William Tillyer

anyone who dreams of the ideal prefers illusion to reality

2018

William Tillyer is a celebrated British painter and watercolourist, whose work has been shown frequently in London and New York since the 1970s. Tillyer was born in Middlesbrough, and studied painting at Middlesbrough College of Art. He then went on to study at the Slade in London. He began to make radically experimental work which raised questions about the relationship of art to the world, and of man to nature. The 1970s saw Tillyer return to printmaking with renewed vigour, using a variety of techniques from etching to five-tone screenprinting, to create lattices that Pat Gilmour, Head of the Print Department at Tate, described as "a cool and unpeopled world...in which to reflect the surrounding flux of nature." He has been invited to work internationally, including Cadiz, Spain; Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago; Cill Rialaig Project, Co. Kerry, Ireland; Melbourne, Australia, and was a visiting professor at Brown University, USA; Bath Academy of Art; and the Chelsea School of Art. Tillyer has exhibited internationally, and his work can be found in the collections of major institutions including the Arts Council of Great Britain; the Brooklyn Art Museum, New York; Fort Worth Art Museum, Texas; Middlesbrough Art Gallery; MOMA, New York; The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Tate Gallery, London; and the Victoria & Albert Museum.