I have contributed an essay to the major forthcoming book, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: The Glaciers, which will be published by Lund Humphries on 7 October 2024.
Grindelwald Glacier
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004) is arguably best known for a sustained body of work that she made following a visit to the Grindelwald Glacier in Switzerland in 1949. The resultant approximately 100 paintings and works on paper, made between 1949 and 1994, established her reputation as a pioneer of British Abstraction.
(as featured on the cover of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: The Glaciers)
oil on canvas, 60 x 72cm
Southampton City Art Gallery: Bequeathed by Dr David and Liza Brown 2002
(c) Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust
Into the Vortex
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: The Glaciers consists of texts by Rob Airey who is Director of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust (WBGT), the author Holly Corfield Carr, the film-maker Mark Cousins, the poet Alyson Hallett, Tilly Heydon of the WBGT, the art historian Martin Kemp, the glaciologist Peter Nienow and Cassia Pennington of the WBGT, as well as my essay titled ‘Into the Vortex: The Glacier in Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s Work’.
wool, cotton and linen on cotton warp, 180 x 99 cm
Woven by Louise Trotter, Ben Hymers and Elaine Wilson
All Angles at Once
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: The Glaciers will be launched at the British Art Fair in London, where I will be in conversation with Rob and Alyson on Saturday 28 September 2024. The launch will take place amidst the WBGT’s presentation of her work called All Angles at Once, which will include a tapestry woven at Dovecot Studios after Barns-Graham’s Glacier Ice Face painting. Please join us there!
Barns-Graham is one of my favourite artists so you will find lots about her on this website. You could start with this blog about her relationship with Barbara Hepworth, this article about her work in the 1940s and this feature about her work in Pallant House Gallery.
