Biography and career

Exhibitions Exhibition titles are given where these are known. Much of the original information is from Peter Bird’s biographical account, which has been added to where more material has come to light. Catalogues, leaflets and pamphlets relating to some of the exhibitions mentioned can be found in the V&A archive: V&A AAD 1997/18. All exhibitions are in the U.K unless otherwise mentioned. One-person exhibitions are mentioned, otherwise references are to group shows, which means that Skiöld, at the most, may have exhibited only 2/3 works each time. In the main catalogue, exhibitions of named works are listed where these are known, based on information in exhibition lists and catalogues.1 Skiöld’s first significant one-person exhibition in the U.K was at the Curwen Gallery in 1968.

Education and early career Skiöld was born in Stockholm, 18 March 1923. She came from a wealthy family who were partners in a shipbrokers firm: Skiöld & Lundberg AB. She was the eldest of 4 surviving children and had 2 brothers and one sister. She grew up in Stockholm and Saltsjöbaden, an elegant seaside town, 20km South-East of Stockholm, on the outskirts of which, her family had a country house. She attended the Saltsjöbaden Samskola and went on to study at the Tekniska Skolan, Stockholm (now the Konstfackskolan - University College of Arts, Crafts and Design), enrolling on the 1st September 1942. She attended for 2 years in the Lower School, but did not complete her studies in the Higher School (3 years). She specialised in furniture design. She married Wilhelm König in 1945 (b.1916). They were divorced on 20 September 1949.

Student years in 1948-1957 Skiöld arrived in London from Stockholm in early 1948. She studied at the Anglo-French Art Centre, St John’s Wood, London where she became acquainted with the work of the French School and in particular the work of

1 Some references do not contain enough precise information to be of use.

artists such as Antoni Clavé. She met Francis Bacon, Edouardo Paolozzi, and David Sylvester, who was a tutor there.2 She was impressed by an exhibition of French lithographs arranged by a Swiss publisher, which featured Ernst and Kokoshka; she also noted Henry Moore’s work and was inspired by Hans Erni.3 She was especially interested in Turner’s watercolours, which she saw at the . She studied lithography in the evenings at Regent Street Polytechnic with Henry Trivick. In the winter of 1950-51, she studied etching with Richard Beer, also at the Polytechnic.

By 1953 her diary contained a number of artist contacts, among them Elisabeth Aslin, Antoni Clavé and Eric de Maré. She was living at 15 George Street, WI. Skiöld kept sketchbooks and produced compositional studies, which she transcribed into the print medium, both in etching and lithography, working figuratively at first. She submitted her work (watercolours) to exhibitions, for instance: Nystedts Konstsalong, Linköping, Sweden, (with Birgitta Roos), 9-23 November 1952, and, The Royal Academy Open Show in 1953.4 In 1954 Skiöld visited Paris and studied drawing at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Montparnasse, Paris. She already knew Clavé and was influenced by his painterly approach to printmaking, especially his lithographs. She also studied etching, gaining experience in an editioning studio recommended by Clavé.5 In London she was living at 76 Charlotte St. In 1955 she made trips to Austria and Italy and gathered ideas for landscape studies. She moved again to, The Studio, Highwood House, Ogle St. In 1956 she opened a print-studio, in a basement in George St, London, having acquired the lithographic press and stones that had belonged to Vanessa Bell and which had been used by Edward Ardizzone.6 Her student friends came and worked there and they organised small group shows of printmaking work at local venues. She participated in, Landscape Paintings, Ware Gallery, 7-30 January 1956. In October 1956 Skiöld participated in a

2 Additional biographical notes on Skiöld’s early career are from Pat Gilmour’s interview with the artist published in, ‘Artist Observed’, Canvas 11 Vol 4 no 11 March 1970 pp. 36-37. Also recorded in Charles Spencer, Alecto Monographs 9 1973 Editions Alecto p.2. 3 See early biography which was researched extensively by Peter Bird, the artist’s husband, p.15 in, Birgit Skiöld Paintings Drawings Prints Photographs and Artist’s Books 1958-1982 1984 Pimlico Press. The catalogue was produced for the Memorial Exhibition held in 1984 at Camden Arts Centre and Cartwright Hall, ; also at M.O.M.A Oxford in 1985. Bird’s text forms the basis of this account, which has been updated with new information from the V&A Skiöld archive and a range of other sources to include correspondence and Print Workshop Daybooks. Skiöld recalls her early career in an interview by Michael G.McNay, The Guardian Friday 28 January 1968. 4 Newspaper clipping showing Skiöld and fellow students taking work for the Royal Academy exhibition 20.3.1953. She was living in Marylebone at the time. V&A AAD 1997/18 BSMB 1a 5 Op cit. Gilmour, Canvas 1970 6 The workshop was in a basement on the north side of George St between Baker St and Gloucester Place, according to Elizabeth Aslin, a fellow student who worked there. Aslin was later keeper of Bethnal Green Museum.

group show at the Ware Gallery, Fulham Road, 13-27 October with her tutor Richard Beer and 3 of his students: Elizabeth Aslin, Rosemary J Foster, and Patricia A Smith. Skiöld became a naturalised citizen according to a Home Office letter dated 23 November 1956.7 She participated in an exhibition, which she probably helped arrange: Swedish Graphic Art, St George’s Gallery Prints, 7 Cork St London W1 21 January - 16 February 1957; work by 10 Scandinavian artists was shown.8 Among the entries in her diary for 1957 is the receipt of a payment of 5gns from Robert Erskine, either for editioning or helping in the organization of exhibitions; she notes, in her diary, the opening of the Senefelder and the Swedish Graphic exhibition at St George’s Gallery Prints (21.1.57). She made trips abroad, to see her family in Sweden, and to Switzerland. In January 1957, with financial support from her family, she bought 5, Westmorland Place which would remain her home and base in London. She applied to register her new business as The Proof Studio 10 October 1957.9 However, during 1957-58 she had to look for new premises for the workshop, possibly because the lease at George Street was about to expire. Skiöld encountered the European concept of the open print workshop during her visits to Paris and there is a suggestion that it was the example of Hayter’s Atelier 17 established in 1927 and which opened again after World War II in 1950, or what it represented, that was the chief inspiration for her idea of an open printmaking workshop, where for a small fee, individual artists could share facilities and enjoy a professional working atmosphere.10 There were few places where young or aspiring artists could make prints in London, other than the art schools, which remained an important though limited resource for young artists and which could not provide commercial editioning services. There were no open studios where individual artists could hire facilities to make their work. Robert Erskine who had opened St George’s Gallery Prints in 1954 had influenced Skiöld. He had gained experience while in Paris, visiting the Lacourière studio and Jacques Frélart, a master printer, and so gained a deeper knowledge of the world of the specially editioned Fine Art print, visiting establishments that worked with artists such as Picasso, Matisse or Bonnard. Erskine encouraged Skiöld in her enterprise.11

7 A letter signed by P.F.Millard 5 July 1956, The Polytechnic 309 Regent Street London W1, states that Skiöld was attending day and evening classes in Lithography, Etching and Painting and asks if she can stay on in Great Britain. William Rees-Mogg also wrote on her behalf on House of Commons notepaper. There is also a letter of support from Edward Ardizzone dated 30.10. 56. See V&A AAD 1997/18 BSMB 1. 8 See review by Stephen Bone, ‘Prints by Swedish Artists, London Exhibition’, Manchester Guardian 26 January 1957.He mentions the expressive handling of the, “brush-drawn aquatints and lithographs by Birgit Skiöld”. 9 In a later account by Peter Bird, based on the artist’s minimal diaries, it seems the starting date of the open workshop running as a business was 1957. In later interviews she usually gave the date of 1958. 10 See Pat Gilmour’s interview with the artist, op.cit. 1970. 11 See James Burr, “Curwen Gallery 5-30 April”, Apollo Vol 83 April 1966 p. 300.

Erskine’s pioneering work to revitalise printmaking culture in Britain was mentioned in a BBC Radio review on 15 July 1956. St George’s Gallery Prints, 7 Cork St, London W1, was a place where prints from Paris could be seen. The writer, Myfanwy Piper, went on to say that what is needed “is an atelier where artists and professional engravers can inspire each other”.12 This was very much Erskine’s view. He was also instrumental in encouraging Stanley Jones to run Curwen’s new Artist Studio, having discussed this idea with him while in Paris in 1957.13 In Autumn 1958 Curwen Studio opened at Plaistow to run alongside Curwen Press with which it was associated. It was a professionally run lithography workshop, which was dedicated to the production of quality editions. Britain had lacked a modern printmaking and print collecting tradition but this was to change as new developments in the early 1960s, including screen- printing and photographic processes, enabled Fine Artists to make their work using printmaking media. The ambitions of many artists were being changed through greater exposure to modern abstract art, and to the imagery of popular culture and the increasing importance of photographic imagery within modern culture. In London in the early 1950s there were exhibitions of modern European and American painting, notably, London-Paris at the I.C.A. in March 1950; L’Ecole de Paris, January-March 1951 at the Royal Academy; and,Young Painters of the L’Ecole de Paris 1952 (Arts Council).14 Patrick Heron’s, The Changing forms of Art was published in 1955, and heralded a new awareness of the possibilities within abstraction; Heron admired American abstract painting. Some significant exhibitions were held in the period 1953-1961, which promoted the bold abstraction, action painting and confident mark making that were characteristic of the American avant-garde, for instance, Opposing Forces, at the I.C.A. 1953; Mark Tobey (recent work) at the I.C.A. May 1955; Modern Art in the United States, Gallery January-February 1956; New Trends in Painting, an Arts Council Touring Exhibition, in1956, (contemporary American and European artists); Sam Francis at Gimpel Fils in May 1957; Some Paintings from the E.J.Power Collection, I.C.A. March 1958; Jackson Pollock (retrospective) at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, November 1958; New American Painting, February-March 1959; Gottlieb at the I.C.A. June 1959.15

12 V&A 1997/18 BSMB Ia. The radio review was about the Arts Council Exhibition: Picasso:Fifty Years of Graphic Art, 1956, at the Arts Council Gallery. 13 See Pat Gilmour’s account in her introduction to: Lithographs from the Curwen Studio, a retrospective of 15 years printmaking, exhibition catalogue, Camden Arts Centre 14 December-13 January 1974. Gilmour explains that Curwen stood for the creative collaboration between artist and printer and provided new opportunities for artists to work in a professional lithographic printmaking studio. Curwen led the way in the use of photo-process with lithography. 14 See Alan Bowness, ‘The American Invasion and the British Response’, Studio International Vol 173 No 890 June 1967 p.287, n.5. 15 Ibid., Bowness

In the early 1960s another generation of American artists had work shown in London galleries, for instance, Ellsworth Kelly at Tooth’s Gallery in 1961, and Robert Rauschenberg at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1961. Against this background, it seems unsurprising that less traditional printmakers such as Skiöld would be influenced by new ideas and apply modern approaches to printmaking processes.16

Print Workshop and Skiöld’s early career 1958-1967 In May 1958, the presses were moved into Print Workshop, which occupied the basement of the artist Adrian Heath’s house at 28 Charlotte St, London.17 Heath and his wife Corinne were benevolent landlords and charged only a small rent. Heath used the workshop and joined in group exhibitions. Helena Markson was a stalwart support. Artists were provided with the basic essentials and then paid for their own ink and paper for editioning. They signed in and a daybook was kept. Kathan Brown worked there from March to June 1959, also Joe Tilson who started to work there in May, Brian Perrin, Mark Zularski and Barry Fantoni are among those who worked there during 1959. That year, Skiöld organised a group show which set a pattern for others in years to come: Etchings and Lithographs: 16 studio artists at Print Workshop, December 7-19 1959; exhibitors were, Ahmed, Aslin, Barnes, Beer, Brown, Curtis, Fozard, Heath, Jones, Markson, Parker, Platt, Skiöld, Tiley, Tyson and Watson. They all had been working at Print Workshop. The workshop was a success, maybe word spread through her already established contacts, and with the patronage of the Heaths. Skiöld participated in a touring exhibition: Contemporary British Printmakers, 40 prints by 40 artists (London and U.S.A. 1958) organised for St George’s Gallery prints, showing her lithograph, Landscape in Blue (Ed 30)1958 (BSMT 718). This was an exhibition of mainly abstract work and a demonstration of the move away from the notion of the little black etching, a development urged on by Robert Erskine. In 1958 Skiöld became Hon.Secretary to the Senefelder Group of Artist Lithographers, (until 1960); the Chair was Henry Trivick. She was highly active in arranging a number of exhibitions for the group, for instance, in April 1959 she helped hang the Senefelder Group Show. She began to exhibit her own work more widely.

She contributed work to the landmark exhibition, The Graven Image, held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, April 1959, curated by Bryan Robertson

16 There is an interesting comment by Adrian Heath in interview, that the American Exhibition at the Tate Gallery in 1956 offered the first real “Ist hand” opportunity to see work by American abstract artists. He admired Rothko, Kline and Motherwell. See Arts Review Vol XVIII No 8 30 April 1966 p.182. 17 Note in her diary 11.5.58, “put up presses”. V&A AAD/1997/18. An earlier note, “moved in” 22.7.57 is non- specific and probably refers to her new home at 5 Westmoreland Place.

and Robert Erskine and organised demonstrations of printmaking techniques to coincide with the exhibition, which had a didactic purpose (see her exhibited lithograph, Landscape in Blue (Ed 30) 1958 (BSMT 718). Erskine had wanted to demonstrate that the true tradition of printmaking could be revived, describing it as a tradition of “brilliant extempore control”, in which the personal and expressive image could shine through.18 Skiöld exhibited at: Contemporary British Printmakers No I, St George’s Gallery Prints, London, 3-29 July 1959 (see her etching Blue Island (Ed 30) 1959 (V&A AAD/1997/18/136).19Skiöld helped in the planning of an exhibition of etchings and lithographs by British artists for the De Unga Gallery, Stockholm. She showed 4 works in, Då och Nu, Svensk Grafik 1600-1959, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, 16 October – 15 November 1959. Her work was now mostly within the abstract idiom. She gained experience from editioning work at Print Workshop for others including La Hune, France, and St George’s Gallery Prints, benefitting greatly from this continuing professional relationship with Erskine, who was a source of great encouragement. 20

In 1960, Skiöld was invited to contribute a lithograph, Thames Side to the 1960 Senefelder Colour Prints Club, along with Richard Beer’s Albert Memorial. Prints were offered at 2 gns each. She showed 2 lithographs in, British Printmakers 1960, St George’s Gallery Prints at, Konstsalongen de Unga, Stockholm, 9-26 January 1960, catalogue foreword by Robert Erskine. Exhibitors included: Gillian Ayres, Michael Ayrton, Richard Beer, Merlyn Evans, Anthony Gross, Adrian Heath, Gertrude Hermes, Robert MacBryde, Ceri Richards, Michael Rothenstein and Julian Trevelyan. Also in 1960 she showed 3 works in: Fifty Years of Lithography by The Senefelder Group 1910-1960 at South London Art Gallery, Peckham Road, Camberwell, London 24 April – 14 May. She exhibited, Seascape 1961 (BSMT 76) no.73, at, The Senefelder Group 1910-1960, An Exhibition of lithographs, Arts Council, 4 St James’s Square, London, 1961, and showed work in, Colour Lithographs: an Exhibition by The Senefelder Group, City Art Gallery, 12 December 1960 - 15 January 1961. In 1962, she showed work at the Artists International Association Gallery, London: Large Drawings. There is a large body of abstract drawing work from this period including smaller studies that seem to relate to a number of bold

18 See Robert Erskine’s introduction in: The Graven Image. Catalogue of an exhibition of recent prints and drawings by British artists held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London April-May 1959, p.6, written March 1959. 19 Burr, James, ‘Contemporary British Printmakers’ Art News & Review Vol XI No 13 1959 p.8, review in which Skiöld’s etching, Blue Island, is mentioned. 20 Gilmour, op cit; 1970 pp.36-38, provides information on Skiöld’s editioning experience.

lithographs, for instance: Blue and Black 1962 (BSMT 1097), Black and Red’63 1963 (BSMT 34), and, Archipelago Blue 1963 (BSMT 706). A number of these works were shown in Modern Swedish Prints at Grafiska Sällskapet, Svenska Institutet, Stockholm in 1963 or 1964 and are indicative of a growing abstract profile for the artist. Skiöld curated, 8 Britiska Grafika, Stockholm 5 October – 23 October 1963, which included: Keith Armour, André Bicat, Ernest Alf Dunn, Derrick Greaves, John Brunsdon, Allen Jones, Jennifer Dickson and John Sturgess. Skiöld had work included in, Colour Lithographs by The Senefelder Group at the Craft Centre of Great Britain,17 - 27July 1963; the essay by Denis Farr suggests this was an interesting exhibition, which broke down barriers between painter, sculptor and printmaker and sought to push the boundaries of printmaking, combining lithography with etching, experimenting with special papers and encouraging invention.

In 1964 Skiöld showed work in, The Senefelder group of Artist Lithographers 9 April – 2 May, Hay Hill, London. Skiöld had been teaching at Bradford Regional College of Art from 1963 and in the Summer Semester 1964 was invited to be a visiting lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she gave woodcut classes in June. A lithograph, Madison Summer ’64 dates from this period, (BSMT 1750).21 A number of confident expressive abstract lithographs stem from this visit, for instance: Madison Outskirts (also titled Lakeshore Drive) 1964 (BSMT 1745). Also inspired by her visit to the U.S.A. are: Hudson I 1965 (BSMT 1746), and, Hudson II 1964 (BSMT 707). She showed a colour etching, Orange, 1963, at, Original Prints, California Society of Etchers 50th Annual Exhibition, San Francisco April 4 - May 10 1964. The invitation to teach at the University of Wisconsin and subsequently at other Universities in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio developed out of her contact with American artists who visited Print Workshop in the late 1950s and early 1960s. These included Warrington Colescott, Dick de Peaux and George Olsen with whom she continued to correspond into the late 1970s, also Arthur Thrall and George Johansson. The contact led to a number of exhibitions in the North American Mid-West and in Oregon during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Skiöld married Peter Bird on 24 July 1965 at Westminster Registry Office. They had met on one of her visits to Bradford where Bird was Director of Bradford City Art Gallery and Museums. Skiöld taught printmaking at Bradford College of Art. She organised an exhibition of drawings and prints by British artists at Harry Lunds Konsthandel, Stockholm, to include: Gillian Ayres, Harold Cohen, Richard Hamilton, Adrian Heath, , Allen Jones,

21 A personal diary entry for 14.7.64 notes this print. V&A AAD 1997/18.

Henry Mundy, Eduardo Paolozzi and William Scott. During that year she also helped found the Printmaker’s Council, which was an important exhibiting group. She showed Lakeshore Drive 1965, no 232, at, Grafiktriennale, , Stockholm. (This print is also known as, Madison Outskirts 1964, see (BSMT 1745).

In 1966 Skiöld had work on show at Galerie Bleu, Stockholm. She organised a group show at the Curwen Gallery, London, 6-30 April: Print Workshop: An exhibition of prints by artists associated with the Print Workshop, Charlotte Street, Curwen Gallery, I Colville Place, off Charlotte Street, London W 1, catalogue essay by Robert Erskine; artists represented who had worked at Print Workshop include: Munira Al Kazi, Warrington Colescott, Rune Claesson, Derrick Greaves, Adrian Heath, George Johanson, Ellen Kuhn, Helena Markson, Frances Myers, Danièle Noël, Tony Onley, Jo Simmonds, Birgit Skiöld and Ian Tyson.22 Skiöld curated an exhibition of Swedish printmakers’ work for the Curwen Gallery (October 1966).23 She showed her own work at the Grafiktriennale, National Gallery, Stockholm, also at the Spring Exhibition, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, and with the Printmakers’ Council, Grabowski Gallery, London. Her etchings of this period were more tactile as she began to experiment with the use of deep open bite and embossing techniques and the bold use of primary colours, for instance, Cross Current 1966 (BSMT 1288), Shimmering Water 1966 (BSMT 1040), also, Archipelago Red and Blue 1966 (BSMT 683. She showed work in the A.I.A. exhibition, London, Prints 66, (Hudson).24

In 1967 Skiöld exhibited in, Printmakers’ Council, A.A.A. Gallery New York; Printmaker’s Council Touring Exhibition (Oxford, Nottingham and University of Sussex); also Spring Exhibition, Cartwright Hall, Bradford; and, Printmaker’s Council, Grabowski Gallery, London; and A.I.A. Prints 67, A.I.A. Gallery 17 March – 13 April.

22 See Robert Erskine’s evocative essay about Print Workshop and the 28 Charlotte Street basement premises in the exhibition leaflet, Print Workshop: An exhibition of prints by artists associated with the Print Workshop, Curwen Gallery, London, 6-30 April 1966; see also, James Burr’s review in Apollo Vol 83 April 1966 p.300, in which he mentions the value of “an informal and independent workshop”; Angela Lambert, ‘Birgit Skiöld’s Studio Workshop’ Studio International Vol. 172 No 884 December1966 p.17; and Joanna Borchard, ‘Prints 66’ Arts Review Vol XVIII No 8 April 1966 p.11.

23 See Pat Gilmour’s review, ‘Octet – Modern Swedish Prints Curwen Gallery” Arts Review Vol XVIII No 20 15 Octobert 1966, p,464. 24 Probably Hudson I 1965 Lithograph (BSMT 1746), mentioned by Sheldon Williams writing for the New York Herald Tribune, Paris, 26 April 1966, Lithography Show a Pleasant Surprise’.

Career developments 1968-1969 Skiöld’s next one-person exhibition and 1st solo show in London was in 1968: Birgit Skiöld-etchings and lithographs, 5-30 March, Curwen Gallery, London, (Abstract Relief in Silver, 1968 (BSMT 1091), note the catalogue cover design with this image: BSMT 673); Smiling Sea I (1967) (BSMT 1030) which was commissioned by Eugene Schuster for London Graphics Associates was also exhibited. She produced work for the, 3rd International Miniature Print Exhibition, I.B.M. Gallery, New York (touring), probably showing, Flowing Form I, 1968 (BSMT 1189) and others in this series. Her lithograph, Seabed 1968 (BSMT 517), printed by Curwen Studio, was published by Eugene Schuster of London Graphic Arts Associates as Seaforms, (it is also known as Sea Image).25 Her embossed print Vast Sea (Ed 25) (BSMT 31) was exhibited in 1968 at William Weston Gallery, 10 Albermarle St, London. She began to produce a series of inkless prints from etched plates, also lino-cut blocks with found objects, which introduced a new minimal theme into her work, see, Inkless Print III 1968, lino-cut, (V&A AAD/1997/18/196). She had a poetry-poster published by Circle Press Publications: Sea Limits Edition: 100.(BSMT B1 and BSMT 1717).26 Also in 1968, she showed at British Printmakers, Konstfrämjandet, Stockholm, and, Grafiktriennalen, Stockholm. She served on the committee of the British International Print Biennale. In 1968 she showed her work in: The First Wisconsin Print Show International (touring Wisconsin and Iowa) 35 printmakers from the U.S.A. and Europe comprising 10 artists from Wisconsin, including Arthur Thrall, of Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, who had worked at Print Workshop, and 10 others from the U.S.A., 8 artists from France and 7 artists from England: Jennifer Dickson, Alfred Dunn, Dennis Hawkins, David Hockney, Allen Jones, Michael Rothenstein and Birgit Skiöld, curated by Warrington Colescott, at Madison Art Center, 10 September -22 October 1968; Rahr Public Museum,

25 Seaforms (Seabed) (BSMT 1742 71/75 no. 67434), image and paper: 56.6 x 78.5cms; an impression is illustrated in Charles Spencer: Alecto Monograph 9 Birgit Skiöld 1973 Editions Alecto p.3. Spencer says it was printed at Curwen Press. The V&A impression AAD/1997/18/85 42/75 is no. 67405. According to Pat Gilmour, a lithograph was published, and printed by Curwen Press titled, Sea Image 59.1 x 79.3 cms DP 6569, see P.Gilmour, Artists at Curwen, a celebration of the gift of artist’s prints from the Curwen Studio, 1977 Tate Gallery, p.158. London Graphics Arts Associates was a publisher and retail outlet, founded in 1967 and based at 84 Grosvenor Square. Eugene Schuster bought editions outright. Skiöld was one of a number of artists who had a contract but the remuneration for artists was limited. She had 4 etchings published, all with sea or water themes according to Angela Lambert, ‘Publishers and Presses’ Supplement, Studio International, Vol 173 No 890 June 1967 p.17; only 2 have been identified to date. 26 Sea Limits is no. 3 of a series of 10 poetry-posters or bookworks commissioned by Circle Press. See Cathy Courtney, The Looking Book a Pocket History of Circle Press 1967-96, 1996 p.102. the other artists include Derrick Greaves, Ian Tyson, Tom Phillips and Ron King.

Manitowoc 10 November – 15 December 1968; Oshkosh Public Museum 19 January - 18 February 1969.27

Skiöld worked on her first artist’s book during 1968: Chimes, Edition: 75, which was published in 1969 by Circle Press Publications, for which she won an award in June 1970, the Aigle D’Or (Prix de la Bibliophilie) at the Festival International du Livre, Nice. The design was a tour-de force of blind embossed relief work, from etchings and one lino-cut, with judicious use of colour surface-roll relief (see BSMT B2). Gilmour mentions this award in her review, ‘An exhibition of prints by artists associated with the Print Workshop’, Curwen Gallery, London, 19 May-12 June, in ‘Graphics by Pat Gilmour: Print Workshop’ Arts Review May 22 1971 p.317. In ‘The book as object’, Art and Artists July 1971 Vol6, No 4, Issue 64, p.24, Gilmour says that several British artist’s books were entered that year; Harold Cohen received 3rd Prize for Pinter’s Homecoming, photo-lithographs, printed by Curwen Press, published by Harry Karnac. Chimes was the first of a number of collaborations with Circle Press who assisted with the text and overall production, all the proofing and editioning was carried out by Skiöld and Marie Walker at Print Workshop. This set the pattern for most of Skiöld’s subsequent bookworks, which were mainly produced at Print Workshop. Other significant events in 1969 included a one-person show in the U.S.A., Birgit Skiöld - etchings and lithographs, Hooper Galleries, Ellison Bay, Wisconsin (July); and group shows, Printmakers’ Council, Recent Prints, at The Morley Gallery, 61 Westminster Bridge, London, 17 April – 10 May; A.I.A. Prints 69, 10.4.69 – 3.5.69; and an exhibition of work by 45 members of the; and British Contemporary Graphics, Paul Gallery, Tokyo, 23-30 September. Also in 1969, she participated in, Englische Grafik Heute at Kunstverein Wolfsburg no 52, where she showed alongside, Allen Jones, David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, Edouardo Paolozzi, Graham Sutherland and Michael Challenger.

The 1970s In December 1970, Skiöld visited Tokyo and Kyoto for the first time, and encountered the Japanese temple gardens, which provided her with a rich source of inspiration for a new body of work, both prints and artist’s books. She accompanied Peter Bird who was serving on the jury of the 7th International Biennal Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo.28 This was not her first introduction to Japanese culture. Her mother had been friendly with a Japanese family, so from childhood she had been fascinated by Japan. She

27 See cutting in V&A AAD 1997/18 BSMT II 8. Skiöld and Dickson advised the selectors and Stanley Hayter was consulted. See also review in Manitowoc (Wisconsin) Herald-Times, Two Rivers Reporter, 8 November 1968. 15 works were bought by the Elvehjem Art Center, University of Wisconsin. 28 See Peter Bird, ‘Birgit Skiöld and Japan’, Printmaking Today Vol 1 No 4 Autumn 1991 pp.20-21.

had probably seen examples of work by Japanese abstractionists Key Sato, Hasegawa and Sugai at St George’s Gallery Prints, Robert Erskine’s gallery.29 Exhibitions in 1970 include: Paintings and Prints by Three London Swedes, 4-13 March, Swedish Embassy, London (with Margareta Fernström and Halvor William-Olsson); Scandinavian Art Today, Reigate Town Hall 29 April -2 May; and, Swedish Art at Heals, Heal’s Mansard Gallery, London, 15 September – 5 October, with 3 other Scandinavian artists, Ann Bergson, Margareta Ternström and Walter Huber (Skiöld’s lithograph, Heaving Deep, 1968 (BSMT 450) was illustrated on p.11 of the Heals brochure, also Falling Water II colour etching 1969 was illustrated in Arts Review Vol XXII no 19 26 September 1970, p.611); her bookwork, Chimes, 1969 was shown. She was invited by the British Council to show at the 2nd International Biennale of Graphic Arts, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; also Segunda Bienal International del Grabado de Buenos Aires. She showed a multiple (vacuum formed), Red Wave, at the Konstfrämjandet, Stockholm, 1970-71.

In 1971, Skiöld showed her recent etching work in a one-person show: Birgit Skiöld - recent prints, at the Oxford Gallery, 23 High Street, Oxford, 31 May - 30 June, works included: Chimes 1969, and a number of etchings and lithographs with sea and water themes.30 She had a one-person exhibition, Recent Prints and Boxes by Birgit Skiöld, at the Perrins Gallery, Hampstead, London October-November 14, in which she showed Chimes;31 and showed work in the group show: Inkless Prints, Oxford Gallery, Oxford. Chimes was included in: The Artist and the Book in England, Morley Gallery, London, June 1971, an exhibition organised by Skiöld.32 Other exhibitions include, Art Spectrum, Alexandra Palace, London, also, An exhibition of prints by artists associated with the Print Workshop, held at the, Curwen Gallery, London 19 May-12 June33; and Fifty British Prints Printmakers’ Council, 4th Touring Exhibition, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A., 11 March – 4 April, organised by George Johanson, who wrote the catalogue introduction and who had spent his sabbatical at Print Workshop in 1969-70. During this

29 Bryan Robertson mentions this in, “Preface and a profile” p.2, in, Erskine, Robert and Robertson, Bryan, The Graven Image: Catalogue of an exhibition of recent prints and drawings by British artists held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London April-May 1959. 30 See Rita Harris, ‘Philip Sutton, Birgit Skiöld Oxford Gallery’ Arts Review Vol XXIII No 12, 19 June 1971 p.374. 31 See review by Linda Talbot, in, ‘Art’, Express & News, London 29 October 1971 p.19, also, Barbara Wright in Arts Review Vol XXIII No 22, 6 November 1971. 32 She noted, “Worked all day at Morley College putting up book exhibition”, Daybook entry 16.6.1971 V&A AAD 1997 18 BSMB II II 1 of 3. 33 See exhibition catalogue and essay by Pat Gilmour, An exhibition of prints by artists associated with the Print Workshop, Curwen Gallery, London 19 May-12 June 1971. Also, review by Gilmour: ‘Print Workshop’ in ‘Graphics by Pat Gilmour’, Arts Review Vol XXIII no 10, 22 May 1971 p.317; and, ‘Graphics by Robert Thomas’, Art and Artists, Vol 6 No 3 June 1971 p.28.

period Skiöld refurbished Print Workshop, introduced photo-processing and took delivery of a new offset lithography press, which she had ordered from Japan. She was working on photo-etching and photo-lithography from July 1971 onwards. In 1972, Skiöld had a one-person show at the same time as Gruber/Steiger at the Park Square Gallery, Leeds, Birgit Skiöld - Prints 8 March - 8 April34; and an important two person show, Birgit Skiöld/William Tillyer, at Grafiska Sällskapet, Stockholm 5 - 26 April (large exhibits); also in 1972, Birgit Skiöld at Hooper Galleries, Ellison Bay, Wisconsin; Grey Black and White, at Angela Flowers, London, 25 January-11 February, where she showed 4 blind embossed single print relief etchings from Chimes, 1969, other exhibitors were Daphne Reynolds, Boyd & Evans and Bud Shark35; she showed work in, Photography into Art, Camden Arts Centre, London; Twenty European Printmakers, Fordham University, New Jersey 10-27 January, (Mighty Billow 1968 and Ocean Water 1968); she was invited to show her work at the, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts Exhibition, Wellington, 20 September - 8 October (a large exhibit). She organized and participated in, Print Workshop at the New Lane, New Lane Gallery, Bradford 8 July - 3 August36; arranged Print Workshop hos Grafikgruppen, Stockholm37; and showed work in theThird British International Print Biennale, Cartwright Hall, Bradford; the first Norsk Internasjonal Grafikk Biennale, Fredrikstad Bijliotek August – October; and exhibited Chimes at the Poetry Festival, Nettlecombe, Somerset. Work was included in a show curated by Gilmour, (Pat Gilmour Chooses Prints under £75), at the Oxford Gallery, Oxford 26 June - 26 July. She sold work through Anthony Dawson.38She was elected Chairman of the Printmakers’ Council (1972 until 1974). She gave a talk on traditional Japanese printmaking methods at, The Whitechapel Art Gallery, during the exhibition and demonstration: Prints and how they are made. She and Peter Bird bought a farmhouse cottage in the Haute-Garonne, where she subsequently worked on paintings and photographic work.

In 1973, Skiöld launched her next bookwork, Zen Gardens, Edition: 75 English, 25 Japanese, with poems by James Kirkup, Circle Press

34 See John Barro, ‘Alfred Gruber, Jacqueline Steiger, Birgit Skiöld’ Arts Review Vol XXIV No 6, 25 March 1972 p.172. 35 Marina Vaizey, Grey, Black and White’ Arts Review Vol XXIV No 2, 29 January 1972 p.34. 36 See, Gilmour, Pat, Print Workshop at the New Lane, leaflet for exhibition at the New Lane Gallery, Godwin St, Bradford 8 July – 3 August 1972 (V&A AAD 1997 18 BSMB II 9). Skiöld was one of 26 named Print Workshop exhibitors. 37 See, Packer, William, Print Workshop hos Grafikgruppen, leaflet for exhibition at Konstnårshuset, Smålandsgatan, Stockholm 17 September – 1 October 1972. Skiöld arranged this exhibition of 10 British Print Workshop artists, but probably did not participate. 38 Skiöld is listed among the artists represented by Anthony Dawson, see, Arts Review Vol XXIV No 5, 11 March 1972 p.125. Dawson sold prints to Museums, Education Authorities and designers.

Publications, 23 May - 30 June 1973, at the Studio Prints Gallery, 159 Queens Crescent. An unnumbered, unlimited edition of a poem-pamphlet produced by Skiöld with Edward Lucie-Smith, North-West Passage, unlimited edition, went on sale (see BSMT B3, 1256,1715).39 The Editions Alecto Collector’s Club (newly formed) commissioned Moruroa. Editions Alecto published a monograph: Charles Spencer: Alecto Monograph 9 Birgit Skiöld 1973. Exhibitions include: Present Impressions, Oxford Gallery, Oxford, curated by Edward Lucie-Smith (including Ian Gardner, Howard Hodgkin, and Joe Tilson) 22 October - 28 November40; Printmakers’ Council, Oxford University Press, London; Etching 1973, Guildhall Picture Gallery, Winchester; and a touring exhibition, Graphics from Print Workshop, London : Boston University Art Gallery, 17 November - 8 December; Madison, Wisconsin; Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Wooster, Ohio U.S.A. She was teaching at Hammersmith College of Art and Chelsea School of Art. She contributed to a group show: First Contact, Welcome Foundation 8-10 March. Skiöld’s work is included in the catalogue for: Lithographs from the Curwen Studio, a retrospective of fifteen years printmaking, Camden Arts Centre 14 December 1973 – 13 January 1974, (no 82 [727] Sea Image 1968 Ed 75 London Graphic Arts). (see note 15, the print is Seabed).

In 1974, Skiöld promoted her Zen Gardens bookwork and other work in Japan on a 5 week visit from 3rd May, returning on the 10 June, also visiting Sado Island. Her many photographs from the visit came out well and formed the basis of a series of new prints. She returned later that year to Japan for her one-woman show at Galleria Grafica, Tokyo, 11-20 November. She was in Sweden in the 2nd half of June. She visited Kalamazoo and Madison, traveling via Chicago on the 2 September and then New York on her return journey on the 20 September, having organised the exhibition of Zen Gardens the bookwork and other work including the relief print, Daisen-in 1973, and etching, Cloudless Blue 1971, in October/November 1974 at Jane Weiss’s gallery, Design Corner, Fairmount Boulevard, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, U.S.A., also the forthcoming Compact Gallery boxed print exhibition.41She taught 3 day workshops at University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, U.S.A. on 9-11 September, and gave a lecture at the Elvehjem Art Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, on 17 September, returning to the U.K on 23 September.

39 Mentioned, though not by name, in a letter to Douglas Chambers 5 July 1973., V&A AAD 1997 18. The poem-pamphlet has been classified here as a bookwork. 40 See, Lucie-Smith, Edward, ‘Choosing Prints’, Crafts No 6 Jan/Feb 1974 pp.20-25, Plate 4 of Zen Gardens is illustrated on p. 24. Lucie-Smith reflects on his selection and on the importance of printmaking. 41 For the Design Corner exhibition see review, The Plain Dealer, 27 October 1974. The show was on until 20 November. Work to produce the prints for the Compact Gallery boxed set began at Print Workshop on 2 January 1974

She exhibited in Sweden: Birgit Skiöld, Bildhörnen, Umeå; she contributed to: Graveurs Anglais Contemporains, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva, 5 April – 5 May (introduction to the catalogue by Pat Gilmour); also, she showed work alongside Nils Stenquist in, Sweden, Art and Society, University of Surrey, Guildford, 27 September – 11 October; the Fourth International Print Biennale, Cartwright Hall, Bradford (English section); the 2 Norsk Internasjonal Grafikk Biennale, Fredrikstad; and Grafiktriennalen, Liljevalchs, Stockholm, 1-31 March.

In 1975, Skiöld organised and exhibited work at: The Artists of ‘Print Workshop’, Galleria Grafica, Tokyo, 20-29 November, alongside: Katsuro Yoshida, Misako Aihara, Peter Yamaoka, Boyd & Evans, Frank Connelly and Lizzie Cox. She traveled to Japan on the 15th November with Peter Bird, who stayed for 2 weeks, whereas she stayed on longer, teaching a workshop at Nihon University, photographing more Japanese temple gardens and structures and also visiting papermaking villages near Kyoto, Echizen and Kurodani (with the help of Akira Kurasaki, who was invited to Morley College, London to run woodcut workshops). She exhibited work, including, Daisen-In Orange (Ed 25)1973 (BSMT 681), and, Zen Gardens 1973, her bookwork (BSMB B4), in, Prints from London, Wooster Art Center Museum, Wooster, Ohio U.S.A. 5 - 24 January. She had a two-person show with Will Barnet at The Mansfield Art Center, Ohio 23 March - 20 April, alongside 18 Japanese Masters of Ukiyo-e (woodcuts). She exhibited a print in the Chichester National Art Exhibition. She co-organised a collaborative exchange exhibition with British and Japanese artists featuring a boxed set of prints: Compact Gallery, at: Curwen Gallery, London; Heian Gallery Kyoto; Knauss Hall, University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, U.S.A October 27- November 14; and New Vision, Auckland, New Zealand. Her imprint Pimlico Press was set up to promote small publications of artist’s prints produced at Print Workshop.42

In 1976, Skiöld’s series of 4 prints, Raked Garden Square I-IV, 1976, was shown in a one-person exhibition, along with photographs of Japanese temple gardens and photo-etchings: Raked Garden Square - Prints and Photographs by Birgit Skiöld at the Consort Gallery, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, S.W.7 29 April - 21 May. This work revealed a new direction towards a more minimal aesthetic. Skiöld’s work was now seen in a wider context as she worked across different art media. She showed work

42 See a later review, ‘The Pimlico Press’ by Rosemary Simmons, Arts Review Vol XXVIII no25/26 December 1976, pp.716-717. Publications followed a format. An Imperial sheet of white paper was divided to form 6 prints 26 x 28cms, these were printed at Print Workshop and assembled in an elephant grey folder with a biographical text compiled by Skiöld and an artist’s statement printed on buff paper. Editions of 50, at a cost of £30.00.

alongside Michael Byrne (relief screenprints): Birgit Skiöld - relief etchings and other media, at the Setanta Gallery, Dublin, 26 October – 13 November. Work was included in: Limited but choice, Angela Flowers, London; Doors, Camden Arts Centre, London; Print Workshop, London, at the Curwen Gallery, London, 16 February - 20 March; Arts Council New Acquisitions, , London; and the 3 Norsk Internasjonal Grafikk Biennale, Fredrikstad. Her relief print, White Wave, 1967, cat 32, (known as White Relief) was included in the intaglio section of a British Council circulating exhibition, no 43, The Processes of Printmaking.43 She was nominated for an Associateship of the Royal Academy.

In 1977, Skiöld published, Scenes from Sesshu, Edition 50, a bookwork with poetry by James Kirkup, Pimlico Press, after a protracted production process that had begun in January 1976. She held one person exhibitions, Birgit Skiöld- Works: paintings, drawings, etchings, photographs, Park Square Gallery, Leeds, 13 September - 8 October;44 she showed a number of prints with Japanese themes including her photo-lithographs as well as drawings at, Birgit Skiöld - Oeuvres Récentes, peintures, gravures, photographies, Centre Culturel Suédois, Paris, 26 November 1977 - 7 January 1978.45 Skiöld contributed to: Miniatures Exhibition, Coracle Press, London (Yellow Horizon, acrylic on canvas); Print Workshop, London, at the Artists Market, Warehouse Gallery 2, 48 Earlham Street London WC2, 9 June - 6 July (this was the Artists Market’s new premises and their first show), exhibitors were: Boyd & Evans, Frank Connelly, Lizzie Cox, Anthony Donaldson, Funasaka, Katherine Gili, Adrian Heath, David King, John Loker, Daphne Reynolds, Michael Sandle, Birgit Skiöld and William Tillyer, all of whom had been working at Print Workshop; other exhibitions include, Birgit Skiöld-Bird och hennes Print Workshop, Konstnärsföreningen, Västerås, Sweden, 19 November – 4 December; Print Workshop Exhibition, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington; British Printmaking - Contemporary Directions, Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A, 9 November - 1 December; A Small Self-Portrait, Art Core Gallery, Kyoto; The Cleveland 3rd International Drawing Biennale, Middlesborough Art Gallery; also, 5 Grafiktriennalen, Göteborgs Kunstmuseum, Gothenburg 19 March - 30 April, at which she showed Raked Garden Square I,II, and III, 1976. She was teaching at Morley College, Wimbledon Collage of Art and the . She began to explore the medium of film with the assistance of the artist Nancy Petry.

43 See BSMT 143 1967 and not to be confused with another print with that title: BSMT 1156 1974 44 There was a review in the Yorkshire Post 15.9.77. 45 A review mentions works shown, see, ‘Peintures, photographies et gravures de Birgit Skiöld au Centre Culturel Suedois’, review of exhibition, Oeuvres Récentes, Paris, 26.11.77 - 7.1.78, in, Nouvelles de l’Estampe Jan- Feb 1978 No 37

In 1978, Skiöld held one-person exhibitions: Birgit Skiöld - Recent Paintings and Drawings at Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm, 18 November - 6 December, supported by the British Council, (she also showed her photographs); Photographs of Zoshigaya Cemetery, Tokyo, at Camden Arts Centre, London,19 July - 9 August, (her first one-person show of photographic work, inspired by a poem by James Kirkup on visiting the graves in Zoshigaya Cemetery). She had photographed the subject in 1976 and then again, on a return trip in 1978.46; also, she showed Print Workshop Pimlico Press productions at, Original böker, grafik - Birgit Skiöld och Pimlico Press, Konstbibliofilen, a specialist collectors’ bookshop, Stockholm, in March; also in Tokyo in October/November. She exhibited at the, Royal Academy Summer Show, Royal Academy, London; The Mechanised Image (curated by Pat Gilmour), Arts Council of Great Britain; Drawings by Members of the PMC, Jordan Gallery, London; The Art of Printmaking, Campbell and Franks, London; Print Workshop Exhibition, Lawrence University, Appleton, U.S.A.; Circle Press, (1966-1977), University of Surrey, Guildford 31 January – 24 February; and, 4 Norsk Internasjonal Grafikk Biennale, Fredrikstad. Skiöld and Peter Bird spent 4 weeks in Tokyo and Kyoto in May -June, during which time Bird lectured on British Modern Art and Skiöld investigated Japanese paper-making villages. She published a booklet of photographs: Sea Pieces, Pimlico Press, Edition 500. Her new bookwork, Scenes from Sesshu, 1977 Edition 50, was on show towards the end of 1978, at the Curwen Gallery. She was teaching printmaking at Chelsea School of Art. Skiöld was working on a series of acrylic paintings on canvas during 1978.

In 1979, Skiöld held one-person exhibitions: Birgit Skiöld - Graphics, Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury, Suffolk 14 July-12 August; Birgit Skiöld - Relief Prints, Oxford Gallery, Oxford 29 May-27 June; Birgit Skiöld, Heian Gallery, Kyoto, in June Birgit Skiöld, Heian Gallery, Kyoto, in June (she showed her Zoshigaya photographs and other new prints); Zoshigaya, Tokyo -Photographs by Birgit Skiöld - Poems by James Kirkup, Hester van Royen, Gallery, London, in August;. She exhibited at the, Royal Academy Summer Show, Royal Academy, London; 14 Artist’s Portfolios at Graffiti, Graffiti Gallery, London; The Cleveland 4th International Drawing Biennale, Middlesborough Art Gallery; 13 Biennale of Graphic Art, Ljubljana,

46 See James Kirkup, The Body Servant 1971 J.M.Dent. Skiöld has hoped for a co-publication with Kirkup along the lines of word and image. The Camden Arts Centre exhibition is reviewed by William Packer: Financial Times, 2 August 1978. See also Rees Roberts’s review, ‘Camden Arts Centre, Birgit Skiöld photographs of Zoshigaya Cemetery in Tokyo’, Art Monthly No 19 September 1978 p.22

Yugoslavia; Pimlico Press at the Redfern Gallery, Redfern Gallery, London 10-31 July.47 Skiöld’s bookwork, The Tao of Water, Edition 200, Circle Press was published. In May-June, Skiöld visited the Kochi, Gifu, Ibaraki and Saitama prefectures, Japan, to study handmade paper-making for the book, Handmade Paper Today, with the support of a grant from the Japan Foundation.48She was teaching printmaking at Chelsea School of Art. Skiöld rented an additional private studio space at Wapping and was working on a new series of acrylic paintings.

Last Years In 1980, Skiöld exhibited work at: 5 Norsk Internasjonal Grafikk Biennale, Fredrikstad; Grafiktriennalen, Stockholm; and at the, International Impact Art festival ’80, Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto. Her bookwork was included in, The Ambience of the Book – Recent Artistic Book Forms, Syracuse University, Joe & Emily Lowe Art Gallery, School of Art, College of Visual & Performing Arts, U.S.A. 4 May - 6 September 1980 (Tao of Water cat no 27). She attended the International Conference of Hand Papermakers, Boston, U.S.A.; and taught a 3 week Graphic Art-workshop at the Summer Academy Umeå, Sweden, 30 June – 20 July (with Terry Frost who taught the Painting workshop). She created tape-slide sequences using her own photographs of Japanese Temple gardens.49 Skiöld and Silvie Turner were preparing a book on handmade paper, which was to be a joint publication. Skiöld worked on her paintings at her Wapping Studio. She experimented with handmade paper making at Print Workshop from September to December, and in December worked on Xerox prints.

In 1981, Skiöld showed her black and white photographic sequences of Japanese coastal villages, along with new work of pastoral landscapes in the Tarn-et-Garonne area of S.W. France, made using a standard format camera with a tripod, She exhibited at, A Sense of Place: Fragments France - Japan: Photographs by Birgit Skiöld, Camden Arts Centre, London, 17 June - 6 July. She also showed her video sequence of Japanese garden images. She exhibited 6 etchings at the, BNZ Art Award, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington; the 14 Biennale of Graphic Art, Ljubljana, Yugloslavia, International Impact Art Festival ’81, Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto; and Art and the Sea, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (touring). She worked on

47 Pimlico Press print folders were produced for, Frank Connelly, Adrian Heath, Lizzie Cox and Roger Palmer, all Ed 50 1976; and for Yoshisuke Funasaka Ed 50 1977, Dave King Ed 50 1977, Skiöld Ed 25 1978, and Katsuro Yoshida 1978, 48 This was with Sylvie Turner, see, Turner, Sylvie & Skiöld, Birgit, Handmade Paper Today, A worldwide survey of mills, papers, techniques and uses, Lund Humphries, 1983 49 Information from her correspondence with Pam and George Olson, 14.8.81 V&A AAD/1997/18/BSMB I d 1 of 3. The stills were transferred to video in 1981: Japanese Pieces V&A AAD/1997/18

paintings and drawings in her new rented studio at Charlton, Greenwich. She experimented with colour-xerox transfer prints (in the winter of 1980-81).50 She gathered more photographic material at Newlyn Harbour, Cornwall, and at Monet’s Garden, Giverny, which she visited in July. She taught lithography to Sotheby’s students at her studio. Her xerox print, Sea Pieces II, was published in: A Printmakers’ Council Portfolio, 10 prints 51 x 66 cms including work by, Gross, Hermes, Piper, Rothenstein and Trevelyan, Ed 75 8 A/P £300.

In 1982, Skiöld’s plans for new work in January-March were thwarted by illness. Her last drawings and sketches were for an aquatint titled Horizon. Another late print, Horizon, Woolavington 1982 (unlimited edition) (BSMT 33) was produced with the help of her printers. Skiöld died on 31 May 1982. She was buried at Chiswick Old Churchyard, London. The obituaries were personal, moving reminders of the sudden loss she represented to the printmaking community; for William Packer she was, “a painter, a printmaker of distinction and finesse, and latterly a photographer of increasing stature”; for Michael Sandle there was both affection and great respect. 51

Skiöld had planned a one-person exhibition at Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm, which was held posthumously, curated by Peter Bird with the assistance of Frank Connelly, Birgit Skiöld - Paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, 25 September - 13 October. Prints were shown at, The Xerographers Gallery Summer Show ’82, Xerographers Gallery, Brixton, London, 19 June – 3 July, (for instance, Horizon – Sea Shore, xerox and pencil 1982); also, Painter-Printmakers,1982, West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, 17 November – 9 December; other artists included, , Brian Perrin, Michael Kidner and Stephen Buckley.

Postscript In 1983, the BSMT published: A Tribute to Birgit Skiöld (3 Vol boxed set) with prints from 118 artists, (Ed 25), Pimlico Press, organised with the help of Sylvie Turner; also, Handmade Paper Today by Silvie Turner and Birgit Skiöld, was published by Lund Humphries. Around this time the 2 vol boxed set, Graphic Work, was produced at Print Workshop. There is a complete set held in the V&A collection but the project was incomplete.

50 For an explanation of the phenomenon of xerography see: http://www.plagiary.org/copy-this.pdf 51 William Packer, Financial Times Tuesday 8 June 1982, Packer noted particularly, her generosity to others in the help she gave to people’s careers as well as development as artists. He felt her truest memorial was the contribution she made through Print Workshop; Michael Sandle, Art Monthly, September 1982 p. 20, Sandle described the atmosphere of Print Workshop as one of “beneficent sanity” and made almost all of his prints there. He admired her exemplary craftsmanship.

Posthumous exhibitions in 1983 include: Birgit Skiöld and her Friends, Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Birgit Skiöld - Drawings, Galleria Grafica. Tokyo; Birgit Skiöld, Heian Gallery, Kyoto; and, Landscape Prints, at, The Gallery, Brighton Polytechnic, 6-20 January 1983, and, Prints 83, A Printmakers’ Council Great Britain Exhibition, Gallery 7, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1 – 29 October, (a tribute exhibition). In 1984, a number of posthumous exhibitions were held: Birgit Skiöld - Last Prints, Oxford Gallery, Oxford; Birgit Skiöld Memorial Display at Eighth International Print Biennale, Cartwright Hall, Bradford; British Artist’s Books, Atlantis Gallery, London (which featured The Tao of Water 1979 Circle Press); and the retrospective: Birgit Skiöld Memorial Exhibition Paintings Drawings Prints Artist’s Books Photographs1958-1982, Camden Arts Centre, London, in June, and Cartwright Hall, Bradford, in the autumn; also, Grabados Britannicos Contemporaneos 1934-1984, The British Council, Valparaiso

In 1985, the Birgit Skiöld Memorial Exhibition Paintings Drawings Prints Artist’s Books Photographs1958-1982, was held at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. In 1987, Peter Bird organised, Birgit Skiöld Prints Drawings Paintings 1972- 1982, at, Saga Scandinavian Art Ltd, London SW3. In 1990, 100 Years Artists and Morley 1890 – 1990, included work by Skiöld.