Early Landscape
On his return to Australia, Williams saw the potential of the Australian bush, not for its picturesque qualities (his work remained obstinately anti-picturesque) but for its inherent plasticity. His interest lay not in exploring the psychological relationship between man and nature, but rather in finding a language or personal aesthetic with which to express the abstract experience of the Australian landscape.

   
 

Sapling Forest 1957-1958

  

oil on composition board 119.0 x 86.0 cm

    
      A sense of solidity and density mark these early landscapes. Here the tree-trunk motif forms leaning verticals on the picture surface, linking the painting compositionally, but also allowing the viewer a sense of the close-up experience of the bush.    
 

Landscape with Building
1957-1958

  

oil on composition board 91.0 x 115.0 cm

    
      The influence of the Cubists is evident here in the way forms are geometrified and the illusion of receding space is diminished. The two-dimensional surface of the painting is emphasised through this technique and we are brought up even closer to the dense undergrowth, no longer provided with a horizon line for our orientation.    
 

Landscape with Rocks II
1957-1958

  

oil on composition board 114.0 x 91.0 cm

    
      Williams largely uses a dark palette in these early landscapes. Tonal qualities are subdued yet the overall impression is rich; vivid colours underscore the painting surface and give vibrancy to the work. His approach to the individual motifs of rock and tree is strongly reminiscent of that of the still-life painter - emphasis remains on the construction of solid forms.    
 

Olinda Landscape 1961

  

oil and tempera on composition board 91.0 x 91.0 cm

    
      Williams succeeded in forging links with the Heidelberg School and the Australian landscape tradition, while still incorporating the lessons of his European predecessors, the Cubists. While his early attempts at landscape painting were not always conventionally 'successful', the themes he was later to develop can be seen here in their raw state:
  • a fusion of Modernism with traditional disciplines;
  • the use of a repertoire of motifs that were to surface and resurface in his work;
  • the practice of plein-air painting rather than working in a studio environment;
  • the potential of Australian landscape painting as a vehicle for form, rather than feeling;
  • the desire to capture a sense of the monumentality of the Australian landscape.

Williams desired to produce an aesthetic derived from abstraction - an aesthetic in which motifs are abstractly conceived - without however producing works which were 'purely abstract' in form and intent.		    
 

Saplings Mittagong II
1958, 1960-1961

  

oil on canvas 122.0 x 122.0 cm

    
      Here Williams further incorporates the tree-trunk motif in his work, reducing the bush to a series of vertical lines. This work is at once reminiscent of the often sparse plains of the Australian outback, yet also functions successfully as an abstract work outside of any identifiable context. Less dense and warmer in tone than previous landscapes, there is a radiance to this work as Williams successfully negotiates a delicate play of light and brushstroke across the canvas.    
 

Sapling Forest 1962

  

oil on composition board 119.4 x 180.3 cm

    
      There is a luminescent quality to this and other works of this period. While the viewer here could on the one hand be peering deep into receding space, there is also a strong sense of the immediate experience of the bush: the rough textural technique Williams uses emulates the tones and textures of wood, bark and sap.    

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