Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

Went to a Curator’s Tour of the nice show at the Fleming Collection last night.A good range of pictures from her long working career is on display.To my taste the earlier stuff was the more interesting;the later descent into abstraction being less easy to like,although her powerful use of colour was notable throughout.She moved to St Ives quite early in her career and stayed there quite a long time,being drawn back to Scotland after inheriting a large house there.There was an attempt by the Curator to demonstrate her Scottishness as an artist,with suggestions of the influences she had received from that brilliant group of Edinburgh painters just slightly older than her (Gillies,Maxwell and MacTaggart).There was also the occasional hint of influence from the Scottish Colourists.

All in all a good show and an interesting artist.