Return to Australia
It was on his return home that Williams began to establish himself within the Australian modern art movement. He exhibited regularly (and often in one-man shows) and built his reputation as an up-and-coming young artist. Though his work at this time remained strongly figurative, he began to experiment with the themes and motifs which were to become later preoccupations and began work on his first Australian landscapes, inspired by the rawness of the Australian bush and its stark contrast to the English countryside.

   
   

The Antipodeans 1959
The Antipodeans were heirs to the Australian expressionist tradition. In 1959 the group, including intimates of Williams such as John Brack, Arthur Boyd and Charles Blackman organised a major exhibition in which most artists of growing repute were represented. Williams' work was excluded and whilst this was hurtful and appeared unfounded, in retrospect the direction his work was taking was in direct opposition to that articulated by the Antipodeans in their manifesto. As heirs to the expressionist tradition, the Antipodeans lauded a spontaneous, improvised approach to painting and saw the function of art as vested in its expressive and communicative potential. They had little time for - and, in fact, denounced - the 'new' art emerging from Europe, the very influences which informed Williams' artistic development. As an artist concerned with form over internal drama, Williams' approach to his work struck a jarring note against the unity of the Antipodean statement.

   
 

Self-Portrait at Easel
1960-1961

  

oil on composition board 89.1 x 61.0 cm

    
      The years 1959-61 were difficult ones for Williams. He felt he was losing step with his contemporaries, his exhibitions were getting hostile reviews and were commercially unsuccessful, and the direction of his work was itself unresolved. Yet paradoxically the Antipodean 'crisis' was necessary to Williams' artistic growth, forcing him to confront uncertainty in his work and to consolidate his artistic direction. His resentment towards the Antipodeans may have initially impacted on his confidence, but was to manifest itself in his work as a stance of opposition, and hence, of self-definition. In 1962 Rudy Komon took over management of Williams' work, allowing the artist some respite from the commercial anxieties which had dogged him for 2 years. Finally William's' road was proven the progressive one - in the 1960s he was held up by a generation of younger artists as the example of the truly modernist painter.    
 

Abstract Composition
1959-1960

  

oil on composition board 90.0 x 91.0 cm

    
      Throughout this trying transitional period, Williams experimented widely with abstraction. Here we see Williams tackle a Modrianesque abstract composition, yet still employing his trademark palette of sombre tones.    
 

My Godson 1960-1961

  

oil on composition board 122.0 x 91.5 cm

    
      An example of another experimental form: the figurative abstract. A Cubist approach to the problematics of the human form is evidently influential here, though given a dynamism through Williams' painterly treatment of his subject. Williams also experimented with abstract still-life, again influenced by Cubist treatment of this subject matter.    
 

Adam and Eve 1960-1961

  

oil on composition board 122.0 x 70.5 cm

    
      Williams' sensitive and quite beautiful treatment of the naked form in this painting reveals his capacity to capture with subtlety a moment of great intimacy. Looking out beyond the picture frame, the figures are vigorously modelled and played upon by a sombre, yet luminescent light. These experimental figurative works are much more intimate and emotional than Williams' early landscapes. Such expressiveness does not reappear in his work until the 1970s.    
 

Sue 1961

  

oil on composition board 86.0 x 61.0 cm

    
      The influence of European artists can again be detected in this painting, which demonstrates stylistic allegiance to Modigliani and bears some resemblance to that artist's treatment of the female subject. While stylistically an isolated work for Williams, this portrait still stands out for its intriguing elusiveness (whilst displaying a remarkable clarity and cohesiveness of form) and for its sensitive but non-sentimental depiction of the transition from girl- to womanhood.    
             

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