Biography
Muriel Wilson (b. Swansea, Wales 1933-d. London 2018), daughter of her Welsh Group artist Alfred J Lavender and Ida Winter, both originally from Gateshead, Northumberland, studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London (1951-54). She was married to Professor Sir Colin St John (‘Sandy’) Wilson (1922-2007), the architect of the British Library and Pallant House Gallery’s contemporary wing in Chichester from 1955 until 1971. She had worked at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in 1950s and worked on the The Indpendent Group's This is Tomorrow (1956) exhibition at Whitechapel Art Gallery. Together the couple were significant collectors of modern British art. After her divorce, she later became Curator at the British Council and its Direrctor of Visual Arts where she promoted the work of British artists abroad, including taking Richard Long to the Venice Biennale in 1976 and brought Anish Kapoor to the UK for the first time.
She was a Contemporary Art Society Committee Member (1978-82) and purchased over 50 artworks. For the CAS in 1983/84 she bought work, amongst many others, by Richard Deacon, Rose Garrard, Lisa Milroy, Alison Wilding and Susan Hiller and remarked that the almost equal proportion of men to women in the final list was not a conscious policy … but amply demonstrates the quality of interesting women artists currently working in this country. And she was the designated CAS Craft buyer in 1986 and 1988, when artists were breaking barriers bwteen art and craft, like Michael Brennand-Wood, Jean Daveywinter, Sally Freshwater, Angus Suttie, Ewen Henderson and Sara Radstone , notably Jug (1986) by Bruce Mclean for Wakefield and those who were exploring new directions like Eileen Cooper, Paul Caton and Joe Tilson.
Offered an OBE on her retirement but refusing it as it 'came with the job', she instead indulgd her passion for the decorative arts and, in particular, contemporary jewellery. She joined various societies, and was extremely generous with her time, serving on several committees and councils, organising research trips. She was a Founding Member of the Association of Contemporary Jewellers and Honorary Secretary for seven years. She initiated their magazine Findings and served as editor for 15 years, from 1998 to 2013. She was also Managing Editor of Jewellery History Today for the Society of Jewellery Historians. Precise, often sharp, in her use of words, it is not surprising that she was also a very accomplished fencer. A Life in Art: The Muriel Wilson Bequest, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, Wednesday 5 August - Sunday 29 November 2020 was an exhibition that celebrated her work and her own bequest to Pallant House Gallery, which included significant paintings, prints and sculptures by artists such as Michael Andrews, Peter Blake, Prunella Clough, Laura Ford, David Hockney and Eduardo Paolozzi. She also left a substantial legacy to the Contemporary Art Society and her neice, the architect, Tracy Meller is to designate an artwork.
