Surprise Series No 4
Printer-friendly versionWilhelmina BARNS-GRAHAM
Born St Andrews, 1912-2004
Surprise Series No 4, 2000
Acrylic on arches paper
Purchased 2002 with a 50% NFA grant and 25% Art Fund grant
Museum number 2003-11
One of Scotland's most celebrated abstract painters, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham had a UK wide reputation. She became a leading member of the St Ives School, which came to the forefront of British Art during the 1950s. Her earlier abstract compositions frequently found their origins in landscape.
Surprise Series 4 was painted in the artist's 88th year and exemplifies chance effects and freedom that dominated her late paintings. She said "Now I am in a state of urgency. My theme is celebration of life, joy, the importance of colour, form, space and texture. Brushstrokes that can be happy, risky, thin, fat, fluid and textured."
