Wilfred Avery and the Unpredictable Image (1926 – 2016)

I keep my touchstone, found long ago on the pink clifftops and green hillsides of my childhood, strangely alive in me.

Devon-born Wilfred Avery (1926-2016) focused on just two subjects in his career: landscape and the male body. The inspiration he found in his childhood landscape became a thread that ran through his sixty year career; wherever he was living, and whatever he was painting, Wilfred found himself consistently looking back to North Devon. By the end of his life – one led with a rare and intense creative focus – he had unified his two chosen subjects into one compelling whole.

In the first exhibition of Wilfred’s work since his death in 2016, the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon is proud to exhibit a selection of newly acquired works, alongside loans from private collections and national institutions. Many of these distinctive pieces have never before been seen by the public.

Trinity by Wilfred Avery (1974–1975)

Mandal by Wilfred Avery (1962)

©South Molton Museum

Wilfred Avery in his studio at Knight’s House, London, 1956

Summer Figure by Wilfred Avery (1960)

The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon also has further pieces of Wilfred Avery’s work in its collection, which unfortunately aren’t on display during the exhibition (due to space limitations), but which can be viewed our website.

To view these additional artworks by Wilfred Avery, click here