Abstract, Issue 31

Turner: Always Contemporary | Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, until 22 Feb 2026

The Trust is delighted to be lending two Barns-Graham ‘Glacier’ pieces, End of the Glacier Upper Grindelwald, 1949 (gouache and pencil on paper) and the final painting from her extended series of pieces inspired by her trip to the Alps in 1949, Untitled, 1994 (oil on canvas), to the Walker Art Gallery’s ‘Turner: Always Contemporary’. The exhibition marks 250 years since the birth of JMW Turner, and explores both the artist’s own work and his enduring impact on later generations of artists, including Courbet, Monet and Pissarro alongside Bridget Riley, Maggi Hambling and many more, examining Turner’s timeless appeal.

Barns-Graham herself seems to have had a particular interest in Turner in the mid-1970s when she titled one of her distinctive ink and wash line drawings, Breaker (After Turner), 1976, BGT1942. For more information about the exhibition and related events please visit the website here – https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/walker-art-gallery/exhibition/turner-always-contemporary

WBGT Book Sale | Saturday 15 November

Join us at our Edinburgh office for a special one-off book sale on Saturday 15 November from 11am to 3pm. We’ll have a huge range available of WBG books and catalogues (all with a one-day only 20% discount), postcards, posters, greetings cards, prints – including some vintage rarities, as well as some one-off duplicate books, magazines and perodicals from the Trust’s library!

We’ll have a small display of work and refreshments available, so you’ll be able to look at some of Barns-Graham’s art and have a cup of tea while you browse.

Book Sale

Saturday 15 November
11am-3pm

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust | 77 Brunswick St | Edinburgh | EH7 5HS

Next to McDonald Road Tram Stop and short walk from bus stops on Leith Walk and London Road.

Cash or Card | 20% off Books and Catalogues

Barns-Graham by Mary Millar Watt | Scottish National Portrait Gallery, from 6 Dec 2025

In December, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh will exhibit for the first time this recently acquired, and beautiful small portrait of Barns-Graham, painted in watercolour in 1942 by Mary Millar Watt (1924 – 2023). The painting will be shown in the permanent collection The Modern Portrait display. There is also related sketch for the portrait in the Tate Archive.

Millar Watt painted the portrait when both artists were taking classes at the St Ives School of Painting during the War. Twelve years younger than Barns-Graham, Millar Watt was from a family of artists and her mother, Amy, had a studio overlooking St Ives Bay throughout the War and into the 1950s. Mary would go onto to attend the Royal Academy Schools, before settling in East Anglia for the rest of her life. For more information about this remarkable family of artists visit – https://www.wattpop.com/mary-watt-artist

A Special Screening of ‘A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things’ in London | Institute of Contemporary Arts, Sat 8 Nov

What does it mean to truly see nature? Can intentional observation uncover deeper truths about the world and ourselves? And if we begin to see ourselves as part of nature, might that change how we care for it?

A special screening of Mark Cousins’ award-winning, A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things (2024), the latest documentary from the acclaimed filmmaker that dives into the life and art of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, the visionary 20th-century artist who saw the natural world in extraordinary ways, will be hosted at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (the ICA), with an introduction from the esteemed Emeritus Professor in Film Studies at Queen Mary University of London, Annette Kuhn, FBA.

Following the screening, you can join an optional guided tour of some of Barns-Graham’s most iconic works, currently on display at the nearby British Academy.

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things screening, plus tour
Saturday 8 November | 2pm
Institute of Contemporary Arts | 12 Carlton House Terrace | London | SW1Y 5AH

Two recent residencies supported by the WBG Trust

Rebecca Moss completed her 3-month residency at Porthmeor Studios in September. The residency is a partnership between the WBG Trust and the Borlase Smart John Wells Trust, which manages the studio buildings.

Using the residency for a period of reflection and development for future projects, towards the end of the 3 months, working with UV paint, which charges during the day in sunlight and then glows at night, Moss made a glow-in-the-dark mural featuring window frames from paintings by artists associated with St Ives including Patrick Heron, Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Christopher Wood and Barns-Graham! The artist describes ‘…these ghostly windows were nearly invisible during the day, and then at night would slowly emerge and glow green in the dark, resembling mysterious portals – each time slightly different and dependent on the light conditions during the day. The title ‘Starlight’ refers to stars in the sky, which similarly to lost loved ones, are always there, even when you can’t see them.’

A film of Moss talking about her time in St Ives and the residency can be found here.

Sarah Casey, Professor in Fine Art and its Histories at Lancaster University, has recently completed the 6-week Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Research Residency at the British School at Rome.  With funding from the WBGT Trust this residency is focused on allowing an artist time to undertake specific research within the inspiring context of Rome and the British School, which has been based in its remarkable Edwin Lutyens designed building since 1916.Sarah is seen here with a sketchbook drawing she made using earth on site at Chiusure, a site that also absorbed Barns-Graham and where she produced numerous drawings during her visits to Italy in 1954/55.  Sarah has written a detailed blog post about her residency at the BSR which can be found here: https://bsr.ac.uk/meet-the-artists-sarah-casey/

Barns-Graham at Visual Arts Scotland’s The Thread that Pulls | Royal Scottish Academy, 6 Dec 2025 to 2 Jan 2026

In December the Trust will lend Barns-Graham’s painted relief Birsay I 1986, inspired by her visits to Orkney in 1984/85, to Visual Arts Scotland’s winter exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, The Thread That Pulls (6 Dec 2025 – 2 Jan 2026).  The society’s Annual Exhibition offers the opportunity for emerging and established practitioners from the membership of over 1000 artists to showcase new and unseen work and engage with a wider public; to generate debate, to test out and exhibit challenging and ambitious ideas within the context of Scottish and international culture.

Birsay I has been included to mark the Trust’s support for the ‘Linkshouse Residency’, a partnership between VAS, the WBG Trust and the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, which manages the residency centre near Birsay on Orkney.

Charlene Scott undertook the residency this year and wrote ‘The time was also incredibly unique in that there was no expectation of an outcome, I can’t stress how valuable this gentle approach was for me to enable a more holistic experience that will continue to unfold through my practice and stay with me for a long time.’

Barns-Graham in Orkney

This summer, we were fortunate to host Emily Parks, a post-graduate student in Museum and Heritage Studies at the University of St Andrews. Emily completed extensive work in the archive including cataloguing and rehousing a large collection of photographs taken by Barns-Graham while she was in Orkney, and creating a guide to the materials for our website.

Emily also wrote a blog post exploring Barns-Graham’s interactions with the Orcadian poet, George Mackay Brown, which you can read here.

READ NOW

Wilhelmina, Glacier Chasms | Radiophrenia presents: Felicia Atkinson, 23 Nov 2026

French composer Félicia Atkinson will perform a new radiophronic work ‘Wilhelmina, Glacier Chasms’, an electro-acoustic piece for voice, field recordings, fender Rhodes and electronics at the Radiophrenia event at The Glad Café in Glasgow on Sunday 23rd November at 8pm.

“Transparencies, blue and grey, super-positions, free forms, resonance and sustains will infuse in this new electro-acoustic piece dedicated to the XXth century female Scottish painter.”

Tickets can be purchased via Eventbrite to attend the event in person, or you can tune in to the live stream.

Eventbrite: Radiophrenia presents: Felicia Atkinson | Matt Robin Tickets, Sun 23 Nov 2025 at 20:00 | Eventbrite
Felicia Atkinson performance profile: Félicia Atkinson – Radiophrenia
Live stream link: Listen – Radiophrenia

Where to See Willie

Through loans, gifts and permanent collections at partner museums, there are lots of opportunities to see Barns-Graham works across the country this autumn.

One of a pair of Glacier paintings from their permanent collection, Glacier Rock Forms, 1950, is now on display at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Harlow Arts Trust have restaged an exhibition of John Graham’s collection at their Gibberd Gallery in Touch Point – The Graham Collection Re-presented (until 13 Dec). It includes Barns-Graham’s Expanding Forms, Touch Point Series No.7, 1981, a work she exhibited with John Graham at his gallery in Harlow in 1985.

An exhibition highlighting ten pioneers of modern Scottish art at The McManus in Dundee includes their Orange, Black and Lilac Squares on Vermilion, 1968. Border Crossings: Ten Scottish Masters of Modern Art is on until 14 Jun 2026.

Works can usually be found on display in galleries such as City Art Centre, Edinburgh, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, Leeds Art Gallery, The Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Tate St Ives, Penwith Gallery, St Ives and Pier Arts Centre, Stromness.