Solo exhibition by post-war British landscape painter Yasmin David (1939- 2009).
Although Yasmin exhibited briefly at the Mall Galleries early in her career, after marrying, moving to Devon and raising a family, she chose not to exhibit publicly. Yet over more than fifty years, Yasmin created a deeply personal, luminous body of work, largely unseen during her lifetime.
The works remained hidden for decades. After her death, her daughter, filmmaker Clio David, discovered hundreds of previously unknown paintings, drawings, notebooks and poetry — material which has since been brought to light through exhibitions, archiving and scholarly work.
Yasmin lived and worked in South Devon for over fifty years. Her work explores the particular light and landscape near her home on the edge of Dartmoor. One of the few women working in landscape during the post-war period, David produced paintings which are both intimate and dramatic, emotional and turbulent, capturing the molten qualities of sky and land. They directly reference the unique relationship between the painter and the land.
Yasmin David (1939-2009) was the daughter of Lorna Wishart (neé Garman) the youngest of the beautiful and unconventional Garman sisters, and muse to both Laurie Lee and Lucian Freud. Yasmin was born during Lorna’s affair with Lee. She was named Yasmin as the Y can be seen as two conjoined L’s. She only found out the identity of her biological father at the age of 19.
“The notion of ‘experience’ is key in the post-war period, as the artist’s engagement with landscape is seen as embodied: they appear to live within and amongst the landscape and become fully immersed in it, in a physical, bodily sense. The material and conceptual layering in David’s work, and her personal, evocative journaling of her daily experience, align her work with this interpretation.” Dr Sophie Hatchwell (Art Historian and Lecturer, University of Birmingham)
Thursday 22 October, 12 – 1. Talk: Lara Goodband in conversation with Clio David. £5, booking essential. Free places for 15-25 year olds. SOLD OUT – please call 01404 45006 to join the waiting list.
YASMIN DAVID TALK
Listen to Dr Sophie Hatchwell and Dr Rebecca Savage in conversation about Yasmin David to mark the opening of the exhibition.
Artwork credits: © Yasmin David, (Untitled) Green landscape and Waterfall 1 and 2
