William Lyons-Wilson
and a selection of his paintings
of
The West Country
"Lyons" as he was affectionately known, a Yorkshire man, was born in Leeds and showed a desire to sketch and paint in his early years. At the age of twelve he sold his first picture of Kirkstall Abbey, for the sum of one shilling. Never receiving any formal training apart from guidance of friends, in his early years he obtained inspiration from Cotman, Constable and Cezanne, later on from Klee, Miro and Picasso. He possessed a command of colour together with a clear sense of composition, coupled with a sound knowledge of brushwork and a sympathetic insight into the subject. He had a progressive love of all arts, and unless you have had the privilege of studying the development of his work from 1914 until shortly before his death in 1981, you can hardly appreciate the range of styles and his professionalism.
"Speak of the moderns without contempt,
and of the
ancients without idolatry".
William Lyons-Wilson.
