Wilfred Avery and the Unpredictable Image

Hardcover | 23.19 x 0.86 x 27.41 cm | 160 pp

Unicorn | 2023 | 9781911397618

The painter and collagist Wilfred Avery (1926-2016) tackled just two subjects in his career: landscape and the male body. A sixty-year investigation into both developed out of his fascination with the unconscious mind as well as an exploration (and acceptance) of his own sexuality. By the end of his life – one led with a rare and intense creative focus – he had unified his two chosen subjects into one compelling whole.

Avery's paintings, neither real nor surreal, were developed from his interest in depth psychology. Coming from a dialogue between the conscious and unconscious minds he created strangely enigmatic images. These exist in a mystical and ambiguous space - a space that both advances and recedes.

Wilfred Avery was born in South Molton, Devon in 1926. He was educated first at Barnstaple Grammar School and then at St Paul's College, Cheltenham where he studied painting with James Salmon (later the Principal of Croydon College of Art). Whilst at Cheltenham Wilfred's growing interest in modern painting was reinforced by a meeting with Paul Nash who encouraged him to look to Paris, rather than to London or New York, for the influences which would subsequently shape his work.