Biography

1909 Born 23 February in Wandsworth, London.

Shortly after his birth the family moves to East Sussex. He is influenced strongly by his remarkable parents. His mother is a keen supporter of Emmeline Pankhurst. His father is a reluctant dentist by profession, but also a poet, man of letters, and author of a biography of Oliver Wendall Holmes (London: Headley Brothers, 1909). He encourages his precocious son’s passionate interest in the natural world and architecture, and fosters his capacity for objective observation and recording, qualities that will serve Townsend well throughout his life. While living in the village of Adversane, the family is visited by the writer Eleanor Farjeon, who recorded in an as yet unpublished memoir: “I also found, among the tribe of children in Adversane, a ten-year-old schoolboy, young Will Townsend, who had inherited his father’s frustrated artistry in another form. His fine pen produced not rhymes but feathery grasses, spiders-webs and dragonflies.”

1913 Starts school and whilst there keeps a daily journal which, except during the war years, he will continue until a few days before his death.

1926 Publication of Joan’s Door, by Eleanor Farjeon (illustrated by Townsend).

Enters the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, then headed by Professor Henry Tonks. Contemporaries and close friends include Elinor Bellingham-Smith, Tommy Carr, William Coldstream, Anthony Devas, Edgar Hubert, Gabriel Lopez, Nicolette Macnamara, Rodrigo Moynihan, Claude Rogers, and Geoffrey Tibble.

1930 Awarded the Orpen Bursary.

Completes studies at the Slade, and wins the newly-inaugurated Wilson Steer Landscape Prize for At Blashford (now in the collection of the Slade School).

1931-3 Spends crucial nine months travelling, to Egypt, France, Italy and Tunisia. Makes paintings and drawings in Florence, Sienna, Rome, and various locations in Egypt and Tunisia.

1932 First solo exhibition, Bloomsbury Gallery, London.

1933 Makes first paintings of Canterbury Cathedral.

Continues to live and work at his parents’ home at Bridge, near Canterbury whilst working as a book illustrator.

Becomes infatuated with the ballet and attends first performances of plays, the symphonic repertoire, openings and similar cultural events, usually in London.

1935 Invited to contribute a work for an anti-fascist solidarity exhibition. Other artists include Duncan Grant, Paul Nash, Eric Gill, and Henry Moore.

1935-6 Increasingly involved in anti-fascist politics, initially in support of the Basques and Republicans in Spain, then against the rise of Nazism, and the activities of the British Union of Fascists.

1938 Invited to stand as Labour parliamentary candidate for Canterbury, but declines. Participates in anti-fascist rallies (including the Surrealist Demonstration in Trafalgar Square of 1 May 1938) until the outbreak of war.

1939 Townsend makes comparatively few figurative paintings during his career but at this time he shows people at work, perhaps influenced by fellow A.I.A. members.

1939-40 Completes sequence of A.R.P. (Air-Raid Precautions) drawings of Canterbury Cathedral (now in the collection of the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral).

1941-6 War service as battery officer in Royal Artillery, later transferring to Army Education Corps, where he works with the musician Eric Fenby (formerly amanuensis to Frederick Delius), and paints his portrait.

1942 Marries Mary Baxter on July 4

1945 Daughter Charlotte born on July 5

Teaches at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts on a part- time basis.

Occasional broadcasting and journalism.

1949 Family moves to Rolvenden, Kent and retains a small flat in London near the Slade. The landscape of the Weald of Kent will dominate his English painting for the rest of his life. Joins teaching staff at the Slade School of Fine Art upon William Coldstream’s appointment as Slade Professor. Colleagues will include Stuart Brisley, Reg Butler, Bernard Cohen, Andrew Forge, Patrick George, Mike Georgiadis, Robert Medley, Thomas Monnington, Claude Rogers, Ian Tregarthen Jenkin and Euan Uglow. Townsend will increasingly urge the recruitment of teachers active in media other than painting and sculpture, which will lead to the invitation for him to inaugurate the post-graduate programme at the Slade.

1950 Begins a long series of drawings and paintings based on the different methods of stringing Kentish hop alleys: “the first subject he made entirely his own...a pretext for complicated geometric abstraction without the need to paint abstract pictures.” (Christopher Neve in 1978 catalogue note). This is one of the earliest “series” of paintings he undertakes, detailed examinations of the same or similar subjects. Others include: city churches in the aftermath of the Blitz, Chiswick Reach, Hoad’s Farm (near the family home in Kent), the three views of Edmonton seen from his apartment in 1962-3, and mountain ranges in the Rockies, especially Mt. Cascade, which dominates the Banff skyline.

1951 Elected to the London Group.

First visit to Canada at the invitation of the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta (now the Banff Centre), in the Canadian Rockies, to teach the summer session. Returned to the school for eleven sessions until his death there in 1973. First paintings of Canadian landscapes and studies of mountains derived from sketches en plein air are made over the next two years in his studio in Kent.

Son Nicholas born on 29 December.

1957 Appointed Senior Lecturer in Fine Arts, University College London.

Death of his father Lewis W. Townsend.

1962-3 Visiting professor in the Department of Fine Arts, University of Alberta, Edmonton. Lives in Edmonton for a year, teaching at the University of Alberta, and serves as consultant to the Canada Council and the National Gallery of Canada. Establishes the Leverhulme Canadian Painting Scholarship for five years with funds from the Leverhulme Trust in London to enable one graduate painting student each year to study in England (holders will include Toni Onley and Michael Morris).

1963 Invited to serve as co-selector of works for the first comprehensive exhibition of the works of William Coldstream, organised by the British Council.

1964 Successfully urges brother Peter to apply for the editorship of Studio magazine, henceforward Studio International.

1964-5 Tours Canada as sole juror to select the Sixth Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Painting for the National Gallery of Canada, for which he writes the catalogue essay and notes.

1965 Selects works and writes catalogue introduction for International Exhibition of Paintings, Gibraltar Arts Festival.

1966 Appointed Head of Painting Division, Banff School of Fine Arts.

1967 Resigned from the London Group.

1968 Elected Fellow of University College London, and appointed Professor of Fine Art (personal chair), with responsibility for establishing and coordinating the post-graduate programme at the Slade School.

1970 Editor and co-author, ‘Canadian Art Today’ (Studio International, London and New York); first published as a special issue of Studio International, then as stand-alone publication in hard-back.

1973 Dies on 4 July, in Banff, Alberta.

Establishment of annual William Townsend Memorial Lecture at University College London: 

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/events/townsendlectures

Townsend Memorial Scholarship established at the Banff Centre.

1976 Extracts from the Journals published as The Townsend Journals – An Artist’s Record of his Times 1928-51, edited by Andrew Forge, (Tate Gallery, London, 1976).

2005 William Townsend Symposium, Clare Hall, Cambridge (chaired by Professor Dame Gillian Beer, participants include Professor David Cast, Professor Emeritus Bernard Cohen, Dr. James Hyman, and Dr. Frances Spalding). 

Solo Exhibitions

1932 Exhibition of Paintings by William Townsend, Bloomsbury Gallery, London, 11-21 April

1933 Paintings by William Townsend, Wertheim Gallery, London, September–October

1938 Paintings by William Townsend, Burgale Gallery, Canterbury, December

1942 William Townsend, Bloomsbury Gallery, London

1949 Paintings by William Townsend, Hatton Gallery, King’s College, Newcastle, May

Paintings by William Townsend, Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London, June-July

1962 Recent Paintings by William Townsend, Leicester Galleries, London, February

1963 William Townsend, Jacox Gallery, Edmonton, and Canadian Art Gallery, Calgary

1964 Recent paintings and drawings by William Townsend, Leicester Galleries, London, November-December

1966 William Townsend, University of Sussex, Brighton; Clare College, Cambridge

1967 William Townsend, Christchurch College, Canterbury

1968 William Townsend, Denman Library, Retford

1972 William Townsend, Dalhousie University Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia

1973 William Townsend, Chilham Gallery, Kent

1974 A Tribute to William Townsend 1909 to 1973, Burnaby Art Gallery Burnaby, British Columbia (travelling exhibition)

1976 William Townsend 1909-1973: paintings and drawings, Tate Gallery, London, 18 June – 25 July

1978-80 William Townsend 1909-1973: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, 15 April – 17 May 1978, (toured to Towner Gallery, Eastbourne, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, Rye Art Gallery, Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Crawford Arts Centre, University of St. Andrews 1978-80)

1982 William Townsend in Alberta, Nickle Arts Museum, University of Calgary (toured to Prairie Gallery, Grand Prairie, Edmonton Art Gallery, Walter Phillips Gallery at Banff Centre and Red Deer Museum, Red Deer)

1987 William Townsend, Virginia Christopher Gallery, Calgary, Alberta

1989 William Townsend, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia

1995 Drawing on Canada - William Townsend: Words and Works on Paper 1951-1973, Strang Print Room, University College London

2004 William Townsend, Drawing on Canada, exhibition and symposium, Clare Hall, Cambridge 

2009 William Townsend Centenary: Selected Paintings from the Artist’s Estate, James Hyman Gallery, London, February 2009

2018 William Townsend: Painting Alberta, Details of Canada, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, 10 March – 1 July, 2018

Group Exhibitions

1930 British Artists Exhibition, Hull

1931 Contemporary British Art, Leger Gallery, London and Salisbury

Tree Pictures, The Garden Club, London East Kent Annual Exhibition, Canterbury London Group Annual Exhibition, London

1932 Twenties Group Exhibition, Wertheim Gallery, Worthing

1933 Sherbourne School for Girls, December

1934 Abbotsholme School, Staffordshire

Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Bradford City Art Gallery

London Group 1934 Exhibition, London, March

1936 Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Birmingham Art Gallery, February

London Group Annual Exhibition, London

Twenties Group Exhibition, Wertheim Gallery, London

1937 Landscapes by 20th Century Painters, Renaissance Gallery, London, January

1939 Artists International Association Exhibition, Whitechapel Gallery, London, February

East Kent Art Society Annual Exhibition, Sidney Cooper School of Art, Canterbury

1940 Artists International Association Exhibition, R.B.A. Galleries, London

1941 Artists International Association Exhibition, travelling exhibition

1942-5 Art for the People, CEMA, travelling exhibition

1946 Painters Today, Pall Mall Galleries, London

Contemporary British Art, Leicester

Summer Exhibition, Redfern Galleries, London

1947 Artists of Fame and Promise, Leicester Galleries, London, July-August

Members’ Exhibition, A.I.A. Gallery, London, 24 October – 7 November

54th Spring Exhibition, Bradford City Art Gallery

St. Pancras Civic Week Exhibition, London

British Painting of the Last Fifty Years, Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London

Modern British Paintings, Arts Council of Great Britain and British Institute of Adult Education

1948 The Euston Road School and Others, Wakefield City Art Gallery, 8 May – 12 June (toured to Art Gallery, Harrogate, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, Brighton Art Gallery, 1948)

Paddington Artists, Porchester Hall, London, March

Artists of Fame and Promise, Leicester Galleries, London, July

Letchworth Art Society, Letchworth, October

34th Exhibition of the East Kent Art Society, College of Art, Canterbury

Names to Remember, Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London

1949 Autumn Exhibition 1949, Brighton Art Gallery, September-October

1949-50 Jubilee Exhibition of English, French and US Painting, Toronto, Canada

1950 Artists International Association Members Exhibition, A.I.A. Gallery, London, May

Slade Dinner Exhibition, Slade SchoolArtists of Fame and Promise, Leicester Galleries, London Names to Remember, Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London

1951 Banff School of Fine Arts Gallery, Alberta

London Group: Contemporary Painting, Drawings and Sculpture, November, New Burlington Galleries, London

The English Scene – 300 Years of Painting, Roland Browse and Delbanco, London

Artists of Fame and Promise, Leicester Galleries, London

1952 Banff School of Fine Arts Gallery, Alberta

Dominion Gallery, Montreal, Québec, August

British Painting 1925 – 1950: Second Anthology, Arts Council of Great Britain

East Kent Art Society Annual Exhibition, Canterbury

Artists of Fame and Promise, Leicester Galleries, London Bladon Gallery, Hampshire

Names to Remember, Roland Browse and Delbanco, London

1953 East Kent Art Society Annual Exhibition, Canterbury Group Exhibition, Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London Artists of Fame and Promise, Leicester Galleries, London

1954 London Group 1954 Exhibition, New Burlington Gallery, London Group Exhibition, Russell Coles Gallery, Bournemouth

1955 Selections from London Group 1954, Portsmouth

Arts Council Collection A Selection from the Oil Paintings II, Arts Council of Great Britain

Slade Dinner Exhibition, Slade School, London

Artists of Fame and Promise, Leicester Galleries, London

London Group 1955 Exhibition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London

Annual Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

1956 New Year Exhibition, Leicester Galleries, London

The Seasons, organised by the Contemporary Art Society, Tate Gallery, London

Artists of Fame and Promise, Leicester Galleries, London

London Group 1956 Exhibition, R.B.A. Galleries, London

Brighton Art Gallery

Annual Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

1957 New Years Exhibition, Leicester Galleries, London

John Moores Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Group exhibition of Kent Artists, Boulogne

Group Exhibition, Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London

Artists of Fame and Promise II, Leicester Art Galleries, London

Midland Artists Group Gallery, Nottingham

Annual Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

1958 New Years Exhibition, Leicester Galleries, London

Artists of Fame and Promise Part I, Leicester Galleries, London

London Group 1958 Exhibition, R.B.A. Galleries, London

106th Annual Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

1959 Spring Exhibition, City Art Gallery, Bradford Carlisle City Art Gallery

London Group Annual Exhibition, R.B.A. Galleries, London

1960 Artists at Work, Midland Group Gallery

Letchworth Museum and Art Gallery

Contemporary British Landscape, Arts Council of Great Britain, Cheltenham (touring exhibition)

1961 Contemporary British Landscape, Arts Council of Great Britain, (toured to Cheltenham Festival, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle on Tyne, Arts Council Gallery, Cambridge and Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester)

Group Exhibition, St. Pancras Arts Festival, St. Pancras Town Hall, London

1962 British Painting 1930-1940, Arts Council of Great Britain, Cardiff

Artists of Fame and Promise Part I, Leicester Galleries, London, July-August

Artists of Fame and Promise Part II, Leicester Galleries, London, August-September

1963 East Kent Art Society, Canterbury

1964 Open Painting Exhibition, Belfast

British Contemporary Artists, New Metropole Arts Centre, Folkestone

London Group 1964, Art Federation Galleries

London Group 1914-1964 Jubilee Exhibition, Tate Gallery

Open Painting Exhibition, Arts Council of Northern Ireland

1965 Pictures for Schools 1965, South London Art Gallery, Camberwell

Focus on Drawings: Canada/Great Britain/Italy/Spain, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

2005 A Picture of Britain, Tate Britain, London

2017 “Paul Nash and the Uncanny Landscape” Curated by John Stezaker. York Art Gallery, 20 Oct 2017 - 15 April 2018