Book relating to an individual, 1990
Published by: Dangaroo Press
Year published: 1990
Number of pages: 112
ISBN: 1 871049 07 5

Longtime scholar of Caribbean art and supporter and friend of Aubrey Williams, Anne Walmsley was responsible for compiling and editing Guyana Dreaming. This was the first substantial publication dedicated to the art of Aubrey Williams. Though Williams was to be, posthumously, the subject of several major exhibitions that were accompanied by sizeable publications focussing on his practice, Guyana Dreaming was to be the the only substantial book on his art that Williams would see during his lifetime, albeit in completed manuscript form. He was to die, ten days after being given a completed typescript of the book. Anne Walmsley’s note at the beginning of Guyana Dreaming began, “This short introduction to the art of Aubrey Williams results from a wish to celebrate his dazzling output over the last 40 years. We hope it will enable more people to know more about this great artist, until the full-length critical biography which he so richly deserved can be undertaken.” The Compiler’s Note also let it be know that it was Williams himself who gave the book its distinctive title.

From the back cover, “The unique art of Aubrey Williams has been recognised internationally since the 1950s. This selection of his statements, notes and conversation, of critical writing on his work, and of full-colour reproductions of his paintings, has been compiled as a tribute to the artist for his 65th year.”

Contents as follows:

9. Foreword, by Wilson Harris

11. Part One: Statements and Notes by Aubrey Williams

13. A Glimpse of Caribbean Art
15. The Predicament of the Artist in the Caribbean
21. Caribbean Visual Art: A Framework for Further Inquiry
29. The Dalhousie Murals
32. The Symphonies and Quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich: Paintings
34. The Olmec-Maya and Now
40. Bird Paintings

41. Part Two: Aubrey Williams in Conversation

43. Rasheed Araeen, Conversation with Aubrey Williams

63. Part Three: Critical Comments on the Work of Aubrey Williams

65. Jan Carew, Portrait of the Artist
69. Donald Locke, Contemporary Guyanese Painters
79. C.L.R. James, The Search for Guyanese Reality
81. Wilson Harris, The Amerindian Legacy
82. Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Timehri
86. Donald Bowen, The Artist’s View of Contemporary Commonwealth Painters
87. Andrew Hope, Realism and Abstraction
89. Guy Brett, A World Aesthetic
93. Lorraine Griffiths, Bridging the Artistic Gap
97. Guy Brett, The Art of Aubrey Williams
101. Denis Bowen, The Work of Aubrey Williams

105. Part Four: Biographical Note

Guyana Dreaming was referenced in Denis Bowen’s obituary of Aubrey Williams, Art Monthly 137, June 1990, p. 35