Wilhelmina Barns Graham

Born in Fife, Scotland Wilhelmina Barns Graham (1912-2004) travelled and studied in Europe during the late 1930s before arriving in St Ives in 1940. Inspired by international abstract trends and her subsequent association with Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and the post-war painters and maker of the Penwith Society, she embarked on a career spanning 64 years. This publication accompanies an important exhibition of selected highlights from the career of this popular St Ives Modernist. It reveals the evolution of a number of key concepts which pre-occupied Barns Graham for more than three decades of her painting career, a period that saw her become regarded as one of Britain's leadng abstract painters. The book will show the quintessential Barns Graham, with special attention given to her Glacier paintings and drawings, and her relationship with the landscape of St Ives. It includes new works made shortly before her death in January 2004. an essay by critic Mel Gooding, takes a fresh view of the artist's diverse oeuvre and discusses her particular relationship to the landscape.