Frederick Edward McWilliam, R.A.

Waddington Galleries, London, 1961

London, Waddington Galleries, F.E. McWilliam, February - March, 1961, no.5;
Cardiff, Arts Council of Wales, Contemporary British Sculpture, 1961;
Belfast, Ulster Museum, F.E. McWilliam, (retrospective exhibition), 1981, with tour to Trinity College, Dublin, Crawford Gallery, Cork, Orchard Gallery, Dublin, no.33

Roland Penrose, McWilliam Sculptor, Alec Tiranti, London, 1964, p.6, illustrated no.55;
Judy Marle and T.P. Flanagan, F.E. McWilliam, exh.cat., The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 1981, p.106, illustrated p.40;
Denise Ferran, F.E. McWilliam at Banbridge, exh.cat., The F.E. McWilliam Gallery & Studio, Banbridge, 2008, p.25, illustrated;
Denise Ferran and Valerie Holman, The Sculpture of F.E. McWilliam, Lund Humphires and The Henry Moore Foundation, 2012, no.193, illustrated p.128

The work has been outside (as the artist intended), which is reflected in its patina and some areas of debris. However overall the work appears in very good condition.
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‘Mystery is terribly important, in art as in religion. I mean if you take mystery out of religion, you’re only left with morality, and if you take the mystery out of art you’re only left with design or illustration. But what mystery is…is another matter.’ (McWilliam quoted in Tate Gallery exh. cat., 1989, p.

F. E. McWilliam’s career, in its various guises and explorations, has been centrally concerned with embracing the inexplicable and paying homage to mystery. Thus in his work we see a variety of different forms, materials and ideas employed, and it is this propensity to change that is another defining characteristic of the artist’s work.

In Triad, framed in an egg-shaped halo, are three closely-linked figures ‘whose ghostly identity’, as Roland Penrose wrote, ‘depends on their inseparable interlocking sculpture’ (Penrose, op. cit., p.6). The meaning is not explicit, and thus as a viewer we partake in the mystery and can bring our own interpretations to it. As Penrose continues, ‘the communication has begun and the chain reaction that a work of art can set off will continue in its fertilisation of the imagination’ (ibid).

If any references are to be sought, McWilliam’s Celtic origins no doubt have a role to play. The motif of the Triad was prevalent in Celtic culture and took shape in various forms; it is therefore not surprising such symbolism found its way into McWilliam’s own imagery. Celtic culture was occupying McWilliam’s work at this time; two years earlier he had completed Princess Macha, which stands outside Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry, and portrays his Irish heritage through the interpretation of the subject matter and in the surface texturing of the garments, which Denise Ferran observes, are ‘reminiscent of weathered Celtic High Crosses’ (Ferran, F.E. McWilliam at Banbridge, p.142). Being open to other influences and ideas was a key trait of McWilliam’s work, yet in the end he always carved his own distinctive path. Essentially, McWilliam strove to elicit a personal response from the viewer, whatever the source or inspiration might be, and in Triad he fully succeeds.