Image credit: Tirzah Garwood, Hornet and Wild Rose, 1950, oil on canvas. Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne (Image courtesy of Fleece Press/Simon Lawrence).
We are delighted to share that the first retrospective exhibition of British artist and designer Tirzah Garwood (1908 – 1951), Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious, has now opened at Dulwich Picture Gallery.
About
Tirzah Garwood started her artistic career in 1925 under the tutelage of Eric Ravilious, a great exponent of wood engraving. Just a year later, one of her pieces was accepted by the Society of Wood Engravers which gained her critical acclaim in The Times. In 1928, she moved to London where she obtained commissions from the BBC and Curwen Press. Garwood and Ravilious married in 1930 and they went on to have three children. Whilst bringing up her young family, Garwood experimented with materials, creating quilts and clothes – her interest in surface texture having already been explored in her wood engravings and would appear again by interweaving fabrics into her paintings. She also started to create marbling designs which were sold to design shops and publishers. In 1950, at just 42 years old, she went into a nursing home for the last year of her life whilst her health declined due to terminal cancer. She described it as the “happiest year” as she no longer had responsibilities and used this time to create beautiful oil paintings, taking inspiration from flora and fauna, and Victorian children’s books.
The exhibition
Tirzah Garwood: After Ravilious is the first retrospective of Garwood’s works. The exhibition showcases over 80 of her pieces from early wood engravings to box-framed house constructions, naïve-style paintings, her work with fabric and a fantastic collection of her oil paintings (many from private collections which are being seen by the public for the first time).
The exhibition is beautifully curated by James Russell who explains: “Tirzah Garwood found her subjects in the everyday world around her, from members of her family to pets, insects, toys and buildings. Whatever her clear gaze rested on, her playful imagination and skill in technique and composition transformed into something strange, magical and utterly captivating. Curating this exhibition has been like opening a box of treasures.”
The exhibition includes family activities to encourage discussions with younger visitors. There is a fantastic programme of talks, workshops, tours and special events, too.
The exhibition runs until 26 May 2025.
Getting there
Dulwich can be reached by taking the Victoria line from Green Park to Brixton station, where you will take the P4 bus to the gallery.