Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - Hatton Gallery - Newcastle upon Tyne

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

 
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004) was a Scottish artist who became a leading member of the St Ives School of artists. This exhibition - Paths  to Abstraction - at the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne concentrates on her work from 1935-1972.  During this period her work develops from the representational to the abstract.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - The Episcopal Church, Aviemore 1938

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - Sleeping Town 1948

Colour was very important to Barns-Graham.  She often associated a particular colour with people, places, names or letters which was characteristic of her synaesthesia.  The colour red runs through a number of her works...

Wilhelmina Barns Graham - Snow at Wharfedale 1957

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - Red Square 1954

Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham - Artist's Materials etc.

In 1949 Barns-Graham visited Switzerland and the Grindelwald Glacier which had a profound impact on her resulting in the Glacier Series which she continued to paint until the early 1950s. These shows her increasing interest in geometry and her aim to capture the scene in form and colour which continued in her Rock Form Series based on the Cornish landscape...

Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham - Glacier Chasm 1951

Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham - Three Rock Forms 1951

Her notebook and photos from her time in Switzerland were on display...

Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham - Notebook & Photos

In the 1960s, Barns-Graham's work became more abstract featuring squares and circles...

Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham - Untitled 1958

Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham - Assembly of Nine 1964

Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham - In Tension 1968

My favourite painting in the exhibition was "Snow at Wharfedale" and in general the semi-abstract forms of Barns-Graham's work in the 1950s.

Go check it out. It's on until 20 May 1923 so there's still time!