William Feaver (born 1 December 1942) is a British art critic,curator, artist and lecturer. From 1975–1998 he was the chief art critic of theObserver, and from 1994 a visiting professor atNottingham Trent University. His bookThe Pitmen Painters inspired the play of the same name byLee Hall.[1]
Feaver was educated atNottingham High School andKeble College, Oxford. After graduating from Oxford he became a teacher at Newcastle'sRoyal Grammar School (1965–71)[2] before being appointed theSir James Knott Fellow atNewcastle University. He is currently an academic board member of theRoyal Drawing School.[3]
While at Newcastle, Feaver became the art critic of the NewcastleJournal before being appointed successively tothe Listener (1971–75) and theFinancial Times (1974–75) before being joining the Observer. He won theArt Critic of the Year award in 1983.[4] Feaver conducted an exemplary interview with Lucian Freud in 1992,The artist out of cage[5] on Freud's 70th birthday, which has been re-published in English and German in the catalog of theMuseum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt exhibitionLucian Freud: Naked Portraits.[6]
His 2019 book,The Lives of Lucian Freud, was shortlisted for the 2019Baillie Gifford Prize.[7]
His father was the Rt RevDouglas Feaver. In 1964 Feaver married Victoria Turton (the poetVicki Feaver). They had one son and three daughters. He married, secondly, in 1985, Andrea Rose OBE; they have two daughters.[8]
Feaver has curated a number of exhibitions in the UK and abroad, including:
