Biography

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

Born in St. Andrews, Fife, Wilhemina Barns-Graham attended Edinburgh College of Art, 1932-37. In 1940 she pursued an Andrew Grant post-graduate travelling scholarship and went to live in St. Ives, Cornwall, which with St. Andrews remained her base. In 1949 Barns-Graham was a founder member of the Penwith Society and became friends with Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Nuam Gabo. A major influence was a visit to Switzerland in 1948 where she fell in love with glaciers as a subject, their transparency combined with their roughness. During the 1960's her work became more conceptually abstract and what can be seen about all of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham's work, whether figurative or abstract is the clarity of the crisp drawing, the immaculate spatial organisation and the strong compositional balance.The earthy colours of her early work reflect the mood of the beach, rocks, lichen and water and later the same subject matter is rendered with an explosive coloured palette. The Arts Council and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art hold her work.