'Of course, the subtlety of the matter - the complexity of the history that has yet to be written - is that Aubrey Williams' work would have to be considered in three different contexts: that of Guyana, that of the Guyanese and West Indian 'diaspora' in Britain, and that of British society. These contexts would have to be considered to a degree separately, and in their complicated inter-relationships, affected by the realities of power. And all would have to be adjusted in relation to Williams' own desire to be simply a modern, contemporary artist, the equal of any other. This was the context in which he saw himself. At one moment he would say: "I haven't wasted a lot of time on this roots business ... I've paid attention to a a hundred different things ... why must I isolate one philosophy?"; at another: "the crux of the matter inherent in my work since I was a boy has been the human predicament, specifically with regard to the Guyanese situation."'
Guy Brett
One of the key figures in painting in post-war Britain, Aubrey Williams (1926-1990) brought together a spectrum of visual influences and cultural perspectives in his paintings, ranging from classical music and pre-Columbian iconography to science fiction and ecology.
The first monograph on Aubrey Williams' work, this highly illustrated publication contains a foreword by curator Andrew Dempsey; an essay by writer and critic Guy Brett setting Williams' work in the context of contemporary art in the broadest sense; an essay by the later writer and anthropologist Denis Williams; and a comprehensive illustrated chronology by Anne Walmsley.
ISBN: 1-899846-17-4
112pp, paperback, 240 x 250mm, 106 illustrations (57 in colour)
Iniva in association with Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1998
Published on occasion of the exhibition Aubrey Williams, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1998.