Born in Methil, Fife William Gear was the son of a coalminer. He won scholarships to Edinburgh College of Art (1932-6) and the University of Edinburgh (1936-7) where his studies included art history with David Talbot Rice, the eminent Byzantine scholar. In 1937-38 Gear traveled on a scholarship and spent five months in Paris as a pupil of Fernand Leger. In 1940 Gear was called up and posted to the Royal Corps of Signals. He served in Egypt, Palestine, Cyprus and Italy and consistently managed to paint and exhibit first in Jerusalem and lastly in Florence. In 1945 he volunteered to serve in Germany and was posted to the Monuments, Fine Art and Archives Section of Allied Control Commission with the rank of major.

After demobilization in 1947 he lived in Paris once again, and subsequently was one of only two British artists to take part in the CoBrA exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam in 1949. A prolific artist, Gear maintained a strenuous exhibiting schedule and in 1964 was appointed Head of the Faculty of Fine Art at the Birmingham College of Art, where he remained until he retired in 1975. He also participated in the CoBrA revival of the 1980s.

Exhibitions
1915 Born, Methil, Fife, Scotland
1932-36 Edinburgh College of Art
1936-37 Post-graduate Scholarship
1936-37 Studied History of Art at Edinburgh University
1937-38 Travelling Scholarship
1937-38 Studied with Fernand Leger in Paris
1938-39 Moray House Training College, Edinburgh
1940-45 Royal Corps of Signals
1940-45 Middle East, Italy, Germany
1940-45 Exhibited in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Cairo, Florence
1946-47 In Germany with Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section of Control Commission
1946-47 One-man exhibition in Celle and Hamburg
1947-50 Living and working in Paris
1948 One-man exhibitions: Galerie Arc en Ciel, Paris;
Gimpel Fils, London; Salon des Surindependents;
Salon des Realites Nouvelles.
1949 One-man exhibition Gimpel Fils, London
1949 One-man exhibition at Betty Parsons Gallery, New York
1949 Exhibited with 'Cobra' group in Amsterdam and Copenhagen
1950 Returned to England
1951 One-man exhibition, Gimpel Fils
1951 Awarded Festival of Britain Purchase Prize
1952 'Seventeen Collectors', Tate Gallery
1952 First International Art Exhibition, Japan
1952 'Three British Painters', Passedoit Gallery, New York
1952 Elected member of the London Group
1952 One-man exhibition, Gimpel Fils
1952 International Watercolour Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, New York
1952 Biennale, Sao Paulo
1954 Retrospective Exhibition, South London Gallery. British Paintings and Sculpture, Whitechapel Art Gallery
1954 Venice Biennale
1955 'Seven Scottish Painters', Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh
1955 'Ten Years of English Landscape Painting 1945-55', at the ICA
1955 Third International Art Exhibition, Japan
1956 One-man exhibition, Gimpel Fils
1956 Contemporary British Art, Silberman Galleries, New York
1956 'The Seasons' Tate Gallery
1957 One-man exhibition, Saidenberg Gallery, New York
1957 'Metavisual, Tachiste, Abstract' Exhibition, Redfern Gallery
1958 One-man exhibition, Gimpel Fils
1958 John Moores Liverpool Exhibition
1958 'Six British Painters', Galerie 22, Dusseldorf
1958 Appointed Curator of Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, Sussex
1959 Visited New York
1959 John Moores Liverpool Exhibition
1960 One-man exhibition, The Stone Gallery, Newcastle
1960 Guggenheim Award Exhibition, R W S Gallery
1961 Retrospective Exhibition, Gimpel Fils
1962 'British Art Today', San Francisco, Dallas, USA
1963 One-man exhibition, Douglas and Foulis Gallery
1963 British Painters and Sculptors, Gimpel-Hanover Gallery, Zurich
1964 One-man exhibition, Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford
1964 London Group Jubilee Exhibition, Tate Gallery
1964 Appointed Head of The Faculty of Fine Art, Birmingham College of Art
1965 One-man exhibitions; Birmingham University and Midland Group, Nottingham.
1966 Guest Lecturer at National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and University of Western Australia, Perth
1966 Joint exhibition with Alan Davie, Edinburgh Festival
1967 One-man exhibition, Gimpel Fils, London and Bonython Galleries, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney
1967 John Moores Liverpool Exhibition
1967 David Cargill Award, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts
1968 Scottish Painting '68, Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh
1969 'Paintings 1948-68', Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Scottish Arts Council Belfast, Londonderry and Glasgow
1969 John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool
1970 Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, 'Prints and Gouaches'
1970 '20th Century Artists', Gimpel Fils
1971 Exhibition, Gardner Art Centre, University of Sussex
1972 'The Non-Objective World 1939-1955', Annely Juda Gallery, London, Galerie Liatowitsch, Basel and Galleria Milana, Milan
1973 'Decade 1940-49', Arts Council Tour, Whitechapel Gallery, London
1974 'Midland Art Now', Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
1974 'Ten Years of Collecting', Dundee Art Gallery
1974 '100 Years of Scottish Painting', Fine Art Society, Edinburgh
1975 Awarded Lorne Fellowship
1975 'Modern British Watercolours', Victoria and Albert Museum
1975 Retired from post as Head of Department of Fine Art, Birmingham College of Art
1976 Retrospective Exhibition, R B S A Galleries, Birmingham
1977 'British Painting 1952-77', Royal Academy
1978 'The Pier Gallery Collection', Tate Gallery and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
1979 'British Drawings since 1945', Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
1980 One-man exhibition, North Staffs Polytechnic, Stoke
1981 John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool
1982 'British Watercolours', British Council Tour of China and Hong Kong
1982 International Cobra Exhibition, Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris
1982 Retrospective Exhibition, Talbot Rice Art Centre, University of Edinburgh and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
1982 'British Watercolours and Drawings', Edinburgh Festival
1983 'CoBrA 1948-1951', Maison de la Culture, Chalons-sur-Saone and Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rennes
1983 One-man exhibition 'Painting into Landscape', Spacex Gallery, Exeter
1984 'CoBrA', Museum of Contemporary Art, Caracas, Venezuela
1984 'British Art and Design', Victoria and Albert Museum, London
1985 Retrospective Exhibition, Kircaldy Art Gallery, Fife and Netherbow Art Centre, Edinburgh
1985 Biennal, Sao Paulo, 'CoBrA'
1985 'Contemporary Scottish Art', National Museum of Fine Art, Rio de Janeiro
1986 'CoBrA', Works on Paper, Stuijvenberg Collection, Caracas
1986 'CoBrA', Stuijvenberg Collection, Malmo and Taiwan
1986 'British Prints 1945-1960', Redfern Gallery, London and 'Design' Exhibition, Redfern Gallery, London
1986 'The Modern Spirit in Scottish Painting', The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
1986 Royal Scottish Academy
1987 'CoBrA', Stuijvenberg Collection, Stockholm
1987 One-man exhibition 'The CoBrA Years 1948-1951', Redfern Gallery, London
1988 One-man exhibition 'Cobrabstractions 1946-1949', Galerie 1900-2000, Paris
1988-89 One-man exhibition. Karl & Faber, Munich
1989 Scottish Painting Since 1900. Group exhibition
1989 Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and Barbican Gallery, London
1989 One-man exhibition. Galerie Gabriele Von Loeper. Hamburg
1989 4 Abstract Artists, Redfern Gallery, London
1989 Zellermayer Galerie, Berlin
1990 Kunsthandel Leeman Amsterdam
1990 'Scottish Art 1900-1990', Scottish Gallery, London
1990 'Contemporary Scottish Artists', Cormund Gallery, Glasgow
1990 'From Prism to Paintbox' Welsh Arts Council Tour
1990 L'Hotel de Bacholtz, Liege
1990 La Galerie la Cite, Luxembourg
1990 Galerie Carintiha, Vienna
1990 'The Compass Contribution', Glasgow
1990 'The 20th Century Scottish Print', Hunterian Gallery, Glasgow
1990 '75th Birthday Exhibition, Paintings and Works on Paper, Cobra and After', Redfern Gallery, London
1990 'Avant-Garde Printmaking in Britain 1914-1960', British Museum, London
1991 'The Birmingham Seven', Murray Feely Fine Art
1991 The European Fine Art Fair, Exhibition and Congress Centre, Maastricht
1992 'British Abstract Art of the 50s and 60s', Belgrave Gallery
1992 'William Gear, Paintings 1955-56', Redfern Gallery, London
1992 'William Gear CoBrA and After', Galerie Doris Wullkopf, Darmstadt
1992 'William Gear', Galerie Gabriele von Loeper, Hamburg
1992 'William Gear 1950-70', Leeman Art Gallery, Amsterdam
1993 'CoBrA', Stuijvenberg Collection, Liège
1993 CoBrA Exhibition, Gemeente Galerie, Amstelveen
1993 '10 Jahre', Galerie Doris Wullkopf, Darmstadt
1993 'The Line of Tradition', Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
1993 'The Edinburgh School', The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
1993 'The Sussex Scene', Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne (and Hove)
1994 Honorary Doctorate, University of Central England, Birmingham
1994 'CoBrA', Stuijvenberg Collection, Santiago and Buenos Aires
1994 Awarded Sir Howard Barker Scholarship from Royal Academy of Arts
1994 Retrospective Exhibition, Emscote Lawn, Warwick
1994 'Out of Print, British Printmaking 1946-76', The British Council
1995 Elected Senior Royal Academician
1995 Awarded Honorary Doctorate, University of Central England
1995 Helios Gallery, Birmingham
1995 'Gear and Heron', Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh International Festival
1995 'William Gear - Past and Present Friends', Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
1995 CoBrA Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen
1995 'CoBrA 1948-51', Kunstverein Grafschaft, Bentheim
1995 CoBrA Exhibition, Galerie Gabriele von Loeper, Hamburg
1996 'Paintings from the Royal Academy of Arts and Modern Master Prints, World
1996 Trade Centre, Dubai
1997 Died, Birmingham
1997 'William Gear', Sprengel Museum, Hanover
1997 'William Gear Golden Jubilee Exhibition', Redfern Gallery, London
1997 Awarded The Leporello Prize by Regional Government of Lower Saxony