Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004), was a Scottish painter, one of the principal artists of the St Ives School and an important figure in British modern art.
During our recent project with Tate, we learned more about her work and that her foundation preserved boxes of her studio materials, including many made by Winsor & Newton.
Barns-Graham knew from a young age that she wanted to be an artist. Her formal training began at Edinburgh College of Art in 1931, but in 1940, due to the war, her poor health, and a desire to put some distance between herself and her unsupportive father, she joined other British avant-garde artists in Cornwall.
In St Ives she found kindred people and it was here she discovered herself as an artist. Both Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo became very important figures in her artistic development, and through their discussions and mutual admiration she laid the foundations for her lifelong exploration of abstract art.
In 1949, Barns-Graham took a momentous trip to Switzerland where she climbed the Grindelwald Glacier under the north face of the Eiger. Later she wrote to the Tate about the experience, commenting: “This likeness to glass and transparency, combined with solid rough ridges made me wish to combine in a work all angles at once, from above, through, and all round, as a bird flies, a total experience.”
The trip to Switzerland provided the push needed into abstractionism, as she was at that point, in her own words, brave enough. Barns-Graham’s form of abstract work was always rooted in nature. She viewed abstract art as a journey to the essence, a process of feeling out the truth of an idea, of letting go of "descriptive incidentals" and instead laying bare the patterns of nature. Abstraction, for her, should be firmly based on perception. Over her career the focus of her abstract work shifted, becoming less closely tied to rocks and natural forms and more to mind and spirit, but it was never entirely divorced from nature.
Barns-Graham also took many trips through continental Europe in her lifetime and the geography and natural forms she encountered in Switzerland, Lanzarote and Tuscany returned again and again in her work.
From 1960, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham split her time between St Andrews and St Ives, but her work truly embodied the core philosophy of the St Ives set, sharing its values of modernism and abstraction from nature, of capturing the interior energy of geographical subjects. She had a low profile in the group however; the competitive atmosphere and jostling for advantage left a bitterness in her experiences with the other artists.
In the last few decades of her life Barns-Graham’s work became bolder and more brightly coloured. These works were made with a sense of urgency; they are filled with joy and a celebration of life. Working in acrylic on paper seemed to liberate her. The immediacy of the medium and its quick drying nature allowed her to rapidly layer colours over each other.
Her Scorpio Series demonstrate a life-time’s knowledge and experience of colour and shape. The remaining challenge for her was recognising when a piece was finished, when all the components had come together to make it "sing". Of the series she was quoted as saying: “Anecdotally they are a direct result of punishing a sheet of paper with a flailing brush after a failed interview with a journalist, when suddenly Barns-Graham recognised the potential of the raw material within those furious slashes.”
Find out more about our limited-edition Tate sets, inspired by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and other artists here.
Our Featured Artist: Kelogsloops
Hieu Nguyen, also known as ‘Kelogsloops’, is a watercolor artist based in Melbourne, Australia. His work blends abstract and surreal art styles with anime influences from his upbringing. Since beginning his artistic career, he has adopted and lived by his motto, “be right back, chasing dreams.”
