Evelyn Williams 'Intimate Whispers'

Evelyn Williams ‘Intimate Whispers’
Anima Mundi are delighted to present
‘Intimate Whispers’, by pioneering
British painter Evelyn Williams.
Arguably less known that many of her
male contemporaries, despite winning
the John Moores Prize for sculpture,
Williams produced an unrivalled body
of work, unguardedly expressing
the wide ranging complexities of the
human condition.
Evelyn Williams was born in 1929 and
trained at St Martin’s School of Art from
the age of 15 and then the Royal College
of Art working alongside the older, largely
male students, many of them soldiers
returning from service in the second world
war. Despite failing health she continued
painting right up to her death in 2012
at the age of 83. Her tender, intimate
and emotional paintings are concerned
with the subtleties and complexities of
relationships and the human predicament.
Her very personal paintings have followed
her progress through life as child, lover,
mother and grandmother. She talked of
her work with self-effacement but her
words provide epitaphs: “After all the
attempts at movement, the pulling and
pushing of forms, the agitation – here all
goes still and I have a sense of relief the
figure is asleep and has found rest.”
Williams proved difficult for some to
categorise during her life time, but is
regarded, along with friends such as
Paula Rego, as having forged a path
for female artists. She later founded a
trust in her name which has done modest
but important work to support artists,
particularly women, and the practice
of drawing.
In 1961 Evelyn Williams won first prize for
sculpture in the John Moores competition
and over the years had recognition in many
public galleries including a retrospective
exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery
in 1972. Her work is in numerous public and
private collections, including the Victoria
and Albert Museum; Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford; New Hall, Cambridge; the National
Museum of Wales; the Contemporary Art
Society for Wales; and the British Arts
Council. These are powerful, haunting
paintings which, fully aware that her
health was declining rapidly, show the
artist facing her own mortality with her
customary directness and tenderness.
‘Intimate Whispers’ offers a selection of
uniquely honest paintings, dealing with
the intimate connection and profound
solitude of existence, taking the viewer on
a profound journey from womb to tomb.