17 Facts About Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham CBE was one of the foremost British abstract artists, a member of the influential Penwith Society of Arts.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham moved near to where a group of modernist artists had settled, at Carbis Bay, including her College friend, Margaret Mellis, and Mellis's husband Adrian Stokes.

In 1942 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham became a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists, in which she exhibited with every year, and the St Ives Society of Artists.

The 1940s were an active time for the St Ives Society of Artists who received a number of invitations to send exhibitions and groups of works to galleries in the UK and abroad, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham's work was always included in these as the Society's secretary, Borlase Smart, thought highly of her work.

In May 1949 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham was invited to accompany the Brotherton family on a trip to the Grindelwald Glacier in Switzerland.

In 1950 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham's painting Upper Glacier was purchased by the British Council, this was her largest sale she had made so far and the following year the work was included in Herbert Read's book Contemporary British Art.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham's work was increasingly being included in London exhibitions such as the Leicester Galleries Artists of Fame and Promise and the inaugural exhibition at the new Institute of Contemporary Arts premises.

In 1951 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham's work was included in international exhibitions such as the Biennale de Peinture de France, where Wilhelmina Barns-Graham was one of only eight British artists invited to contribute.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham travelled extensively in the 1950s, often with her husband David Lewis.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham visited the Scilly Isles, Paris, Italy and Sicily, and Spain, including the Balearic Islands.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham received honorary doctorates from the University of St Andrews in 1992 and later from the universities of Plymouth in 2000, Exeter in 2001 and Heriot Watt Universities in 2003.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham's work is found in several major public collections in Britain.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham died in St Andrews on 26 January 2004.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham is buried by the western wall of the Eastern Cemetery, not far from the cathedral.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham bequeathed her entire estate to The Barns-Graham Charitable Trust, which she had established in 1987.

From as early as the age of eight Wilhelmina Barns-Graham had been creating abstract shapes with coloured chalks.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham's work is owned by a number of public collections including the Arts Council of Great Britain, Tate Britain, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.