Ian Armstrong at Wedderburn 1971

FRED WILLIAMS (1927-1982)

Ian Armstrong at Wedderburn 1971

oil on canvas
30.5 x 25.0 cm; 55.0 x 49.5 cm (framed)
signed lower right: Fred Williams.

Provenance:
Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Private collection
GFL Fine Art, Perth, 12 June 2012, lot 45
Private collection, Perth
Mossgreen Auctions, Melbourne, 29 August 2016, lot 52
Professor John Roberts AM, Sydney

Exhibited:
Bodies & Minds, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne, 10 May - 2 June 2007, cat.62

Estimate: $18000 - 24000

Result Hammer: $15000

Modernist painter and printmaker Ian Armstrong (1923-2005) studied at the National Gallery School in Melbourne from 1943-1950. It is here that he crossed paths with Fred Williams (1927-1982), who studied there from 1943-1947. In 1946 they jointly purchased a block of land in Lilydale with fellow art student Harry Rosengrave (1899-1986). Together they built a shack from which they painted the surrounding landscape en plein air until 1951.

In the early 50s Williams and Armstrong both went abroad to study in London; Williams at the Chelsea School of Art, and Armstrong at the Slade School of Fine Art. Upon returning to Melbourne Armstrong taught alongside John Brack (1920-1999) at the National Gallery School and held over 60 solo exhibitions throughout his esteemed career.

Armstrong and his family moved to Wedderburn in central Victoria for a year in the early 70s, so that he could recover from health issues. It is here that his friend Fred Williams painted the present work. Known as one of Australia’s greatest landscape painters, William’s portraits were reserved for those he admired the most, such as his dear friend, Armstrong. In fact, one of his best-known portraits in the National Gallery of Victoria collection is of the third member of their original group in Lilydale, Harry Rosengrave.

Asta Cameron

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