Frederick (Fred) Ronald Williams Australia, Britain, 1927-82
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About Fred Williams
Born in Melbourne in 1927, Fred Williams studied at the National Gallery School, Melbourne and in London in the early 1950s at the Chelsea Art School, and the Central School of Arts and Crafts where he studied etching. With his family he returned to Melbourne in 1956. He first became known as a graphic artist, especially for his etchings, a book of which was published in 1968. He later developed a distinctive style of landscape painting. He had more than seventy solo exhibitions during his career in Australian galleries. Williams has received many awards including the Helena Rubenstein Travelling Scholarship in 1964.
Fred Williams is one of the most prolific of the artists listed in our database, with the number of works offered for sale by auction since 1969 of 1,963, of which 1,432 (73%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $3,190,909 for Masons Falls (1981) sold by Smith & Singer in August 2023. In addition to this sale, a further 23 works by this artist have been sold for over $1 million. This year 15 works have been offered for sale. Works by Fred Williams are held by the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia and a further ten major public national galleries (see list below).
Fred Williams is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 1025
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 381
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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