Silver and grey

Fred Williams achieved a form of elemental minimalism in his landscapes that captured a quintessential Australian experience. Working as both an innovative painter and printmaker, he was one of the most important artists of his generation.

Set against a creamy white field of monochromatic colour, Silver and grey is glistening with light. Tipping the picture plane up, Williams achieves a remarkable sense of limitlessness distance through the adoption of an elevated viewpoint. Its restrained calligraphic touches of oil pigment allude to elements in the landscape. The painted line implies a diminishing horizon line or a distant rural fence and the patches of colour point to receding vegetation. This radical simplification of forms takes the painting to the verge of abstraction. 

In this way, Silver and grey aims to convey the essence of the Australian landscape and is significant in Australian art for bridging the heroic Australian landscape tradition while speaking to international minimalism.

Tracey Lock, Curator of Australian Paintings and Sculpture