Women of Belfast 1/1972 2/3

Artist F E McWilliam (1909 - 1992)

Date1972

MediumBronze

Dimensions64.5 x 94 x 31 cm

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Purchased, 1995. © The Estate of F.E. McWilliam.

Object number1836

DescriptionF.E. McWilliam was never one to follow any camp yet the freedom to experiment and love of the visual pun inspired by his early exposure to Surrealism in Paris during the 1930s informed his practice all his life. Included in the 1936 Surrealism in British art exhibition, he became part of an artistic milieu which included Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, William Scott and Patrick Heron, McWilliam eschewed the changing sculptural vogue of the 1960s remaining true to his own vision and dedication to craftsmanship, guided by what his materials bid whether stone, wood or bronze.

Although he left Northern Ireland when he was 18 he felt deeply the tragedy of unfolding events there and when the Abercorn Tea Rooms were bombed in 1971 he responded over the next four years with the Women of Belfast series.
Women of Belfast 1/1972 with its ridged surfaces and effect of flattening and turning corners with the figure, otherwise shares in common with the other pieces the violence of the woman's body flung into space, arms and legs attenuated, splayed and pitted, garments carving sharp deep folds about the body in some cases also shrouding the head as in a classical funerary frieze.

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