Rose Wiley RA (b. 1934) is a British artist whose practice centres around drawing and painting. Awarded an OBE in Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2018, Wiley combines cartoonish or childlike imagery with elements of previous art movements. Her paintings stem primarily from memory; the result is a powerful work which represents the memories associated with a past event or image.
Here are her words on her series of blackbirds:
"The image was somewhat decided from the beginning using a drawing which was this time a more typical side- view of a bird; one which had evolved from a French 16th century woodcut. I added a 'cut' of wood and garden hawthorn leaves for props and a worm for fun. The flowers are slightly unusual, very dark purple star-shaped periwinkles, forget-me-nots, and a spring-flowering-bush with small yellow flowers. These are not 'swiped' from history, but are all from the garden. The line-up in groups of the periwinkles was suggested by the individual way they appeared in their dark green leaves, an arrangement which is very different from how forget-me-nots grow."
Blackbird with Hawthorn Leaves, 2015 will be on sale from the 8-15 October 2021 as part of the Sotheby’s Online Contemporary Art Day Auction along with works donated by Jadé Fadojutimi, Anish Kapoor, Vera Lutter, Jessica Rankin, Bob and Roberta Smith, Gavin Turk and Rose Wylie.
To view the works and register to bid visit the Sotheby’s auction page here.
- Written for Art For Your World by Monica Koulakoglou
