Wilhelmina Barns-Graham CBE (1912 - 2004)
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Dancing into the Light 30 April to 25 June. We are thrilled to be showing the later screenprint work of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (Willie) in a new exhibition called Dancing into the Light. Our choice of title refers to Willie's confident unleashing of expression in her later years which finally secured her recognition as one of Britain's most significant 20th century artists. It also refers to a series of work called Water Dance Porthmeor (a beach in St Ives, Cornwall where Willie had her studio). Willie said her work was about expressing what she felt as well as what she saw. This work is packed full of movement, balance and colour. Willie had an unusual condition, synthaesthesia, which gave her an instinctive insight into colour through her emotions.
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Summer – Yellow 1999 /Screenprint 23/75 /54.7 x 74cm/£3,050 framed SOLD
Beach 1999/ Screenprint 58/75/ 28 x 40cm/ £1,130 framed SOLD
Orange and Lemon Playing Games II 1999/ Screenprint 49/75 /28 x 40cm/ £1,190 framed
Time Series: Cardinal 2000 /Screenprint 16/70/ 57 x 76cm/
£2,210 framed
Millennium Series: Pink 2000/ Screenprint 70/75 /24 x 30cm/£1,070 framed SOLD
Millennium Series: Red II 2000/ Screenprint 40/75/ 24 x 30cm/£950 framed
Millennium Series: Blue II 2000 /Screenprint 69/75 24 x 30cm/£950 framed
Millennium Series: Green 2000 /Screenprint 13/75/ 24 x 30cm /£840 unframed
Sunghrie III 2002/ Screenprint 36/75/ 57 x 76cm/£1,440 unframed
Celebration at 90 2002/ Screenprint/ 25/70/ 57 x 76cm/ £1,440 unframed
Water Dance Porthmeor 2 2003/4/ Screenprint 1/70 /56 x 56cm/£1,230 framed SOLD
Water Dance Porthmeor 1 2003/4 /Screenprint 1/70/ 56 x 56cm/£1,230 framed
Wind Dance V 2003/6 /Screenprint 19/70/ 56 x 56cm/£1,230 framed SOLD
Construction Series I 2003/6 /Screenprint 9/75/ 56 x 76cm/ £1,200 unframed
Cobalt and Orange Playing Games 2006 /Screenprint 17/25 /29.5 x 40cm /£1,250 framed
Cobalt and Pink Playing Games 2006 /Screenprint 4/25 /29.5 x 40cm/£1,070 framed
Two Elements/ 2006 Screenprint 5/25 /57.3 x 56cm/£1,230 framed
Three Elements 2006/ Screenprint 6/25/ 58 x 76cm/£1,370 framed
Two White Brushstrokes on Black 2006 /Screenprint 2/25/ 56 x 76cm/£1,350 framed SOLD
DriftingTime 2006 /Screenprint 3/25/ 58 x 76cm/£1,370 framed
8 Lines II 2001/ Etching 7/75/ 57 x 76cm/£3,050 framed
6 Lines 2002 /Etching 11/70/ 38 x 58cm /£2,040 framed SOLD
Opening Hours:
Tuesday by appointment (07836 325497) Wednesday, Thursday 11- 4pm Friday, Saturday 10-5pm Contact us at team@galleryeast.co.uk with any enquires. |
Read more: Wilhelmina Barns-Graham was one of Britain’s most significant 20th century artists.
Willie, as she liked to be called, was born just before the First World War in Fife, Scotland and despite less than halfhearted support from her parents took herself to art school in Edinburgh with the help of an aunt who believed in her ambition to become an artist. This aunt, Mary Neish, left Willie her Balmungo House and estate, just outside St Andrews, where Willie was to spend much of her time from 1960 onwards, moving between Fife and the artistic community in St Ives. Willie’s reputation is linked with her better known contemporaries Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Barbara Hepworth, Roger Hilton, Ben Nicholson, Alfred Wallis, and later Sandra Blow. However, it took Willie sometime before she achieved full recognition. Despite being part of the St Ives School Willie was often on the outside and it was not until the late 1980s that her time for recognition arrived and in Willie’s own words she was able to “let rip”. In 1989 she had a solo retrospective exhibition at Edinburgh's City Art Centre and this was followed by two solo exhibitions at Tate St Ives. The works in our current exhibition are from this highly productive period. Our choice of title for this show, Dancing into the Light, refers to this confident unleashing of expression. Willie said her work was about expressing what she felt as well as what she saw. This work is packed full of movement, balance and colour. Willie had an unusual condition, synthaesthesia, which gave her an instinctive insight into colour through her emotions. In 1973 Willie met Rowan James who became her close friend, manager and assistant. She provided Willie with the encouragement and confidence to take her work to a new level. With Rowan’s help, Willie established the Barns- Graham Charitable Trust in 1987 to safeguard her reputation and help understanding of her work. As well as being a landscape abstract artist Willie was an accomplished draughtswoman. She was influenced amongst others by Paul Klee and produced some exceptional drawings and paintings in the decades between 1950 and 1980. Some writers have suggested that Willie’s reputation emerged more slowly than her peers because of this flexibility of style and diversity of output. Willie liked to experiment and could move effortlessly between the figurative and abstract space with the result that her work could not easily be categorised. We think this experimentation is a strength to be nurtured and Dancing into the Light is our acknowledgement of this strength of purpose. By the time Willie died in 2004 she felt she had fulfilled her ambitions. Following significant solo exhibitions she received a number of honorary doctorates from English and Scottish universities and a CBE in 2001. Through the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust she also leaves a strong legacy to inspire contemporary artists. For sales enquires please contact team@galleryeast.co.uk 
Willie at St Ives, 1993. Photo by Anne Purkiss (thanks to Barns-Graham Trust for right to reproduce)
Willie working at Balmungo House, 1992. Photo by Laura Graham (thanks to Barns Graham-Trust for right to reproduce).
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