Sandra Blow RA (English, 1925-2006)

Sandra Blow was a painter and teacher, born in London on September 14th 1925. One of the pioneering artists in British abstraction in the 1950s, Sandra Blow introduced an exciting informality through her work by incorporating cheap, discarded materials such as sawdust, sackcloth and plaster into her painted works. Perhaps, involving in her creative process some of the things she learned from Alberto Burri, whom she met while in Italy in 1947. Blow brings attention to the surface and material essence of her compositions, crafting complex and powerful images instilled with mystery and ambiguity. Responding to the optimism of the 1960s, Blow’s palette lightened, her often large-scale works were speckled with manipulated collage and colourful canvas cut-outs.