Fred WILLIAMS
Australia 1927 – Australia 1982
England 1951-56

Knoll in the You Yangs 1965
oil on canvas
signed: l.c.
150.1 (h) x 206.3 (w) cm
Private collection
© estate of Fred Williams

Knoll in the You Yangs is based on one of Williams’s favourite locations where he felt a special presence; a feeling that was heightened by his experience of a particularly windy day. He had worked towards this painting in a gouache and in one of his largest etchings. In this majestic oil painting he conveys the full drama of the knoll: the weight of the rocks and ground combined with the animated brushwork and lively marks that seem to explode freely into the sky. Compared with the calm, distilled feeling in many of the works undertaken around the same time, this is one of Williams’s most overtly expressive paintings.