wilhemina barns graham

Arts and Culture

1912 - 2004

Suggested by Ginny Button

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham was one of Britain’s most significant 20th century modern artists. Scottish born and a prominent member of the post-war St Ives group, she was a sublime painter, draughtswoman, printmaker and a brilliant colourist. She moved to St Ives from Scotland in 1940 and lived and worked there for most of the rest of her life, following a consistent artistic vision throughout her sixty-five-year career.⁠
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Ginny comments "Barns-Graham pursued a career as an artist in a male dominated art world, making her own contribution to the St Ives School. Over a life time she dedicated herself to producing images that show how making visual art is a form of thinking, a way of knowing and understanding the world. This means a lot to me personally.⁠
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Her story is particularly inspiring for women of all ages. Throughout her long career she overcame many struggles to be recognised alongside her male peers. In her later work she finally found her voice, celebrating her synaesthesia and her unique relationship to colour. Her ground-breaking Glacier series (1949-51) through which she sensed the Alpine landscape as a living organism resonates even more strongly today in the context of climate change."⁠
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