Frederick Edward McWilliam, R.A.

Gifted by the artist to T. P. Flanagan and thence by descent to the present owner

London, Waddington Gallery, 1961;
Arts Council of Ireland 1981, no.36 (illustrated in exh. cat);
Hillsborough, The Shambles Gallery, Sculpture by F. E. McWilliam, June - July 1988;
London, Tate Gallery, F. E. McWilliam, May - July 1989, no.40 (illustrated in exh. cat.);
Banbridge, The F. E. McWilliam Gallery, F. E. McWilliam at Banbridge, September 2008 - February 2009

John Russell, 'Review of Waddington Exhibition', Sunday Times, 10 Feb 1961;
Bryan Robertson, New Statesman, 3 March 1961;
Roland Penrose (intro.), McWilliam, 1964, London, p.5, illustrated no.63
S.B. Kennedy, T.P. Flanagan: Painter of Light and Landscape, Lund Humphries, London, 2013, illus p.151
Denise Ferran, F. E. McWilliam at Banbridge, 2008, pp.18, 24;
Denise Ferran, The Sculpture of F. E. McWilliam, London, 2012, no.198, p.128, illustrated

In good overall condition. Held on a concrete base (removable - 69cm X 69cm X 33cm).
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One can see clearly the means of making in its Expressionist representation of a figure. McWilliam was a British Surrealist but at times he embraced Expressionism as in this piece, notably in the ‘head’ of the figure, with its twisted forms and exquisite linear decoration. It is considered the climax of McWilliam's bronzes of the 1950s, characterized by their memorable and mysterious presences. In his 1961 review of McWilliam's exhibition at Waddington, John Russell wrote: 'In the large Icon McWilliam successfully marries his innate and celtic interest in the "mysterious sign" to another of the day's preoccupations, that of the standing figure, half cross, half idol, in which are embodied a large number of auxiliary significations.'

There is a unique plaster cast of Icon in the F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, County Down.