William Feaver
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]
Contents
Education
Feaver was educated at Nottingham High School and Keble College, Oxford. After graduatiing 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 auccessively 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]
Exhibitions curated
Feaver has curated a number of exhibitions in the UK and abroad, including:
- George Cruickshank, V&A, 1974[5]
- Thirties, Hayward Gallery, 1979[6]
- The Ashington Group, Beijing, 1979
- Lucian Freud exhibitions at Abbot Hall, Kendal (1996),[7]Tate Britain and La Caixa, Barcelona (2002), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2002-3) and Museo Correr, Venice (2005)[8]
- Michael Andrews, Tate Gallery, 2001[9]
- John Constable, Grand Palais, 2002[10]
Books published
- The Art of John Martin, 1975
- When We Were Young, 1976
- Masters of Caricature, 1981
- Pitmen Painters, 1988
- Frank Auerbach, 2009
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.[11]
References
- ↑ The Guardian on the Pitmen Painters
- ↑ Who's Who
- ↑ Feaver's biography on the Royal Drawing School website
- ↑ Who's Who
- ↑ Cruickshank at the V&A
- ↑ Thirties British Art & Design
- ↑ Lucian Freud at Abbot Hall
- ↑ Freud at the Correr
- ↑ Michael Andrews at the Tate
- ↑ Constable at the Grand Palais
- ↑ Who's Who
- 1942 births
- Living people
- People from Nottingham
- British people of English descent
- People educated at Nottingham High School
- Alumni of the University of Oxford
- Alumni of Keble College, Oxford
- Academics of Newcastle University
- Academics of Nottingham Trent University
- English art critics
- English male journalists
- Financial Times people
- The Observer people
