Lawrie Williamson

Lawrie Williamson was born in 1932. He was educated in Derbyshire and at the age of 16 won a major exhibition to study at Nottingham College of Art, followed by Nottingham University and L’Ecole des Beaux Arts.

His subjects varied widely and were drawn from a wealth of experience and observation. The common factor was always light; a beery pub interior, launching a curragh on the beach or views of the Grand Canal or Florence. Each work is filled with a light of its own which remains undimmed even in a darkening room.

Winner of the Cornellisen Prize and twice winner of the Stanley Grimm Prize at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, also the Canson Prize at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. He painted in many media but mostly oils.

The last twelve years of his life were spent in Ireland with his wife Gill who also paints. Each of them had a generous studio on the side of a hill in County Tipperary with amazing views.  Lawrie sadly passed away in 2017; he was a larger than life character who will be sorely missed.