First-ever Devon showcase of the work of Yasmin David

A solo exhibition in Devon of work by post-war British landscape painter, Yasmin David, will feature at Thelma Hulbert Gallery (THG).

This autumn, THG will present a newly discovered body of work by Yasmin David, among them pieces which were unknown even to her family until after her death.

'The Nature of Light' comprises over 40 key works on canvas alongside drawings, sketches, notebooks and photographs.

Yasmin David (1939-2009) was the daughter of Lorna Wishart (neé Garman) the youngest of the beautiful and unconventional Garman sisters, and muse and lover of both Laurie Lee and Lucian Freud. Yasmin was born during Lorna's relationship with Lee and so named as the Y resembles two conjoined L's.

Living and working at Luscombe in South Devon, she painted prolifically for over fifty years. 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.

Although Yasmin exhibited briefly at the Mall Galleries early in her career, after 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.

David’s work explores the beauty and light of the South Devon landscape near Dartmoor, as well as being a cathartic outpouring of emotional intensity.

Yasmin's daughter, Clio David notes,

She loved to watch the windy, watery, ever-changing light and seasons, which she painted mainly from her memory, but also kept a notebook which she wrote in nearly every day. 6 Jan: Soft, cooler wind from the South-West, rain smelling – sky over the sea pale duck-egg blue washed with yellow – the sea itself murmuring gently, and behind the house (deeply, out of the bushes) a wood pigeon softly bubbling and re-winding down long deep chambers of the inner ear.

Clio has worked tirelessly to bring Yasmin's oeuvre to public attention and critical acclaim. She commented,

I wanted to share her work in Devon, where she lived and painted for fifty years and where the very particular light was a central inspiration. Her paintings are a true homage to the light and landscape she loved.

Dr Sophie Hatchwell, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Birmingham commented,

Yasmin David's paintings belong in the the context of other women artists working in the post-war period, and addressing the theme of landscape.

David's painterly exploration of a personal, physical experience of a particular landscape offers a rich point of comparison with her female contemporaries, who likewise claimed and interrogated their own intimate connection to the land.

Gemma Girvan, THG Curator said,

We hope this exhibition will open up the debate around under-recognised female artists, including our gallery's namesake Thelma Hulbert, and help bring the work of Yasmin David to wider public attention so it can receive the critical recognition it so deserves.

A coordinating programme of talks and workshops accompanies this exhibition including:

Saturday 12 September