Fred WilliamsBeachscape, Erith Island II 1975

In the early 1970s Williams’s work changed considerably. He became interested in the movement of the sea and produced a series of paintings on islands in the Bass Straight
between Victoria and Tasmania. In Beachscape, Erith Island II, one of a small number of multi-part works, Williams examined the movement of the tide and the creation and recreation of temporary landscapes as the sea washed over the beach. The new focus on the sea brought a lighter and more lyrical colour, while the format implied sectional slices through time and space.