Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

1912

Born in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland.

1932-37

Attended Edinburgh College of Art (tutored by William Gillies and David Foggie).

1940

Awarded an Andrew Grant post-graduate Travelling Scholarship and worked in St Ives, Cornwall which with St Andrews remained her base.

1942

Became a member of Newlyn Society of Artists where she showed annually until 1949.

1942-49

Exhibited annually at the St Ives Society of Artists.

1948

First visited Switzerland.

1949

Founder-member of the Penwith Society. Met and became friends with Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Naum Garbo having already met Margaret Mellis in Edinburgh.

1952

Attended Penzance School of Art to learn etching and engraving.

1955-56

Took up an Italian Government Travelling Scholarship.

1956-57

Taught at Leeds School of Art.

1961-63

Worked at her studio in London before returning to St Ives.

1984-85

Worked in Orkney.

1989-89

Worked in Lanzarote.

1992

Honorary Doctorate, University of St Andrews.

1993

Tate St Ives - Work in changing collection display and throughout following years.

2001

Awarded CBE for Services to Art.

Solo exhibitions include:

1947, 49

Downings Bookshop, St Ives.

1956

The Scottish Gallery: ‘Drawings from Sicily, Italy and S. W. Cornwall’.

1957

City Art Gallery, Wakefield ‘Modern Art in Yorkshire’.

1960

The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh ‘Recent Gouaches & Spanish Drawings’.

1981

The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.

LYC Museum & Art Gallery, Cumbria.

1984

The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney.

1988

Ancrum Gallery, Roxburghshire.

1992-93

William Jackson Gallery - exhibition toured to: Milngavie, Kendall, Exeter, Dundee and Wakefield.

1996

The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.

1996-97

The Sottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh.

1999-2000

Tate Gallery St Ives ‘Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: An Enduring Image’.

2002-04

‘W. Barns-Graham: Painting as a celebration’ toured by the Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews to: Aberdeen, Truro, Sheffield, York, Lancaster, Kingston upon Hull, Milngavie, and Hawick.

Group exhibitions include:

1941, 1944

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.

1942-49

Newlyn Society of Artists.

St Ives Society of Artists.

Penwith Society of Arts, St Ives.

1958, 1960

Waddington Galleries, London.

1959

The John Moores Liverpool Exhibition.

1960

City Art Gallery, Plymouth ‘Painters from Cornwall’.

Arts Council touring ‘Penwith Society of Arts 10th Anniversary Exhibition’.

1962

Arnolfini, Bristol ‘West Penwith Painters & Sculptors’.

1981-83

Scottish Arts Council touring ‘Contemporary Art from Scotland’.

1985

Tate Gallery, London ‘St Ives 1939-64’.

From 1986

Regular exhibitor at Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.

1987-89

South Bank Centre - Arts Council touring ‘The Experience of Landscape: paintings, drawings and photographs from the Arts Council of Great Britain Collection’.

1998-2004

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.

Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, Edinburgh.