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William Fletcher 1924-1983 |
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| In the estimation of many, William Fletcher is one of the finest painters of Australian wildflowers this country has produced, combining botanical accuracy of detail with groupings and settings that are evocative of the harsh conditions of bush and desert, in paintings marked by their draughtsmanship and fine colour |
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For a larger view of each painting please click on the images below |
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Biography
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William Fletcher was born at Bellbird, in the Hunter Valley , on 27 October, 1924 . Leaving the town at the age of 18 to join the RAN, he saw active service in the Pacific for four years until his discharge in 1946. He settled in a Stanley Street terrace (East Sydney) and studied at East Sydney Technical College and the Julian Ashton Art School between 1946 and 1952. |
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In 1954, Fletcher moved Pittwater, where he lived for the rest of his short life. He made excursions to the bush around Sydney , the Snowy, and Central Australia to sketch wildflowers. For one year (1961), he travelled with Sorlie's tent show, sketching circus scenes. In 1977, he spent four months in England and Europe . |
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| Fletcher, who painted cityscape, figurative, and wildflower studies, is represented in the collections of the Australian National Gallery, SH Ervin Gallery of the National Trust, Newcastle Regional Gallery, Rockhampton Gallery, the Royal Botanic Gardens (Sydney), Australian government collections such as that in the Australian Parliament House, Canberra and in private collections in Australia and overseas. |
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In the estimation of many, he is one of the finest painters of Australian wildflowers this country has produced, combining botanical accuracy of detail with groupings and settings that are evocative of the harsh conditions of bush and desert, in paintings marked by their draughtsmanship and fine colour |
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John Brackenreg OBE, formerly Director of the Artarmon Galleries, who was a supporter of the artist during Fletcher’s last and most productive years, provided a foreword to the study of the artist which was written and published by Trevor Andersen in 1983. Brackenreg commented that Fletcher’s subjects “were beautifully drawn and rendered with infinite patience and love”. |
Lloyd Rees, who visited an exhibition of Fletcher’s work at Artarmon Galleries, remarked that the apparent naturalism of the works was deceptive, for Fletcher’s painting was “an abstraction from nature and not a mere imitation of it”. Elwyn Lynn, (Art and Australia, Vol 21 No.4, June 1984), referred to Fletcher’s mysterious and haunting use of colour and the imaginative way in which he mingled precision in treatment of species with “baroque accumulations” of flora. |
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Since the artist’s death, two posthumous exhibitions of his work have been held, in 1983 (Artarmon Galleries), and 1985 (Rex Irwin, Woollahra), and Fletcher was the featured artist at a mixed exhibition held at the Shore School in 1987. Over this period, several other paintings in private collections beyond the 434 catalogued in the appendix to the monograph have come to light. These include several small domestic studies of cut garden flowers such as roses and camellias, which are not considered to show the evocative brilliance of the wildflower studies produced in the later years of Fletcher’s life. |
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However, Fletcher’s earlier output during the 1950s and 1960s also includes fine figurative, circus and city streetscape studies in pen and wash as well as oil. |
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Reviews of Fletcher’s work and of Trevor Andersen’s book on the artist have appeared in the Weekend Australian Magazine (Sandra McGrath, 19-20 November, 1983), The Sydney Morning Herald (Humphrey McQueen, 14 April, 1984), The Canberra Times (Nancy Parker, 17 March, 1984) and in the periodical, Art and Australia, (Elwyn Lynn, Winter edition, Vol 21, No4, June 1984). |
| During the late 1980s and early 1990s wildflower paintings which were released by the executor of the Fletcher estate and auctioned at major auction houses such as Christie's, Lawson's, Rushton's and Sotheby's achieved pleasing values. As Fletcher's wildflower paintings were produced in the later years of his mature painting and are few in number, their appearance in exhibitions and auction rooms has been infrequent. |
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Several are in private collections in Australia and overseas and being cherished, evocative and colourful paintings of a domestic genre, their public appearance is a relative rarity. It is anticipated that the remaining wildflower paintings of the Fletcher estate will be released over the next few years and that the relative rarity of Fletcher's beautiful wildflower studies will generate greater interest. |
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William Fletcher died suddenly of an asthma attack at his Church Point (Sydney) home, on 22 January 1983 . Fletcher’s estate contained many previously un-exhibited paintings and drawings, because his cardiac and asthma problems over many years, his reclusiveness and perfectionism all militated against his holding many major one-man exhibitions. |
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In 1985, Trevor Andersen established the William Fletcher Trust which has continued through his personal donations, the donations of other generous individuals and the proceeds of the sale of works from the Fletcher estate to assist young Australian artists of outstanding merit, especially those experiencing financial difficulties during their final years of |
tertiary training.. Fletcher is named in the Australian National Gallery’s authority list of Australian artists. An entry for Fletcher appears in McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art (Allen and Unwin, 1994). TJA April 2004 |
A few of Fletcher's paintings are still available for possible release through his executor, Trevor Andersen. Serious collectors may contact him by email at |
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All material on this site is subject to copyright |
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