Frederick Edward McWilliam RA
Other names: 'Ted'
Born 30 April 1909
Died 13 May 1992
Active: 1926 - 1992
Country of birth: Northern Ireland
Country of death: England
Sculptor, teacher
Born in Newry Street, Banbridge, co. Down. Died at 12 Pembroke Square, Kensington, London. F.E. McWilliam studied at Belfast College of Art (1926–8) and the Slade (1928-31). Worked in Paris 1931-32. He married a fellow Slade student, the painter Elizabeth Marion (Beth) Crowther (1909/10–1988) in 1932. Their first home at Chartridge, Buckinghamshire was shared with Henry Moore and it was here that F.E. began to carve.
Early work carvings in wood, then Surrealist from 1936. Exhibited with Surrealist Group 1938. First solo show London Gallery 1939. War service in Royal Air Force 1940-45 as intelligence officer in Far East. Worked in diverse range of media - wood, stone, concrete, terra cotta, bronze. Received an award in U.P.P. competition 1953. Taught at Chelsea School of Art 1946-47 and Slade School of Fine Art 1947-68. A.R.A. 1959, resigned 1963, rejoined 1989. C.B.E. 1966. Oireachtas Gold Medal, Trinity College, Dublin 1971.
Commissions include: The Four Seasons for Festival of Britain 1951; Archimedes for Technical College, Shrewsbury 1956; Man and Bird for Basildon New Town 1958; Princess Macha at Attnagelvin Hospital, Londonderry 1957; Figure (portrait of Elisabeth Frink) bought and publicly sited by Harlow Art Trust 1957; Witch of Agnesi for Avery Hill Training College, Woolwich 1959.
Exhibitions include: Football and the Fine Arts, Football Association/Arts Council, Park Lane House, London 1953 (prizewinner); Hanover Gallery after war; LCC 1948, 51, 54, 57, 60; SB 1951; Middelheim Biennales, Antwerp 1953, 59, 61; Sonsbeek, Holland 1955; Musée Rodin, Paris 1956; BC 1956; BCSP 1957; SPB 1957; Pittsburgh 1958; AC 1958, 60, 61; International Sculpture Exhibition, Municipal Art Gallery, Dublin 1959; John Moores Liverpool Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 1961 (prizewinner).
Collections include: Tate Gallery; Arts Council; British Government Art Collection; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; National Portrait Gallery, London; Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, Norwich; Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Further reading: F.E. McWilliam, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast 2 April – 10 May 1981, (exh. cat.).
R. Penrose, F.E. McWilliam, (London: A. Tiranti Ltd., 1964).
M. Gooding, F. E. McWilliam, Tate Gallery, London, 1989, (exh.cat.).
A. Garrett, ‘ The Sculpture of F.E. McWilliam’, in Studio, November 1954, Vol. 148, No. 740.
Biography from Whiteley (2001) and additional information from Sorrell (2004)
Wealth at death: £1,432,394 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 21 July 1992
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Black Head
1934
The Sower
1951
Spring
1951 (Presumed)
Summer
1951
Autumn
1951 (Presumed)
Winter
1951 (Presumed)
Locations
Address Steeles Road Hampstead London | View on map
1936 - 1950
Address Holland Park Kensington London | View on map
1950 - 1992
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Festival of Britain, London: South Bank Exhibition, 1951
Multiple works
Exhibited at New Movements in Art (Manchester City Art Gallery), 1942
Multiple works
Exhibited at Festival of Arts Exhibition of Architecture, Belfast, 1951
1951
Institutional and Business Connections
Received scholarship from Slade School of Fine Art
Robert Ross leaving scholarship, used to travel to France.
Student at Belfast School of Art
1926 - 1928
Studied at Slade School of Fine Art
1928
Studied Painting & Drawing with Sculpture as a subsidiary subject.
Teacher of sculpture at Slade School of Fine Art
September 1948 - 1968
Listed as an assistant teacher of sculpture. McWilliam is still listed in the 1951-1952 prospectus, the final year sampled for this database.
Personal and Professional Connections
Colleague of Alfred Horace Gerrard
1947
Invited F.E. McWilliam to join teaching staff at Slade
Shared studio with John Luke
1928
While at Slade School of Fine Art
Studied under (James) Seamus Stoupe
1926
Teacher to Ronald Pope
1945 (Circa) - 1948
Sources
'Festival Sculpture', The Studio, 1951
1951
pp. 73-76
Catalogue of New Movements in Art, 1942
1942
Cat. No. 89, p. 10
Catalogue of The Festival of Arts Exhibition of Architecture, Belfast, 1951
1951
p. 3
Directory of sculptors working and exhibiting in Britain in the 1950s, by Gillian Whiteley
2001
pp. 20-1
Festival of Britain: 1951. Catalogue of Exhibits. South Bank Exhibition, 1951
1951
p. 26.
Irish Arts Review, Autumn 2008
2008
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Mark Sorrell, ‘McWilliam, Frederick Edward (1909–1992)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/51214, accessed 1 Sept 2009]
The Sculpture of F.E. McWilliam
2012
University College London. Calendar. Session 1948-1949
1948
p. 103.
University of London. University College Calendar, 1951-1952
1951
p. xliii.
Citing this record
'Frederick Edward McWilliam RA', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib5_1235412458, accessed 02 Oct 2023]
