We are delighted to present an online exhibition of early Modernist works by William Gear.
William Gear was one of Britain’s greatest abstract painters of the twentieth century. Born in Scotland, he was notable for his engagement with European Modernism and the way his work helped to internationalise contemporary British art.
Gear's European travel in the 1930s had a major impact on his work, especially his time studying with Fernand Leger in Paris in 1937. Gear would later describe Leger as "a keystone for me”.
Reclining Nude, 1937, is a beautiful example of these rare early drawings and watercolours, It has echoes of the neo-classical figures of Leger (photo of reclining nude) as well as the early Mexican Chac Mool sculptures that so inspired Henry Moore. (photos x 2 show alongside Moore)
At a time when much English art was conservative and inward looking, William Gear stood out for his engagement with the latest international trends.
This work is now available from James Hyman Gallery along with other early works by Gear that draw from the latest European cultural tendencies (photo): from realism to neoclassicism, and from French Surrealism to the latest abstraction.
These works on paper reveal a Scottish artist at the forefront of European culture and illustrate the importance of this first-hand experience of contemporary European Modernism to the evolution of British cultural life.