F. E. McWilliam (1909-1992)

McWilliam was born in Belfast, and studied painting at the Belfast School of Art from 1926 to 1928, and at the Slade School in London from 1928 to 1931. He turned to sculpture in the early 1930s. In 1938 he exhibited with the Surrealist Group, and had his first one-man show in 1939 at the London Gallery. During the Second World War he served with the Royal Air Force.

From 1946 to 1968 McWilliam taught sculpture at the Slade School and at Chelsea School of Art. In 1951 he exhibited a large work at the Festival of Britain. In 1981 he had an Arts Council exhibition which toured throughout Ireland. In 1989 a major retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Tate Gallery in London.