William Willetts.

About William Willetts

William Young Willetts was a British scholar of South-East Asian art studies who wrote several books and served as curator of the National University of Singapore art museum from 1963 to 1972. During his years in Singapore, he was the impetus behind the gathering of ceramic collectors and artists that led to the founding of the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society. He curated the society's first exhibition on Southeast Asian ceramics, which showcased ceramics from both the museum as well as members' collections, and authored the accompanying catalogue. The catalogue won the praise of Henry D. Ginsburg who reviewed it in the Journal of the Siam Society, noting Willetts' "appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of these previously unsung artefacts of the Asian ceramics world." When the decision was made to close the National University of Singapore's art museum in 1972, Willetts relocated to Kuala Lumpur where he served as Curator of the Muzium Seni Asia, the Museum of the Arts of Asia, University of Malaya. He died in the Universiti Malaya Hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 29 January 1995 at the age of 76.