1][2] His parents were middle-
class Guyanese with mixed African, Carib, and possibly other, ancestry.[3][4][5] He was raised in accordance
with Christian, English values, and his parents strongly discouraged his childhood interest in populist,
African-derived, art forms such as Anancy stories and the masquerade bands (locally known as "Santapee
bands") that performed in the streets of Georgetown at Christmas.[3]

Williams' artistic tendencies emerged early on in his youth. When he was three years old, and living on
Bourda Street in central Georgetown, he produced an observational sketch of a Turkey Vulture eating a dead
rat in Bourda Cemetery. On seeing the drawing, his father (who was working as a postman at that time) took
it to a local Dutch art restorer, named Mr De Wynter, who worked in the churches of British Guiana. De
Wynter instantly recognised Williams artistic talent, and decided to offer him informal art training. They
worked together for five years. Reflecting on this early art training years later, Williams noted that it was
very different from conventional methods of teaching art in the UK: "He would give me a task to perform,
say, ask me to draw some animals or some fruits. He would then take the drawing and see if it was good. He
would never correct the drawing. He would instead make another drawing." It was, Williams said, the "best
method" he had ever come across, and one that profoundly influenced him in his own career as an art
teacher.[6][7]

Between the ages of 12 and 15, while he was still at school, Williams attended the Working People's Art
Class (WPAC) in Georgetown, which was led by the artist E. R. Burrowes.[8][9][10] At the age of 15,
Williams enrolled on a four-year agricultural apprenticeship scheme that was run in affiliation with
University College, London. His training included a special focus on sugar production. He was appointed as
an Agricultural Field Officer in 1944.[11][12]

Adult life in British Guiana

Agricultural Officer on the East Coast

In the early years of his employment with the Department of Agriculture in British Guiana, Williams
occupied three positions simultaneously: Field Officer, Agricultural Superintendent for the East Coast, and
Cane-Farming Officer. Williams was appointed to the latter position following his efforts to negotiate with
the government on behalf of the cane-farmers. As Cane-Farming Officer, he was expected to "smooth out
relations" between the owners and managers of the sugar plantations and the workers, without "rocking the
boat". Williams, however, had other plans. He worked hard to defend the rights of the cane-farmers, and in
doing so was brought into regular confrontation with the plantation managers. Indeed, in his words, he
became "a bloody thorn in their side, demanding correct figures, fair play, and that sort of thing". Although
this period of Williams' life was a very stressful one, he continued painting throughout.[13]

The Working People's Art Class

Shortly after he qualified as an Agricultural Officer, Williams contacted E. R. Burrowes and returned to the
Working People's Art Class, but this time as a teacher and organiser. Together they extended the WPAC
beyond central Georgetown by setting up auxiliary classes throughout the East Coast. Williams himself
established new classes in the agricultural regions in which he was working, and would often lead classes
when Burrowes was unavailable. The classes were held at least twice weekly.[8]

Time among the Warao in the North-West

After a number of years working on the East Coast, Williams was sent to work among the Warao (or
Warrau) people in the North-West of the country (now the Barima-Waini region, or Region 1). He was put in
charge of the Agricultural Station in the area.[14][15] Although he had technically been promoted, Williams
initially viewed his redeployment as a form of punishment for his activism on behalf of the sugar-cane
farmers. "It was like sending someone to Siberia," he said.[16]

However, Williams' perspective on his time in the North-West region changed dramatically within the first
six months. He ultimately stayed in the area for two years, and the interaction he had with Warao people
during this period had a profound effect on his artistic development. Listening to the Warao talk about
colour and form totally transformed his understanding of art; and his experiences in this region instigated an
interest in pre-Columbian culture and artefacts which subsequently became "the core of [his] artistic
activity".[7][17] Indeed, in 1987 Williams reflected: "[I]t was there that for the first time I discovered myself
as an artist. Before that it was all amateur activity. [...] I have to thank the Warrau people now for my work
as an artist".[16] Williams created many paintings while working in the North-West region, but he destroyed
most of his work soon after it was created.[7]

Return to Georgetown

After two years living with the Warao, Williams returned to Georgetown, where he resumed his work with
the Working People's Art Class.[7] The moment of his return, however, was a time of great political upheaval
in the city. The Independence Movement in British Guiana was gaining strength, and most of his friends had
joined the People's Progressive Party (PPP), which was at the forefront of the struggle. Although Williams
was never a member of the PPP, and did not attend any of their meetings, he was close to the party's leader,
Cheddi Jagan. This association alone raised suspicion among British colonists, prompting an investigation
into Williams' early work for the Department of Agriculture, and he was ultimately accused of having
founded "farmer's communes" on the East Coast. Around this time, one of his friends in the PPP – who he
would later claim "saved his life" – advised him to leave the country. Three months later Williams took this
advice and departed for the UK.[7][18]

England

The first few years

Williams arrived in England in 1952 at the age of 26.[7] He took up accommodation at Hans Crescent in
London – an area that was, according to him, populated by the "colonial elite": "the sons of Maharajas, the
upper middle classes" – and enrolled on a course in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Leicester.
However, following discouragement from his university lecturers and growing feelings of discomfort with
his accommodation (he later described Hans Crescent as part of a form of "British brainwashing and
indoctrination" because "after living like [that] for a few months you would begin to despise your own
people back home"), he dropped his University course and embarked on a period of travel in Europe and the
UK.[19][20] During his travels he met Albert Camus who, in turn, introduced him to Pablo Picasso. For
Williams, the meeting with Picasso was a "big disappointment". On being introduced, the Spanish painter
told him that "[he] had a very fine African head" and said that he would like Williams to pose for him. "I felt
terrible," Williams recalled. "In spite of the fact that I was introduced to him as an artist, he did not think of
me as another artist. He thought of me only as something he could use for his own work".[21]

On returning from his travels in 1954, Williams enrolled as a student at St Martin's School of Art. He
studied at St. Martin's for more than two and a half years. In his second year, however, he decided that he
wanted to use the school's facilities and resources but did not want their diploma and thus did not register
after this time. In 1954 he held his first exhibition at the little-known Archer Gallery in Westbourne Grove in
London. During these early years in London, Williams married his partner, Eve Lafargue, who had travelled
with him from British Guiana.[19][22][23]

Recognition: from New Vision to the Commonwealth Prize

Sometime in the late 1950s Williams met Denis Bowen—founder of the New Vision Group and director of
the New Vision Gallery in London from 1951 to 1966.[24] Though under-recognized at the time, the New
Vision Centre Gallery (NVCG) played an important role in the post-war British art scene through its
promotion of abstract art and its unusual openness to, and interest in, artists from all around the
world.[24][25] Williams' involvement with the NVCG marked an important turning-point in his
career.[12][26][27] A number of his paintings were included in the New Vision Open Exhibition in early 1958,
and the Gallery put on two solo exhibitions of his work in August 1959 and November 1960.[28] These
exhibitions were a great success for Williams: his work received positive reviews from numerous art critics
and sold well, and he subsequently obtained further invitations to exhibit in Paris, Milan and
Chicago.[26][28][29]

At the time of this success, Williams felt that he had "made it" as an artist. However, after two years the
interest in his work subsided and his exhibitions started to be ignored. For Williams, this precipitated a five-
year period of self-doubt and "confusion".[30]

Another breakthrough in his career came in 1963 when 40 of his paintings were exhibited in the
Commonwealth Biennale of Abstract Art at the Commonwealth Institute in London.[31] Williams was
awarded the only prize of the exhibition for his painting Roraima (the £50 prize was donated by the British
artist Frank Avray Wilson).[32][33] In 1965 Williams was awarded the Commonwealth Prize for Painting,
which was presented by Queen Elizabeth II.[32]

The Caribbean Artists Movement

In the mid-1960s Williams joined forces with a small group of London-based Caribbean intellectuals and
artists to found the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM). The other founding members of the movement
were: Kamau Brathwaite, Wilson Harris, Louis James, Evan Jones, John La Rose, Ronald Moody, Orlando
Patterson and Andrew Salkey.[34] Active for six years (from 1966 to 1972), CAM took the form of
meetings, readings, exhibitions, seminars and conferences, which sought to provide a forum for Caribbean
artists to exchange ideas, address particular artistic issues, and discuss each other's work. It began as a series
of small, private meetings held in members' homes but quickly expanded into larger, public events.[35]

Williams was a regular at CAM events and played an important pioneering role in the movement, "which
was to have an inestimable influence on the British art scene for the next fifteen years".[36] In April 1967 he
held an informal meeting at his studio in which he talked about his work, his creative process, his influences
and philosophy. The meeting was attended by Brathwaite, La Rose, Salkey and Harris.[37] At CAM's first
Symposium of West Indian Artists, which was held at the West Indian Students' Centre in Earl's Court on 2
June 1967, Williams gave a short speech about themes in Caribbean art.[38][39] He also attended the first
CAM conference in September 1967 at the University of Kent, and presented a paper entitled "The
Predicament of the Artist in the Caribbean". In this paper he argued against ideas that art should be
figurative or narrative, while also suggesting that Caribbean artists need not turn to contemporary European
artists for examples of more abstract or non-narrative forms; they could, instead, find precedents in the
"primitive" art of South America and the Caribbean.[40][41] In May 1960 he contributed a number of
paintings to CAM's first art exhibition.[42]

Williams described CAM as "very important" both for himself and for other Caribbean artists. "It helped
create an intellectual atmosphere for everyone to be creative and relate to each other", he said, and provided
an "international platform" through which individual members "came to know what was happening in the
rest of the Commonwealth" and through which he personally met other artists "from Africa, from India and
from many parts of the world".[43]

Later years: between London, Jamaica, Florida and Guyana

While Williams maintained a base in London until the end of his

life, from 1970 onward he spent large amounts of time working
overseas in Jamaica, Florida and, less frequently, Guyana.[44][45] In
February 1970 he travelled to Guyana with a group of CAM artists –
including Brathwaite, Harris, Salkey and Sam Selvon – for a
Caribbean Writers and Artists Convention that was organised by the
Guyanese government as part of the Guyana Republic Celebrations
of that year,[46][47] This was the first time he had returned to Guyana Tumatumari (1970) by Aubrey
since 1952.[48] and Williams received the national honour of The Williams. This painting is part of the
Golden Arrow of Achievement. In the same year he completed a Timehri series of murals at the
government-commissioned series of five murals, named Timehri, at Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.[49] 1970 was also the year in
which Williams first travelled to Jamaica. After this initial visit, he
spent several months in Jamaica every year and was ultimately appointed Artist-in-Residence at the
Olympia Art Centre in Kingston.[50][51]

In 1972 he took part in the first Carifesta in Guyana, which ran from 25 August to 15 September.[52] In 1976
he completed two murals in Jamaica, at the School of Hope for Mentally Handicapped Children and at the
African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Swallowfield Road.[53] In May 1978 he completed a mural
in Howe Hall at the University of Dalhousie, which was commissioned by the Prime Minister of Guyana at
that time, Forbes Burnham.[54]

In the 1980s Williams worked mainly in a studio in Florida. During these years he produced three of his
best-known series of paintings: Shostakovich, The Olmec-Maya and Now and Cosmos.[51]
In 1986 the Guyanese government awarded him The Cacique's Crown of Honour,[44] and that year he was
the subject of a documentary film directed by Imruh Caesar entitled The Mark of the Hand, which was first
screened at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in London on 16 December 1986.[55][56]

In 1989 paintings by Williams were included in an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery entitled The Other
Story, which focused on the work of African and Asian artists in post-World War II Britain. This was the
first time that his work was exhibited in a mainstream public art gallery in the UK.[57] and featured his
Cosmos series. In the words of Geoffrey MacLean, "It showed the vast span of Williams's spiritual and
intellectual development, from the birds of Guyana and the environment of his childhood, through the
memory of his Amerindian heritage, culminating in an appreciation of universal expression through music
and spiritual realisation through the cosmos."[58]

Williams died in London on 17 April 1990, aged 63.[1]

Legacy
The 1990 book by Anne Walmsley entitled Guyana Dreaming: The Art of Aubrey Williams, which the artist
saw in manuscript 10 days before his death, was the first significant publication devoted to his work.[59]

On 19 January 1996, a half-day seminar on Aubrey Williams was organised by InIVA to coincide with a
showing of The Cosmos Series at the October Gallery (where the last solo exhibition that took place during
his lifetime was held),[60][61] featuring contributions by Stuart Hall, Anne Walmsley, Rasheed Araeen and
Wilson Harris, plus a screening of Imruh Caesar's 1986 documentary on Williams, The Mark of the
Hand.[62] A major exhibition of work by Williams was mounted at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in summer
1998, and other significant posthumous exhibitions have also taken place, at the October Gallery (http://ww
w.octobergallery.co.uk/) and elsewhere. His work is also in important collections including the Arts Council
of England and The Tate.

Style
In the early years of his artistic career, from the time he joined the WPAC up until the late 1950s, Williams
paintings were primarily figurative. According to Donald Locke, a fellow Guyanese artist who attended the
WPAC at the same time as Williams, his paintings during the WPAC were usually of pregnant female nudes,
and his colours of choice were typically "pale, whiteish, yellows and browns".[10] When he first moved to
London, Williams initially worked with pastels because he could not afford to buy paints. Locke described
his work in the mid to late 1950s as "tinged" with a "Cubistic-Naturalism" that was common to young artists
in the WPAC.[63]

While living in London and travelling in Europe in the mid-1950s, Williams was introduced to the most
recent trends in European and American art through exhibitions at The Tate in London and
elsewhere.[64][2][65] He was impressed and excited by an exhibition of German expressionist painting in
London, and by the work of American abstract expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline,
Barnett Newman, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko.[66] He found a particular affinity with Arshile Gorky –
whose work, he said, "fitted in some way with [his] own perception" – and with Roberto Matta.[67] He
traced his affinity with Matta to a shared experience of colonialism: "It's the smell of the presence of the
conquistadors. It's the smell of a loss, and a replacement of lesser than what was destroyed".[68] These
various influences had a significant impact on his artistic development in subsequent years.

From 1959 onward, Williams' work became increasingly abstract and his style was frequently described by
art critics as a form of abstract expressionism.[69] While economic factors had originally limited the size of
canvas he used, he gradually progressed onto ever-larger canvases, and from 1970 onward also painted a
number of large murals. He used glazes and scumbling to create effects with his oil paints.[70] Following a
period of self-questioning in the early 1970s, during which Williams worried that he was "only making
paintings [...] like making wall furniture", he began to re-introduce figurative elements into his paintings—a
stylistic change that is particularly visible in his The Olmec-Maya and Now series.[71][72]

Exhibitions
(G = Group shows)

1954: Archer Gallery, London, UK (G)

1958/59/60: New Vision Centre Gallery, London
1958: St Catherine's College, Oxford, UK
1960: David Jones' Art Gallery, Melbourne (G)
Hessenhuis, Antwerp, Belgium (G)
Walkers Gallery, London (G)
Woodstock Gallery, London (G)
Portal Gallery, London (G)
Univision Royal Court Grill, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK (G)
Grabowski Gallery, London (G)
1961: Richmond Hill Gallery, Richmond, UK
Galleria Pater, Milan, Italy
New Vision Centre Gallery, London (G)
Galerie Walcheturm, Zürich, Switzerland (G)
1961/62/63/65: Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery, London (G)
1962: National College of Art, Dublin, Ireland (G)
1963: Grabowski Gallery, London
Gallery 60, Colchester, UK
Ritchie Hendricks Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
1964: Forum Galleries, Bristol, UK
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK (G)
1965: Arts Council, Karachi, Pakistan (G)
Arts Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK (G)
Commonwealth Arts Festival, Royal Academy of Arts, London (G)
University of Glasgow and Commonwealth Arts Festival, Glasgow, Scotland (G)
1966–70: Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, London (G)
1966: Appointment With Six (also featuring Gwen Barnard, Pip Benveniste, Oswell Blakeston,
Max Chapman, and A. Oscar), The Arun Art Centre, Arundel, Sussex, UK (G)[73]
1967: Van Mildert College, Durham University, Durham, UK
Expo '67, Montreal, Canada (G)
São Paulo Biennale (XI), Brazil (G)
Brighton Festival of Arts, Sussex (G)
Theatre Royal, Stratford, UK (G)
1967–68: University of Kent, Canterbury, UK (G)
1968: London School of Economics, London (G)
City Art Gallery, Bristol, UK (G)
West Indian Students Centre, London (G)
House of Commons, London (G)
1969: Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, UK
1970: John Peartree Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
Guyana Museum, Georgetown, Guyana (G)
1971: Camden Arts Centre, London, UK
1971/73/74: Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery, London, UK (G)
1972: Illinois Centre, Chicago, USA
Critchlow Labour College, Carifesta '72, Georgetown, Guyana
1973: Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, London
1973/74: Little Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
1974: The Warehouse, Kingston, Jamaica
1975–76: Olympia International Arts Centre, Jamaica (G)
1975–77: Gallery Barrington, Kingston, Jamaica
1977: Festac – Festival of the Arts, Lagos, Nigeria (G)
Jamaica House, Kingston, Jamaica (G)
1977–81: Commonwealth Institute, London
1982–84: Westbourne Gallery, London (G)
1984: October Gallery, London, UK
Paintings on the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, Royal Festival Hall, London
1985: The Olmec-Maya & Now, Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery, London
Goldsmiths College Gallery, London
Cosmos, Gallery Barrington, Kingston, Jamaica
GLC Brixton Recreation Centre, London (G)
Contemporary Arts Centre, Kingston, Jamaica
1986: Camden Arts Centre, London (G)
Leicestershire Museum and Art Gallery, Northampton, UK (G)
1986/87/88: October Gallery, London
1987: National Gallery (touring exhibition), Guyana
National Gallery (touring exhibition), Guyana
1988: Contemporary Arts Centre, Kingston, Jamaica
Shibuya Tokyo Plaza, Tokyo, Japan
1989–90: The Other Story: Afro-Asian Artists in Post-war Britain – Hayward Gallery, London
(G)[74]
1989: De Graaf Fine Art, Chicago USA
Aubrey Williams: Selected Oils and Recent Acrylics, October Gallery, London, UK[75]
1990: Aubrey Williams Celebration, Commonwealth Institute, London
A Tribute to Aubrey Williams, Guyana Museum, Georgetown, Guyana
A Tribute to Aubrey Williams, Contemporary Art Centre, Kingston, Jamaica
1992: Endangered Birds, Sotheran's Antiquarian Books, London
Belgrave Gallery, London, UK (G)
1995–96: Cosmos Series, October Gallery, London
1995: Islington Arts Factory, London, UK (G)
 1996: Castellani House, Georgetown, Guyana
1996–97: Transforming the Crown, Harlem & Caribbean Cultural Center, New York City (G)[76]
1998: Aubrey Williams: Cosmos Paintings, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London[77]
2002: October Gallery, London
2004: October Gallery, London
2006: Aubrey Williams: Major Works, October Gallery, London[78]
2007: Goodison Room, Tate Britain, London
2008: Rotunda Space, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
2010: Atlantic Fire – Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK[79]
Now and Coming Time, October Gallery, London[80]
2013: Shostakovich: Symphonies and Quartets, Hales Gallery, London
2015: Realm of the Sun, October Gallery, London[81]
2015–16: No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990, Guildhall Art Gallery, London
(G)
2018: AUBREY WILLIAMS, October Gallery, London[82]

Awards
1963 Prize at the Commonwealth Biennale of Abstract Art in London[32][33]
1965 Commonwealth Prize for Painting
1970 The Golden Arrow of Achievement, Guyana
1986 The Cacique's Crown of Honour, Guyana

See also
Culture of Guyana

References

Notes
1. Walmsley 1990, p. 5.
2. Brett 1999, p. 29.
3. Williams 1990c, pp. 24–25.
4. Carew 1990, p. 65.
5. Brathwaite 1990, p. 84.
6. Araeen 1987, p. 26.
7. Walmsley 1992, p. 15.
8. Araeen 1987, p. 27.
9. Wainwright 2009, p. 65.
10. Locke 1990, p. 69.
11. Araeen 1987, pp. 27–28.
12. Wainwright 2009, p. 67.
13. Araeen 1987, pp. 28–29.
14. Araeen 1987, pp. 29–30.
15. Walmsley 1996, p. 267.
16. Araeen 1987, p. 30.
17. Araeen 1987, p. 37.
18. Araeen 1987, pp. 30–31.
19. Walmsley 1992, pp. 15–16.
20. Araeen 1987, pp. 31–32.
21. Araeen 1987, p. 32.
22. Araeen 1987, pp. 32–33.
23. Anon 2010.
24. Walmsley 1992, p. 16.
25. Russell 2006.
26. Wainwright 2010, p. 46.
27. Walmsley 1992, pp. 16–17.
28. Walmsley 1992, p. 17.
29. Araeen 1987, pp. 33–34.
30. Araeen 1987, p. 34.
31. "1st Commonwealth Biennale of Abstract Art" (http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_item.ph
p?id=852&table=artefacts), Diaspora Artists.
32. Walmsley 1992, p. 32.
33. Locke 1990, p. 73.
34. Walmsley 1992, p. xvii.
35. Walmsley 1992.
36. "Aubrey Williams" (http://www.iniva.org/library/archive/people/w/williams_aubrey) Archived (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20151003183328/http://www.iniva.org/library/archive/people/w/willia
ms_aubrey) 3 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine at InIVA.
37. Walmsley 1992, pp. 72–73.
38. Walmsley 1992, pp. 80–83.
39. Williams 1990a.
40. Walmsley 1992, pp. 94, 99–100.
41. Williams 1990b.
42. Walmsley 1992, pp. 150, 327.
43. Araeen 1987, pp. 35–36.
44. Walmsley 1990, p. 106.
45. King 2010, p. 6.
46. Walmsley 1992, pp. 211–212.
47. Salkey 1972.
48. Walmsley 2010b, p. 134.
49. Walmsley 1992, p. 277.
50. Walmsley 1992, p. 270.
51. Walmsley 2010a, p. 24.
52. Walmsley 1992, pp. 272–274.
53. Hope 1990, p. 87.
54. Williams 1990d, p. 29.
55. Walmsley 1990, p. 111.
56. Chambers 2012, p. 191.
57. Brett 1999, p. 32.
58. Geoffrey MacLean, "Aubrey Williams: Tapping the Source" (http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-4/t
apping-source), Caribbean Beat, Issue 4 (Winter 1992).
59. "Anne Walmsley" (http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=482&table=artists),
Diaspor Artists.
60. "Aubrey Williams" (http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=55&table=artists&linkph
rase=Aubrey+Williams), Diaspora Artists.
61. "Aubrey Williams | Selected Oils and Recent Acrylics" (http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_it
em.php?id=703&table=artefacts), Diaspora Artists.
62. "Aubrey Williams The Cosmos Series 1996, Seminar schedule" (http://new.diaspora-artists.net/
display_item.php?id=836&table=artefacts), Diaspora Artists.
63. Locke 1990, p. 70.
64. Brett 1990b, p. 99.
65. Gooding 2010, p. 37.
66. Araeen 1987, p. 36.
67. Araeen 1987, pp. 36, 44.
68. Araeen 1987, p. 44.
69. Locke 1990, p. 71.
70. Bowen 1990a, p. 86.
71. Araeen 1987, p. 50.
72. Brett 1999, p. 44.
73. "Appointment With Six" (http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=324&table=exhibiti
ons) at Diaspora Artists.
74. "The Other Story – exhibition" (http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=39&table=e
xhibitions), Diaspora Artists.
75. "Aubrey Williams – October Gallery 1989" (http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=
257&table=exhibitions&linkphrase=October+Gallery) (2 November–16 December 1989),
Diaspora Artists.
76. "Transforming the Crown" (http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=288&table=artef
acts) at Diaspora Artists.
77. "Whitechapel agenda – Aubrey Williams" (http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=
780&table=artefacts&linkphrase=Whitechapel) at Diaspora Artists.
78. "Aubrey Williams: Major Works" (http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/exhibitions/2006wil/) (7
December 2006 – 17 February 2007), October Gallery.
79. "Aubrey Williams: Atlantic Fire" (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/aubre
y/) (15 January 2010 – 11 April 2010), Walker Art Gallery.
80. "Aubrey Williams: Now and Coming Time" (http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/exhibitions/2010wil/
index.shtml) (4 January 2010 – 3 April 2010), October Gallery.
81. "Aubrey Williams: Realm of the Sun" (http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/exhibitions/2015wil/inde
x.shtml) (8 October–21 November 2015), October Gallery.
82. [1] (http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/artists/williams/) (13 September - 27 October 2018),
October Gallery.

Sources
Anon. "Aubrey Williams, Now and Coming Time, 4 January 2010 – 3 April 2010" (http://www.oc
tobergallery.co.uk/exhibitions/2010wil/index.shtml). Exhibitions. October Gallery. Retrieved
26 June 2012.
Araeen, Rasheed (1987). "Conversation with Aubrey Williams". Third Text. 1 (2): 25–52.
doi:10.1080/09528828708576180 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F09528828708576180).
Brathwaite, Edward Kamau (1990). "Timehri". In Anne Walmsley (ed.). Guyana Dreaming: The
Art of Aubrey Williams. Sydney: Dangaroo Press. pp. 82–85. ISBN 1 871049 07 5.
Brett, Guy (1990a). "A World Aesthetic". In Walmsley (ed.). Guyana Dreaming. pp. 89–92.
Brett, Guy (1990b). "The Art of Aubrey Williams". In Walmsley (ed.). Guyana Dreaming.
pp. 97–100.
Brett, Guy (Autumn 1999). "A Tragic Excitement: The Work of Aubrey Williams". Third Text. 48
(48): 29–44. doi:10.1080/09528829908576806 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F095288299085768
06).
Bowen, Denis (1990a). "An Artist's View of Contemporary Commonwealth Painters: Aubrey
Williams". In Walmsley (ed.). Guyana Dreaming. p. 86.
Bowen, Denis (1990b). "The Work of Aubrey Williams". In Walmsley (ed.). Guyana Dreaming.
pp. 101–103.
Carew, Jan (1990). "Portrait of the Artist – Aubrey Williams". In Walmsley (ed.). Guyana
Dreaming. pp. 65–8.
Chambers, Eddie (2012). "The Difficulty of Naming White Things". Small Axe. 16 (2, 38): 186–
197. doi:10.1215/07990537-1665623 (https://doi.org/10.1215%2F07990537-1665623).
Gooding, Mel (2010). "Aubrey Williams: The Making of a British Artist". In Reyahn King (ed.).
Aubrey Williams. Liverpool and London: National Museums Liverpool and October Gallery,
London. pp. 34–45. ISBN 978-1-899542-30-7.
Hope, Andrew (1990). "Realism and Abstraction". In Walmsley (ed.). Guyana Dreaming.
pp. 87–88.
King, Reyahn (2010). "Foreword". In Reyahn King (ed.). Aubrey Williams. Liverpool and
London: National Museums Liverpool and October Gallery, London. pp. 6–9. ISBN 978-1-
899542-30-7.
Locke, Donald (1990). "Contemporary Guyanese Painters: Aubrey Williams". In Walmsley
(ed.). Guyana Dreaming. pp. 69–74.
Russell, Marlowe (31 March 2006). "Obituary: Denis Bowen: Painter, teacher and promoter of
the avant-garde in Britain" (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/mar/31/guardianobituarie
s.artsobituaries). The Guardian. p. 36. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
Salkey, Andrew (1972). Georgetown Journal: A Caribbean Writer's Journey from London via
Port of Spain to Georgetown, Guyana, 1970. London: New Beacon Books.
ISBN 9780901241139.
Wainwright, Leon (September 2009). "Aubrey Williams – A Painter in the Aftermath of
Painting". Wasafiri. 24 (3): 65–79. doi:10.1080/02690050903069702 (https://doi.org/10.1080%
2F02690050903069702).
Wainwright, Leon (2010). "Aubrey Williams: Atlantic Fire". In King (ed.). Aubrey Williams.
pp. 46–55.
Walmsley (1990). Guyana Dreaming: The Art of Aubrey Williams. Sydney, New South Wales:
Dangaroo Press. ISBN 978-1-871049-07-7.
Walmsley, Anne (1992). The Caribbean Artists Movement 1966–1972: A Literary and Cultural
History. London: New Beacon Books. ISBN 1 873201 06 0.
Walmsley, Anne (1996). "Bridges of Sleep: Continental and Island Inheritance in the Visual
Arts of Guyana" (https://books.google.com/books?id=tFWM2vdVCXEC&pg=PA267). In Hena
Maes-Jelinek; Gordon Collier; Geoffrey V. Davis; Anna Rutherford (eds.). A Talent(ed) Digger:
Creations, Cameos and Essays in Honour of Anna Rutherford. Amsterdam: Rodopi. pp. 261–
70. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
Walmsley, Anne; Stanley Greaves (2010a). "Aubrey Williams – Supernova". Art in the
Caribbean: An Introduction. London: New Beacon Books. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-1-873201-22-
0.
 Walmsley, Anne; Stanley Greaves (2010b). "Modern and Contemporary 1900–2010 –
Guyana". Art in the Caribbean: An Introduction. London: New Beacon Books. pp. 132–136.
ISBN 978-1-873201-22-0.
Williams, Aubrey (1990a). "A Glimpse of Caribbean Art". In Walmsley (ed.). Guyana Dreaming.
pp. 13–14.
Williams, Aubrey (1990b). "The Predicament of the Artist in the Caribbean". In Walmsley (ed.).
Guyana Dreaming. pp. 15–20.
Williams, Aubrey (1990c). "Caribbean Visual Art: A Framework for Further Inquiry". In
Walmsley (ed.). Guyana Dreaming. pp. 21–28.
Williams, Aubrey (1990d). "Dalhousie Murals". In Walmsley (ed.). Guyana Dreaming. pp. 29–
31.
Williams, Aubrey (1990e). "The Symphonies and Quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich – Paintings".
In Walmsley (ed.). Guyana Dreaming. pp. 32–33.

External links
Aubrey Williams page (http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/artists/williams/index.shtml) at October
Gallery.
Aubrey Williams page (https://web.archive.org/web/20170202004603/http://www.iniva.org/libra
ry/digital_archive/people/w/williams_aubrey) at Institute of International Visual Arts.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aubrey_Williams&oldid=959294201"

This page was last edited on 28 May 2020, at 02:17 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.