Date of Birth: 1912
Place: St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, UK.
Profession: Artist
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After attending Edinburgh College of Art (1932 - 37), in 1940 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham went to St. Ives, quickly becoming part of the group which included Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth. She was a founder member of the Penwith Society. She travelled regularly over the next 20 years - Switzerland, Italy, Paris, and Spain. With the exception of a short teaching term at Leeds School of Art (1956 - 57) and three years in London (1960 - 63) she has lived and worked in St Ives ever since, with regular stays in St Andrews where, in 1992, she received an Honorary Doctorate from the University. In 1999 she was elected an honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) and the Royal Scottish Watercolourists (RSW); she also received Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter and in 2001 she was awarded the CBE.
Barns-Graham has exhibited consistently since the 1940s and the shows include her retrospective exhibition (1989 - 90), W Barns-Graham at 80 (1992 - 93) both toured to museums around the UK and the major survey exhibition held at the Tate St. Ives (1999). As part of the St Ives Group she has been in all the major survey exhibitions including the significant 1985 St Ives 1939 - 64, at the Tate Gallery, London. In November 2001 Art First had a major exhibition of new work and coinciding with the show Lund Humphries published a study of her life and work.
Barns-Graham is one of the foremost abstract artists in the UK and in her late 80s she is painting as well as ever. Her sense of colour is exceptional. She paints with great conviction and power, and still has the ability to surprise. Her images derive from acute observations of natural forms and places she has visited, pared to their bare essentials. Her paintings can be found in public collections throughout the UK including Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Arts Council of Great Britain, British Museum, the Tate Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, Leeds and Manchester City Art Gallery.
An active participant in RWA life for many years, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham passed away in February 2004.
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