‘An exhibition of etchings and related paintings. With most artists one might expect the prints to be copied from the canvases, but this is Fred Williams, a master of both these media so the creative relationship between versions of an image is complex, a matter of interdependency. Rather than transforming a completed picture into a derivative etching, the artist would pin prints up in his studio for visual reference, then proceeded with more paintings, refining, and further developing an image.
That is why it is a bit of a chicken-or-egg puzzle deciding the sequence of paintings and etchings in this show. Williams would return to a composition over the years, rephrasing and rejigging the form to devise fresh versions when exploring the possibilities of the different media.’
—Excerpt from essay by Christopher Heathcote, June 2021
‘LW’ refers to Lyn Williams’s catalogue number from the Fred Williams Estate Records
‘JM’ refers to the catalogue number of Fred Williams’s works assigned by James Mollison in his catalogue raisonné, Fred Williams: Etchings (1968)
