William Gear was born in Methil, Fife and studied at Edinburgh College of Art 1932-6 followed by a year at Edinburgh University studying History of Art. He travelled in Europe in 1937, studying with Fernand Léger in Paris for several months. Served in Signals during the war but still found time to paint and exhibit. From 1946-7 he mounted exhibitions for the Allies and in 1948 joined the COBRA group of Northern European artists with a common interest in abstract and folk art. He was a painter of abstract compositions, often dancingly powerful in colour. He lived in Paris between 1947-50 developing a strong abstract style based on a framework of black outlines.

He became a leading member of the Ecole de Paris and also showed at major COBRA exhibitions in Amsterdam (1949), Copenhagen (1949) and Luik (1951). He settled back in England in 1950, becoming Curator of the Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne (1958) and Head of Fine Art at Birmingham College of Art in 1964. He contributed to major shows at The Scottish Gallery including The Modern Spirit in Scottish Painting in 1985 when he had to use his Birmingham City bus pass to prove his identity to a sceptical Edinburgh lady.