{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1775469"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1775469/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU8105/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU8105/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NU8105","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NU7932","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1775469/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1775469","accessionNumber":"E.104-2024","objectType":"Design","titles":[{"title":"Likely Kaleidoscope","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"William Gear (1915–1997) was born in Methil in south-east Fife, Scotland. He studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art (1932–1936) followed by art history at the University of Edinburgh. His work was accepted into the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy for the first time when he was just eighteen years old and subsequently featured in exhibitions staged by the Society of Scottish Artists and the Fine Arts Society. In 1937 he was awarded a scholarship to study art overseas for one year and spent five months in Paris, where he studied under the French artist Fernand Léger and travelled to Italy, the Balkans, Greece and Istanbul.\n\r\nIn World War 2, Gear served in Egypt, Gaza, Cyprus and Italy and continued to paint and exhibit his work during this time in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Cairo, Rome, Siena, and Florence. At the end of the War, he was assigned to the 15th Scottish Division in Hamburg, Germany and was subsequently invited to join The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA) where he worked alongside Capt. Peter Eden. Together, they oversaw the return of artworks from the Berlin Art Collections and Gear organised a series of exhibitions to promote the work of avant-garde German artists. He was also a member of the international committee assembled to design a memorial at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, an experience that moved him deeply and influenced his later work.\n\r\nIn 1947 Gear opened a studio in Paris and became a member of the avant-garde CoBrA movement (1948–1951). By 1949 he had established a sucessful career as an artist and exhibited his work at the Betty Parsons Gallery, New York and at the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam. In 1950 he returned to England, where he painted his best-known work, ‘Autumn Landscape’ which received the Festival of Britain Purchase Prize.\n\r\nIn 1953 he was elected a member of the London Group and began to receive commissions for textile, carpet and wallpaper designs. He produced over 100 designs during the subsequent nine years for clients such as Edinburgh Weavers and the Wallpaper Manufacturers Ltd. Commenting on his commercial work, Gear observed, ‘it is a perfectly legitimate thing for any artist to do; in fact, I was only too delighted that such commercial firms were contemplating using artists as opposed to traditional designers.’\n\r\nThis collection of his designs for wallpaper, textiles, rugs and stained glass are distinguished by fine pattern making with repeats and variants, a strong use of colour, and the incorporation of abstract motifs such as flowers, animals and graphic shapes. Black lines also feature strongly to add form and texture.\n\r\nFrom 1958 to 1964, Gear was Curator of the Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, where he expanded the collection of British modern art. In 1964 he was appointed Head of the Faculty of Fine Art at the Birmingham School of Art and remained there until his retirement in 1975. He also served as Chairman of the fine arts committee of the Council of National Academic Awards. In 1995 he was elected to the Royal Academy and continued to paint throughout the later years of his life. A few weeks before his death, he was awarded the Leporello Prize by the Lower Saxony government for his service with the MFAA.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Abstract design with dark pink and black shapes","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Gear, William","id":"A26419"},"association":{"text":"Designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Paper","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"screen printing","id":"AAT53281"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on paper","categories":[{"text":"designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"},{"text":"Interiors","id":"THES48933"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2024NU8105","2024NU7932"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"196","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Design","id":"AAT102051"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1953","earliest":"1953-01-01","latest":"1953-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by David Gear","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Design for printed dress or curtain fabric by William Gear, possibly 'Kaleidoscope', 1953","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.104-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"104","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-20","recordCreationDate":"2024-03-19","availableToBook":false}}