SANDRA BLOW, RA (1925 - 2006)

It was with great sadness that I read of the passing of the vibrant St Ives artist Sandra Blow.
There is something difficult to define in one's acquaintanceship with a prominent artist and Sandra was so full of life and laughter until just before she died. She had in the past two years,become an artist whose work was suddenly in greater demand than ever before.
I remember only too well how she agreed to have a joint Exhibition in the Brompton Road with Flavia Irwin RA,in 1997, which helped Flavia in coming to terms with the passing of her husband, Sir Roger de Grey, PRA. William Packer reviewed that show in the most sincere and glowing terms, referring to their complementary styles.
Noel Oddy September 2006
I will also always remember climbing the glass staircase to the P: V of Sandra's 1994 Exhibition in the RA's new Sackler Gallery, sponsored by Silhouette Eyewear and Harpers & Queen. On opening the catalogue, I read "Talent, plus youth and charm launched Sandra Blow in the 1950's - she went to St Martin's at the age of 15."
In his foreword, Royal Academy President Sir Roger de Grey, observed "...she is a single-minded artist, and that is a solitary calling. "
Suddenly, inside the Sackler, cameras were flashing everywhere. Sandra, in a fabulous black and white gown, being photographed in front of her gigantic "Green and White" (later aquired by the Tate), was in her element!
A spectacular evening in a wonderful setting. Sandra had joined the RCA teaching staff in the 60's alongside Roger de Grey and they became firm friends. In his foreword to her Sackler Show he said " her central concerns are space, matter and movement. She works on a grand scale, often taking risks, her mood can vary from the expansive and violent to the delicate, but the clarity of vision behind the works is constant. "
All this remains true today. Occupying a pivotal position in the history of abstract art, Sandra was unquestionably one of the most important twentieth century British painters.
Copyright www.oddyart.com 2007

Works in:
Tate Gallery (3);
Fitzwilliam,Cambridge;
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool;
Victoria & Albert Museum;
Felton Bequest Melbourne;
Arts Council;
Peter Stuyvesant Collection;
Leeds City Art Gallery;
Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York.
Sandra is today an international celebrity, and needless to say she is now more single-minded than ever!
Her 2002 show at the Tate Gallery,St Ives was an indication of the place she occupied in the abstract hierarchy at the beginning of this new century. Noel Oddy 2007

Paintings