William Feaver Explained

William Feaver (born 1 December 1942) is a British art critic, curator, artist and lecturer. From 1975–1998 he was the chief art critic of the Observer, and from 1994 a visiting professor at Nottingham Trent University. His book The Pitmen Painters inspired the play of the same name by Lee Hall.^[1]

Education

Feaver was educated at Nottingham High School and Keble College, Oxford. After graduating from Oxford he became a teacher at Newcastle's Royal Grammar School (1965–71)^[2] before being appointed the Sir James Knott Fellow at Newcastle University. He is currently an academic board member of the Royal Drawing School.^[3]

Career as art critic

While at Newcastle, Feaver became the art critic of the Newcastle Journal before being appointed successively to the Listener (1971–75) and the Financial Times (1974–75) before being joining the Observer. He won the Art Critic of the Year award in 1983.^[4] Feaver conducted an exemplary interview with Lucian Freud in 1992, The artist out of cage^[5] on Freud's 70th birthday, which has been re-published in English and German in the catalog of the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt exhibition Lucian Freud: Naked Portraits.^[6]

His 2019 book, The Lives of Lucian Freud, was shortlisted for the 2019 Baillie Gifford Prize.^[7]

Family

His father was the Rt Rev Douglas Feaver. In 1964 Feaver married Victoria Turton (the poet Vicki Feaver). They had one son and three daughters. He married, secondly, in 1985, Andrea Rose OBE; they have two daughters.^[8]

Exhibitions curated

Feaver has curated a number of exhibitions in the UK and abroad, including:

• George Cruikshank, V&A, 1974^[9]
• Thirties, Hayward Gallery, 1979^[10]
• The Ashington Group, Beijing, 1979
• Lucian Freud exhibitions at Abbot Hall, Kendal (1996),^[11] Tate Britain and La Caixa, Barcelona (2002), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2002-3) and Museo Correr, Venice (2005)^[12]
• Michael Andrews, Tate Gallery, 2001^[13]
• John Constable, Grand Palais, 2002^[14]

Books published

• The Art of John Martin, 1975
• When We Were Young, 1976
• Masters of Caricature, 1981
• Pitmen Painters, 1988
• Frank Auerbach, 2009
• The Lives of Lucian Freud: Youth 1922–1968, 2019
• The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame 1968-2011, 2020

Notes and References

1. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/sep/25/theatre1 The Guardian on the Pitmen Painters
2. Who's Who
3. http://royaldrawingschool.org/about/people/academic-board/william-feaver/ Feaver's biography on the Royal Drawing School website
4. Who's Who
5. The artist out of cage, The Observer Review, No.10495, Sunday 6 December 1992, pp.45-46.
6. [Rolf Lauter]
7. Web site: Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist revealed The Bookseller. www.thebookseller.com. 2019-10-23.
8. Who's Who
9. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O117745/hades-oil-painting-cruikshank-george/ Cruickshank at the V&A
10. http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibitions/exhibition/thirties-british-art-and-design-before-the-war-1979 Thirties British Art & Design
11. https://www.abbothall.org.uk/exhibitions/lucian-freud-paintings-and-etchings Lucian Freud at Abbot Hall
12. http://correr.visitmuve.it/en/mostre-en/archivio-mostre-en/lucian-freud-1/2005/06/4631/progetto-57/ Freud at the Correr
13. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/michael-andrews-649 Michael Andrews at the Tate
14. http://www.ursusbooks.com/pages/books/101780/paris-galeries-nationales-du-grand-palais-anne-lyles-william-feaver-john-gage-anne-lyles/constable-le-choix-de-lucian-freud Constable at the Grand Palais