WILHELMINA BARNS-GRAHAM

Coast to Coast WILHELMINA BARNS-GRAHAM Coast to Coast

LEFT FRONT COVER ABOVE Railings, St Ives Movement A meeting of the Crypt Group, St Ives, 1947. Left to right: , Bryan Winter 1947 Over Sand No. 1 (hidden), , Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Pen and ink (detail) John Wells and Guido Morris. on paper See page 6 12.5 x 11.25 in Photo: Central Office of Information, London 7 Feb – 7 Mar 2015 ilhelmina Barns-Graham had a strong bond with the sea and along Fife and Cornish coasts. The group of paintings Movement over Wto her local coastlines. Born in St Andrew’s, Fife, she split Sand are deeper abstractions of these observations. her artistic life working between her Scottish birthplace and Paintings and drawings that describe natural phenomena were not where, together with and , she often seen outside of the studio. The series Summer Painting created became a founding member of the which went still lifes of the multitude of colours and patterns of beach towels, on to shape and define the British Modernist art movement. Her wind screens, deck chairs, kites, beach balls that were spread along the environments provided her with a limitless inspiration. The beaches, beach outside of her St Ives studio. There were the glorious Atlantic north and south, look out over very different seas (eastwards to sunsets observed from her sitting room; the rock pools; the fishing the North Sea and westwards to the North Atlantic respectively) boats heading out to sea. and have their own characteristics; their colour, shapes, nuances In her last decade, Barns-Graham’s paintings were discovered by and movements. Each day can be surprisingly different to the next. new audiences. Her late paintings are filled with colour and energy, Although best known for a disciplined, highly abstracted imagery, the and contain a joie de vivre that one instantly connects with. The sea initial inspirations often have more mundane origins. and coast contribute greatly to this work though often only identified Drawing was central to Barns-Graham’s early work. She is via the picture titles. Unlike her work from before 1990 the images particularly well known for an extensive series of small scale are less directly descriptive of the actual, and more illustrative of her tightly patterned drawings that examine natural forces. ‘These emotional responses, distilled through the act of her painting. The late extraordinary descriptions of sea forms might be better described flourish extended into making screenprints, a practice that she found as meditative abstractions and reflective imaginings ... This was the particularly exciting in her last years, for its flexibility and creative opportunities. The Eight Lines and Six Lines etchings, inspired by her very “contemplation of sensing out, feeling and understanding” the observations on walking along St Andrews’ East Sands, revisit her earlier particular rhythms of nature of which Barns-Graham wrote “I get at line drawings and so bring us, and her, full circle within the exhibition. the real essence of things, which can be as miraculous as anything devised by the imagination – as in the drama of the sea, the sky can GEOFFREY BERTRAM November 2014 Near Cellardykes, Fife astonish the mind ” ’. 1 They describe the curve, swell, surge, arabesque 1979 Pen, ink and oil on card and linear parallels seen in sea currents and waves, wind and land. 1 Mel Gooding, A Discipline of the Mind: The Drawings of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, They arise from long years of daily observation of the sea and shore exhibition catalogue, The , p.39. 8 x 10.5 in

2 3 Sea Music Sea Sound Series 8 1986 1980 Pen, ink and oil on card Mixed media on board 7.75 x 10 in 15.75 x 10.75 in

4 5 Movement over Sand No. 1 Expanding Forms 1980 1980 Gouache on paper Gouache on paper 19 x 18.75 in 19 x 18.75 in

6 7 LEFT Summer Painting 1986 Gouache on paper 22 x 30 in

RIGHT Fun Day No. 2 1990 Mixed media on paper 7.5 x 9 in

8 9 LEFT RIGHT Shallow Water Porthgwarra Summer Night Porthmeor 1 1989 1988 Gouache on paper Acrylic on paper 22.25 x 30 in 23 x 15 in

10 11 LEFT RIGHT Fun Day No. 4 Untitled 1990 2002 Mixed media on paper Acrylic on paper 7.5 x 10.25 in 8 x 8 in

12 13 LEFT November 1 1991 Silkscreen Ed. 20 21.75 x 25.5 in

RIGHT Eight Lines II 2001 Etching Ed. 75 13 x 24 in

14 15 LEFT Beach 1999 Silkscreen Ed. 75 11.5 x 15.75 in

RIGHT Night Walk Porthmeor No. 2 1996 Acrylic on paper 22.5 x 30 in

16 17 LEFT Summer (Yellow) 1999 Silkscreen Ed. 100 21.25 x 29 in

RIGHT Positive Day 2001 Acrylic on paper 11.5 x 15 in

18 19 WILHELMINA BARNS-GRAHAM CBE HRSA HRSW BELOW: Sketching above Porthgwidden, 1950s Photo: Central Office of Information 1912 - 2004

Selected solo shows 1992 The Royal Cornwall 2002 W. Barns-Graham: A 2009 A Discipline of the Selected bibliography 1999 Elected honorary member of the Royal Scottish Watercolourists (RSW) Museum Celebration at 90, Scottish Mind – The Drawings 1947 Downing Gallery, St. Ives Geoffrey Bertram, ‘Evolution’, exhibition catalogue, Sherborne House, 2000 Honorary Doctorate, Plymouth University 1992-93 W. Barns-Graham at 80, Gallery, Edinburgh of Wilhelmina Barns- 2001 Honorary Doctorate, Exeter 1949 Downing Gallery, St Ives Graham, Pier Arts Centre, 2007 William Jackson Gallery, 2002- W. Barns-Graham: 2001 Awarded the CBE 1949/52 Redfern Gallery, London London, and touring 2004 Painting as Celebration, Stromness, Orkney, and Mel Gooding, ‘A Discipline of the Mind: The Drawings of Wilhelmina Barns- 2003 Honorary Doctorate, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh 1954 Downing Gallery, St Ives to Lillie Art Gallery, Crawford Art Centre, touring Graham’, exhibition catalogue, Pier Arts Centre, Stromness 2009 2011 Colour as Celebration, 1956 Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Milngavie; Abbot Hall St Andrews, and touring Mel Gooding, ‘Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: Movement and Light Imag(in)ing Works in selected public collections 1959/60 Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Art Gallery, Kendal; to: Aberdeen Art Gallery; Bohun Gallery, Time’, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, St Ives 2005 Royal Albert Memorial Royal Cornwall Museum, Henley‑on‑Thames Aberdeen Art Gallery 1968 Richard Demarco Gallery, Museum, Exeter; Dundee Truro; Graves Art Gallery, Mel Gooding, ‘Elemental Energies: the Art of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’, Edinburgh 2012 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: Arts Council of Great Britain, London Art Galleries & Museum, Sheffield; City Art Gallery A Scottish Artist in St Ives exhibition catalogue, Trinity Hall, Cambridge 2007 1970 Sheviock Gallery, Cornwall Birmingham City Museum & Art Gallery Dundee; Wakefield Art and Museum, York; Peter – Centenary Exhibition, Lynne Green, ‘W. Barns-Graham: A Studio Life’, Lund Humphries 2001; Second British Council, London 1971 Majorie Parr Gallery, Gallery Scott Gallery, Lancaster Fleming Collection, edition in paperback 2012 London British Museum, London 1993 Drawings 1945-1992, Art University; Ferens Art London; City Arts Centre, Ann Gunn, ‘The Prints of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham : A complete catalogue’, Gallery, Kingston upon Contemporary Art Society, London 1976 Wills Lane Gallery, St Ives First, London Edinburgh Lund Humphries 2007 1978 New Art Centre, London The Wolf at the Door Hull; Lillie Art Gallery, 2014 In Perspective: The Late Dundee Museum and Art Gallery Milngavie; Hawick Douglas Hall, ‘W. Barns-Graham Retrospective 1940-1989’, exhibition 1981 Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Gallery, Penzance Works, Art First, London City Art Centre, Edinburgh Museum catalogue, City Art Centre, Edinburgh 1989 1982 Crawford Centre, 1994 Art First, London A Survey of Works 1945- Ferens Art Gallery, Hull 2004 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham 1995 Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 1995, Art First at The Professor Martin Kemp, ‘W. Barns-Graham Drawings’, exhibition catalogue, Fleming Art Collection, London St Andrews 1912-2004: A Tribute, Art London Art Fair Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews 1992 Government Art Collection, London Henry Rothschild 1996/7 The National Gallery of First, London Exhibition, Germany Modern Art, Edinburgh 2015 Coast to Coast, Bohun Lynne Green, ‘Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: A Scottish Artist in St Ives’, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museums, Glasgow 2005 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: Gallery, Henley‑on‑Thames exhibition catalogue, Fleming Collection, London 2012 1984 Pier Arts Centre, Orkney 1997 Art First, London Movement and Light Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge The New Millennium Kirkcaldy Art Gallery 1987 Gillian Jason Gallery, Imag(in)ing Time, Tate Awards, prizes and doctorates London Gallery, St Ives Gallery, St Ives Leeds City Art Gallery 1989 Scottish Gallery, London 1998 The Scottish Arts Club, 2006 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham 1993 Vacation Scholarship (Andrew Grant bequest) for study in London Manchester City Art Gallery 1989/90 Retrospective exhibition, Edinburgh Festival (1912-2004), Art First, 1934 Maintenance award, Edinburgh College of Art Michigan University Museum, USA touring: Newlyn Art 1999 The Wilhelmina Barns- London 1935 Vacation award for one month study in Paris New South Wales Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia Graham Exhibition, The Gallery, Penzance; City Art 2008 David Krut Projects, New 1936 Maintenance award, Edinburgh College of Art Pier Art Centre, Stromness McGreary Gallery, Brussels York Centre, Edinburgh; Perth 1940 Maintenance award to work in Cornwall Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Museum and Art Gallery; 1999- An Enduring Image, Tate An Adventure in 1945 St Austell Brewery prize for landscape Sheffield Art Gallery Crawford Art Centre, 2000 Gallery, St Ives Printmaking, Bohun St Andrews; Maclaurin Art 2001 W. Barns-Graham Prints, Gallery, Henley‑on‑Thames 1951 St Ives Festival prize for painting Tate Gallery, London Gallery, Ayr Exeter University 2009 Order and Disorder, 1955 Italian Government travelling award Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1992 Crawford Art Centre, St Ives Past and Present, Paintings 1965-1980, 1992 Honorary Doctorate, St Andrew’s University Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester St Andrews New Academy Gallery Art First, London 1999 Elected honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) Wolverhampton City Art Gallery

20 21 Water Dance (Porthmeor) No. 1 2004 Silkscreen Ed. 70 22 x 22 in

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