Frank Avray Wilson

Born: 1914

Death: 2009

Biography:

Frank Avray Wilson was a British artist and author.
He was one of the first British artists to use Tachist or action painting techniques.
Wilson was born in Vacoas, Mauritius, in 1914, the son of Albert James Wilson, a sugar manufacturer, by his marriage to Anna Avray. He was educated at Brighton College and St John's College, Cambridge, where he took a degree in biology, before studying art in Paris and Norway.
In 1953, Wilson met Denis Bowen, and they formed the New Vision Group and, in 1956, the New Vision Centre Gallery near Marble Arch in central London. Avray Wilson had his first solo show at the Obelisk Gallery in 1954, before being included in the British Council's influential La Peinture Anglaise Contemporain, which toured in France and Switzerland. He also took part in the New York Foundation's New Trends in British Painting in Rome in 1957 and was shortlisted for the John Moore's prize exhibition in Liverpool in 1959. His auction record of £15,000 was set at Christie's, London, on 22 March 2012, for his 1957 oil on canvas Wish.
Avray Wilson married Higford Eckbo, a Norwegian, on 28 April 1936, and they had four children: Wendy-Ann, Raymond, Jason, and Norman. His daughter Wendy-Ann went on to marry an American architect, Thomas J. Holzbog, and is the mother of Arabella Holzbog.
Wendy-Ann Wilson's wedding was in 1958 at St Mary's, Stoke d'Abernon, and Walter C. Holzbog later recalled that Peter Rountree was the best man, the bride's three brothers, Raymond, Jason, and Norman Wilson, were ushers, and the bridesmaids included Vibeke Advocaat, of Oslo, Norway.
Avray Wilson's work can be seen in the following collections:
Avray Wilson was the author of several books on art:
To mark his 1995 exhibition, the Redfern Gallery published Frank Avray Wilson: An exhibition of recent paintings and work from the 50s to 80s by Cathy Courtney.

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