FLETCHER, WILLIAM (1924-1983)

"Mixed Bunch" (c.1968)
oil on board
45.5 x 35.5cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
William Fletcher was a respected Australian figurative painter. He studied at East Sydney Technical College and at the Julian Ashton School. Fletcher was best known for his paintings of Australian flora, he also painted figurative works and cityscapes. Fletcher focused mainly on flower studies and still life from the 1950s, including a few early fantasy and religious subjects, and rodeo, circus and city street scenes of the 1960s. Margaret Preston, Adrian Feint, David Strachan and Margaret Olley are perhaps better known for their depictions of similar subject-matter, however, in Fletcher's vision there is an intense, Ruskinian attention to the detail of flower forms which connects him with a timeless tradition of botanical art going back to European masters of previous centuries. His works are represented in several important institutions including the Art Gallery of NSW. This earthy oil was completed whilst touring with Sorlie's Tent Show, famous for taking pantomime, musical comedy and vaudeville around Australia.