WILLIAM PACKER - neac, HON. rba

William has dedicated his life to the visual arts variously as Teacher, Critic, Curator and Author - and always as Painter.

For the lasy 30 years William has focused on still-life - with regular detours into PORTRAITURE , LANDSCAPE and COLLAGE documenting the people he has met and places he has visited in his career. There are common threads, in terms of formal composition, structure and colour palette - not least his constant and enduring commitment to painting and he continues to produce work from his Brixton studio.

'The greater mystery is ever there, of quite how that dab of paint on the canvas becomes, by some alchemy, something quite other than itself'

Alongside painting, William’s parallel careers as Art Critic, for many years for the Financial Times, and teacher at art schools around the country made him an established figure in the British art world. He has curated numerous shows, written innumerable catalogue essays and served on many selection committees. He is a member of the New English Art Club and and Honorary member of the Royal Society of British Artists and his work is represented in the National Portrait Gallery, Sheffield City Art Galleries and many private collections. Turning 81 this year provides a perfect opportunity to acknowledge the breadth of his artistic achievement.

‘As a schoolboy I remember envying those of my fellows who had any idea of what they wished to do and be: I had no idea. Perhaps I still don't, for in an odd way I sense that my life in art found me'.

William likes to work in natural light although the painting and composition can change radically during the process (of reconciling space, form and light on to the two dimensional surface of the canvas) so the finished image is not always quite what it seems to be.  

William also produces collages which hark back to his early Pop-Art days, torn and cut paper scraps arbitrarily cropped and fraught with surrealist possibility when brought together. They have much in common with the paintings in terms of formal composition and structure with their strong vertical/horizontal emphasis and blocks and strips of colour.

Trained at Wimbledon School of Art

Group shows include the Royal Academy at intervals since 1963, the Bradford Open; Flowers Gallery; Annely; Juda Fine Art; Russell Gallery; Camden Art Centre; NEAC; Pastel Society; RP; RBA; Discerning Eye; Cadogan Contemporary; New Grafton Gallery; the Lynn Painter-Stainers Exhibition.

One-man shows at Piers Feetham Gallery 1996; 2001; 2004; 2009; 2014, 2018

Two and Three-man shows at Cadogan Contemporary, Piers Feetham, The Chapel Row Gallery (variously with Giles Auty, William Feaver and Ian Potts).

Works owned by the National Portrait Gallery, Sheffield City Art Galleries and many private collectors.

Art critic with the Financial Times 1974-2004. Innumerable introductions to exhibition catalogues, newspapers, journals and magazines. Served on many exhibition and competition selection panels from the NPG Portrait Award, Crafts Council Awards to the Hunting Art Prizes.

Curated numerous shows including The British Art Show I (Arts Council) 1979,  Elizabeth Blackadder Retrospective (Scottish Arts Council) 1981, a Critic’s Choice for the Lemon Street Gallery, Truro, 2006.

Books include The Art of Vogue Covers (Octopus) 1980, Fashion Drawing in Vogue (Thames & Hudson) 1983, Henry Moore (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) 1985, Sarah Raphael (Unicorn) 2013