July 2019 — November 2019
Linear Meditations: Wilhelmina Barns-Graham
Representing water in a variety of forms, from glaciers to seascapes, this exhibition takes a mindful interpretation of the fluid movement of energy, water, and lines. Having spent the majority of her life near the sea, from her birthplace of Fife to her adopted home on the shores of St. Ives, the artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham captures extraordinary meditative abstractions that comment on the flowing power of water to both calm and captivate.
Earlier this year, Imperial Health Charity, the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and Paintings in Hospitals devised a project to work with an emerging curator on an exhibition that would support the curator’s development and show Barns-Graham’s art to a new audience. We are delighted to work with Briana Oliver on Linear Meditations, who selected this thoughtful presentation. This exhibition will be touring to three sites across the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and then nationally through Paintings in Hospitals’ network.
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, known as to many as Willie, was a leading member of the St Ives School of Art and an influential modern British artist. Her career spanned over six decades and broke stylistic boundaries. During her mid to late career, from the 1960s until her death in 2004 at the age of 91, Willie produced a variety of abstracted paintings and prints that were not limited to any literal or abstracted style. This exhibition explores the use of lines and linear forms Barns-Graham employed during this stage of her career to express the movement of water. Since her death, Willie’s work has enjoyed significant attention, confirming her place as a major contributor to the advancement of British Abstract Art in the 20th century.
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Read more about the exhibition on the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust website.
Image credit: Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Line Series, 1983. Courtesy Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust.
