Explore: William Pye

(1938 - )

Born in London, William Pye studied at the Wimbledon School of Art (1958-61) and Royal College of Art (1961-65). After graduating, he had an eight-year series of solo exhibitions at the Redfern Gallery, London. Numerous commissions followed and he took the decision to concentrate on large-scale work that was not suitable for exhibiting in galleries, saying that 'consequently I decided from then on to work independently', mainly outside the gallery system. In the 1960s and 1970s he taught in London at the Central School of Art and at Goldsmiths' College of Art; and also at Norwich School of Art, and in the USA as Visiting Professor at California State University. Since the late 1970s he has concentrated on his public and private commissions. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from International Art Consultants in 2004.