To celebrate the publication of the new edition of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: A Studio Life by Lynne Green, we will be displaying works by the artist to be offered in our forthcoming Modern Made and Prints / Editions auctions in our London gallery at 20 Connaught Street this summer.
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham was born in St Ives in 1912, trained at Edinburgh College of Art and made her name as a pioneer of British abstraction following a move to St Ives in 1940. After inheriting a house outside St Andrews in 1960 she thereafter straddled the art worlds of Scotland and England and became one of Britain’s most significant artists of the twentieth century.
The works on display span the period from 1959, with the painting Strung Forms, Spring, to two acrylic works on paper from the Scorpio Series of 1997. The gouache Burnt Earth of 1960 will be seen in the company of the painting Untitled from the Firth of Forth Series of 1986. The screenprint Untitled of 1991 represents the glorious print-making flourish with which Barns-Graham’s long and prolific career reached its triumphant finale.
2026 is a particularly propitious year for Barns-Graham, with the first major exhibition of her work to be held in the European continent, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: Nature Motion, running at the Museum Belvédère, Heereneveen until 20 September 2026. She will also receive a major retrospective exhibition at Tate St Ives, which opens on 24 October 2026.
Illustrated Top
WILHELMINA BARNS-GRAHAM C.B.E. (BRITISH 1912-2004) | SCORPIO SERIES II, No. 38, 1997
Illustrated Below
WILHELMINA BARNS-GRAHAM C.B.E. (BRITISH 1912-2004) | UNTITLED FROM THE FIRTH OF FORTH SERIES, 1986
WILHELMINA BARNS-GRAHAM C.B.E. (BRITISH 1912-2004) | STRUNG FORMS, SPRING, 1959
