Rocks, St. Mary's, Scilly Isles

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

20676

Title

Rocks, St. Mary's, Scilly Isles

Description

The painting is oil on board depicting a large rocky coastal scene. In the foreground is an earthy and naturally coloured group of rocks. In the background the viewer's eye is drawn to the coastline which curves around the waters of the bay. The skyline is shown in a soft blue that gives the impression of sunny clear sky.

Artist / maker

Barns-Graham, Wilhelmina

Date

1953

Size

102.8 x 114.3 cm

Type

Oil on board

Location

City Art Centre

Accession number

CAC1989/73

In 1940 the artist moved to Cornwall. Here Barns-Graham joined forces with the group of artists around the central figures of Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo in St. Ives. After visiting Switzerland in 1948, Barns-Graham became fascinated by the natural formations of glaciers and rock faces. Barns-Graham's work generally lay within the divide between abstract and representation, typically drawing on inspirations from landscape.
From 1940, Graham's pictures were exploratory and tentative as she began to develop her own method and visual language.
This painting dates from one of her most productive periods and displays a fine balance between formal composition and the description of natural textures and colours of a sun-drenched rocky shoreline.
One of the most significant influences on Graham's work at this time was Naum Gabo, who had joined the St Ives group after the outbreak of the second world war. Gabo, who was interested in the principle of defining forms in terms of space rather than mass, influenced Graham's perspectives on the formation of shapes and space.

By permission of the Barns-Graham Charitable Trust

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Related subjects

Landscape > Land > Bays

Landscape > Land > Coastlines

Landscape > Land > Rock formations

Landscape > Land > Rocks