William Pye

b. 1938

William Pye was born in London in 1938 and studied at Wimbledon School of Art (1958-61) and the Royal College of Art (1961-65). Famous for using metal, stone, and above all, water, Pye has proved himself a masterful sculptor and engineer.

Having spent a large part of his childhood at his family’s country home in Surrey, he was constantly fascinated by the water that abounded throughout the area. He captured on camera the local ponds and pools, reflections in still water and on in its rippled surfaces, he dammed streams to make cascades and recorded the way water reacted to his intervention.

Talking of his experience when commissioned to cast in silver for Sterling Stuff I Pye said:

Truth to materials’ has always been for me a guiding principle, although I have never been dogmatic or puritanical. The opportunity afforded by Pangolin to work in silver which in normal circumstances would be unafforadable was one I was delighted to accept.

I was immediately curious to find out how silver would compare with stainless steel as a vehicle for my ideas. It obviously had reflective properties but I was taken by the warmth and softness of its colour. Sterling Stuff for me raised the whole question of overlap of sculptur ewith silversmithing and jewelry, something that was taken for granted in the Renaissance.

‘Cluster’ is based upon ‘Morphogenesis’, a stainless steel water sculpture at Pfizer’s offices near Sandwich in Kent.

‘KX200’ is a miniature version of a large stainless steel work of 1974 near King’s Cross, which has undergone a total transformation in 2008.