Overview
Flowers Gallery presents William Crozier: Dance of the Living 1961-1974, an exhibition exploring a pivotal period in the artist's career when he left behind the dark pastoral images with which he made his reputation in the late 1950s and, profoundly affected by post-war existentialist philosophy, he challenged himself to create a contemporary image of the human condition through figure and landscape.
Crozier's work during this period drew on many diverse sources, including his memories of the horrific newsreels of World War II, and depictions of the 'danses macabres'. Included in the exhibition are three of the earliest, visceral and confrontational skeletal bust portraits, together with two previously unexhibited large-scale drawings.
In these paintings of the 1960s and early 1970s, Crozier often spoke of his desire for the landscape not to be identified as a specific country or area, but more a traumatised natural environment of the imagination. For the artist, the figures themselves were always in heightened emotional states, whether triumphant, anxious or utterly desolate; their emotions in vibrant streaks of paint emanate from their forms into their surroundings, figure and landscape becoming one.
About William Crozier
William Crozier HRHA (1930-2011) was one of the leading painters of his generation. Born in Scotland, he was educated at Glasgow School of Art before establishing an early reputation in London. He later lived and worked in Ireland and Spain, and became an Irish citizen in 1973. Crozier placed his work within a broader European tradition of painting.
His paintings are characterised by energetic brushwork, bold colour and an enduring engagement with landscape, still life. Alongside his painting practice, he was Head of the Fine Art department at Winchester School of Art, where he met his future wife, Katharine Crouan, then Head of Art History, who now manages his estate.
Crozier represented both Ireland and the United Kingdom internationally during his career and was elected to Aosdána in 1992 and made an Honorary Member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. His work is represented in major public collections including Tate, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Imperial War Museum, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and the national galleries of Canada, Poland and Australia. In 2017, the Irish Museum of Modern Art presented a major two-part retrospective of his work in Dublin and Cork.
The gallery's relationship with William Crozier spans more than four decades. Angela Flowers (1932-2023) first met Crozier in Soho, London, in the late 1960s, beginning a friendship that developed into a long professional relationship. In 1985, she presented his West Cork paintings in Rosscarbery, County Cork, followed by a major London exhibition at Flowers Gallery in 2007.
Following Crozier's death in 2011, the gallery continued to work closely with Katharine Crouan and the Estate on exhibitions and the presentation of his work. In 2025, Flowers Gallery assumed full representation of the William Crozier Estate.
Image: William Crozier, 1975. Courtesy Estate of William Crozier.
