William Gear RA Scottish, 1915-1997

William Gear studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1932-37 and Edinburgh University Fine Art Class 1936-37. He then moved to Paris and studied with Fernand Léger. After the war he returned to Paris and became an early member of the CoBrA group (the only other British member was Stephen Gilbert), exhibiting in Copenhagen and Amsterdam. CoBrA had a very significant influence on European painting especially in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1949 he had a 2 man show in the United States with Jackson Pollock and in 1951 won a Festival of Britain Purchase Prize. William Gear was elected to The London Group 1952 and a Senior Royal Academician 1995. He was made curator of Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne 1958, appointed head of the Faculty of Fine Art in Birmingham College of Art 1964, guest lecturer at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and at the University of Western Australia, Perth 1966. Gear retired from Birmingham College of Art in 1975. William Gear’s work is held in many public collections at home and abroad, including The Tate Gallery (8 works), The National Galleries of Scotland (3 works), and Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery. A major retrospective exhibition was held at The Redfern Gallery, London 1997. An excellent book on Gear’s life and work by John McEwen was published in 2003.