William Franklin Culbert MNZM (23 January 1935 – 28 March 2019) was a New Zealand artist, notable for his use of light in painting, photography, sculpture and installation work, as well as his use of found and recycled materials.

[2] He then studied at the Ilam School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University College in Christchurch from 1953 to 1956, alongside Pat Hanly, Gil Taverner, Quentin McFarlane, Trevor Moffitt, Ted Bracey, John Coley and Hamish Keith, many who lived in the same house in Armagh Street.

He had a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, London, in 1977 and in 1979, with funding from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council the Brooke Gifford Gallery in Christchurch assembled the survey exhibition Bill Culbert: London and New Zealand Works that was toured to public art museums throughout New Zealand.

His exhibition, titled Front Door Out Back, was displayed in the New Zealand pavilion, sited at the Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà.He has permanent commissioned sculptures in London, Wellington and Auckland.

Many are collaborative works with Ralph Hotere, including Fault on the facade of City Gallery Wellington (1994), Void (2006) in the atrium of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Black Stump, a 20m-high column outside the Vero Centre in Auckland.