Sandra Blow, R.A.

The Artist
Gimpel Fils, London
Jonathan Clark & Co., London, where acquired by the present owner

London, Gimpel Fils, Sandra Blow, March 1962, cat. no.11, as Painting (probably).

Original canvas. There is slight undulation in the upper left hand corner. There is surface dirt to the work, most noticeable in the white pigment throughout the extreme outer edge. This excepting appears in good overall condition. Ultraviolet light reveals a few isolated flecks of fluorescence in the white pigment in the upper left hand corner in line with probable retouching, as well as further lesser areas extending down the left hand edge. Further spots appear to the upper centre and upper right hand corner, and again in isolated areas down the right hand edge. There appear to be one or two scattered isolated flecks elsewhere to the surface. These are not excessive and have been well executed. Housed in a thin, white-wood box frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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Among the generation of British abstract artists that came to prominence in the post-war period, Blow stands out in her unfaltering commitment to the possibilities of abstraction; a single-minded pursuit evident in the work that formed her long-standing career. Only occasionally  did she make direct reference to material objects, rather it is in terms of their formal qualities that her paintings are to be viewed. ‘She concerns herself primarily with the self-contained problems of “pure” painting such as balance and proportion, tension and scale – “issues that have been important since art began”’ (Interview with Sarah Kent, ‘Artists: Sandra Blow’, in Hayward Annual ’78, exhibition catalogue, p.11).

The simultaneous influences of Alberto Burri and the art of the Italian Renaissance from Blow’s time in Italy in the late 40s have been well documented, the impact of Burri most explicitly seen in the physicality of her 50s collages. By the close of the decade, Blow had met leading Abstract Expressionists in New York and encountered their work at the 1958 Venice Biennale and in London at the Tate and Gimpel Fils. Blow’s absorption of these ideas took time to both develop in her work, and were perhaps not explicitly realised until her definitive Green and White of 1969. However, in Untitled 1962, new ideas and a progression from her earlier pieces can be seen, employing a simpler white ground, thinner paint layers and more expansive structures. The preoccupation with space, matter, movement and balance is paramount, and the gestural curves and flashes of red express a vitality and sense of surprise that is a defining characteristic of Blow’s work.