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Rocks, St. Mary's, Scilly Isles
Barns-Graham, Wilhelmina, 1953, Oil on board
Rocks, St. Mary's, Scilly Isles
Rocks, St. Mary's, Scilly Isles
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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
Exhibitions with this item
The Seasons
The Sea - Images from the City Art Centre
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Related subjects
Landscape
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Land
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Bays
Landscape
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Land
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Coastlines
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Land
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Rock formations
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Land
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Rocks
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