Sometime in the late 1950s Williams met Denis Bowen—founder of the New Vision Group and director of the New Vision Gallery in London from 1951 to 1966. Though under-recognized at the time, the New Vision Centre Gallery (NVCG) played an important role in the post-war British art scene through its promotion of abstract art and its unusual openness to, and interest in, artists from all around the world. Williams' involvement with the NVCG marked an important turning-point in his career. A number of his paintings were included in the New Vision Open Exhibition in early 1958, and the Gallery put on two solo exhibitions of his work in August 1959 and November 1960. These exhibitions were a great success for Williams: his work received positive reviews from numerous art critics and sold well, and he subsequently obtained further invitations to exhibit in Paris, Milan and Chicago.