SHEILA GIRLING

Sheila Girling (1924-2015) was a British abstract artist who worked across collage, painting, and clay. She trained at Birmingham School of Art, Birmingham (1941-45) and The Royal Academy Schools, London (1947-50).

Museum shows include a joint exhibition, Anthony Caro and Sheila Girling: A 64 Year Conversation About Art, at Peterborough Museum City Art Gallery, Peterborough (2018); a Retrospective exhibition at the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia (2006); Tinder Light at Poole Museum, Poole (2017); and her first major solo exhibition, Watercolour Landscapes, at Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta (1978) - which toured to Calgary Art Gallery, Alberta and Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York; the exhibition Landscape Paintings at the Leighton Centre, Calgary (1989). She was selected to exhibit in the First International Biennale of Contemporary Art, Florence in 1997 and exhibited at the Royal Academy’s Summer exhibition in 1950 and in 2002.

Her work is part of institutional collections, including the Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven; the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona; the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia; the Museum Würth, Künzelsau; and the Royal Collection Trust, London.

Girling’s most recent exhibitions include: The Art and Life of Sheila Girling, Space to Breathe, Bowhouse, Fife (2024); Entwined Spaces, Anthony Caro Centre and Sheila Girling Studio, London (2024); Women in the Abstract, Annely Juda Fine Art, London (2023/4); 50 Years, 50 Artists, Annely Juda Fine Art, London (2018); Sheila Girling (Retrospective Exhibition), Annely Juda Fine Art, London (2015), Sheila Girling, L’Artishe Gallery, Swanage (2012); Sheila Girling - New Works, Maddox Arts, London (2012); Anthony Caro & Sheila Girling: A Perfect Partnership, Gallery K, Nicosia (2010); as well as international exhibitions across Europe and North America. Her early career included a series of solo shows at Acquavella Contemporary Art, New York; and Francis Graham-Dixon, London.

Girling was awarded the Proxime Accessit in the Royal Academy Schools Gold Medal competition for Return of Ulysses (1949-50), as well as the silver medal for portraiture.