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Bird Flight No. 1

© Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust. Image credit: Government Art Collection

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This painting is characteristic of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham's work since the 1970s, consisting of a play of geometric shapes, primarily circles, placed on a rectangular canvas. The geometric pattern and strong colours interact with each other in ways that explore their formal qualities. Barns-Graham added the titles of her images after they were completed to reflect her feelings while working, rather than restricting herself to a particular idea before starting a painting. Without taking the title too illustratively, we can view the blue discs as individuals within a flock, moving across the canvas. They seem to swoop from an ordered formation into chaos, before reforming as a compromised sense of composure on the right. The artist's early paintings were entirely figurative, but throughout her long career she gradually became more abstract in style.

Government Art Collection

London

Title

Bird Flight No. 1

Date

1971

Medium

oil & acrylic on board & hardboard

Measurements

H 30 x W 37.5 cm

Accession number

17331

Acquisition method

purchased from the Fine Art Society, 1998

Work type

Painting

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Government Art Collection

Old Admiralty Building, Admiralty Place, London, Greater London SW1A 2BL England

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