Victor Arthur James Willing (15 January 1928 – 1 June 1988); British painter. Victor Willing was born in Alexandria, Egypt, the only son of George Willing, professional soldier, and his wife Irene Cynthia Tomkins. The first 4 years of his life were spent there and, briefly, in Malta. On returning to the UK his father was posted to various parts of southern England including the Isle of Wight and Bordon, Hampshire. Willing's education was in consequence rather disrupted until the family moved permanently to Guildford, Surrey and he was able to attend The Royal Grammar School there, 1940–45. A year was then spent at Guildford School of Art while he awaited call-up to National Service which duly followed, 1946-48. He secured a commission as second-lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, serving in Northern Ireland and at Dover. On release he was accepted by the Slade School of Fine Art, University of London but only to start in 1949, so he returned for a year to Guildford Art School studying sculpture under Willi Soukop. A fellow student and friend there at the time was Elisabeth Frink. He produced two accomplished stone carvings during this year, a female torso and a head (private collections). ...Willing was admired by his fellow students for his adventurous talent and intellectual zest and was denoted 'spokesman for his generation' by the critic David Sylvester. He was deeply fascinated by one of Francis Bacon's first exhibitions, in 1949, and he invited him to talk at the Slade. They subsequently became friends and saw a good deal of each other especially after Willing left the Slade in 1953. ...By 1956 Willing's marriage was failing and at the end of that year he left home and the country, eventually to join Paula Rego in Portugal. Rego's parents were supportive and the two were able to live quietly at the family quinta in Ericeira where they both continued to paint. They were married in 1959 following... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Willing) undefined

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