William Johnstone (1897–1981)
Biography
William Johnstone was one of the pioneers of abstract art in Britain. He grew up on a farm in the Scottish Borders, forming a connection to the rhythms of nature that would become a life-long fascination and the main subject in his paintings. In 1920 Johnstone enrolled at the Edinburgh College of Art. Following his studies he travelled to Paris, staying there from 1925 to 1927, he studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumèire and at the studio of André Lhote. Johnstone became one of the first British artists to connect with European modernism. He began to understand abstraction not purely as a style but as a visual language capable of conveying complex emotional subjects. Johnstone’s work has links to modernist movements both in Europe and in the United States. His approach to painting is related both to Abstract Expressionism the European movement of Lyrical Abstraction. Within a British context, his painting is also similar to that of Peter Lanyon and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.
Spending most of his professional life working and teaching in London, Johnstone had a big impact on the new generation of post-war abstract artists. From 1938 to 1946, he was the principal at Camberwell College of Art, with Terry Frost and Gillian Ayres studying there in this time. From 1947 to 1960, he was principal at the Central College of Art, forming an impressive cohort of teachers including Victor Pasmore, Alan Davie, Patrick Heron, and William Turnbull. Johnstone developed and championed the Basic Design course – a new framework for the study of fine art that was based on the Bauhaus and prioritised experimentation and interdisciplinary thinking, instead of more academic tradition and technicality.
Johnstone’s work can be found in many public art collections including the National Galleries of Scotland, The University of Edinburgh, Government Art Collection, Tate, Pallant House Gallery and others.
Available works
Please see below the selection of available original artworks by William Johnstone.
POA
Oil on canvas
70x91 cm
Signed verso
Provenance:
‘The Studio of the Late Dr. William Johnstone’, Christie’s, Glasgow, 12 April 1990, Lot 76.
While this work is not dated, it was most likely painted in the 1960s. During this time Johnstone retired from teaching in London and returned to Scotland to dedicate himself fully to painting. While he was a pioneer of abstraction in Britain, his work has always remained very connected to nature and especially to his native landscape of the Scottish Borders. The rhythmic upward and downward motions that formulate this composition manifest to Johnstone’s lifelong fascination with the underlying energies and patterns of nature.