WORK OF THE WEEK: Gillian Ayres, Green Grow the Rushes, O!, 1990

Gillian Ayres
Green Grow the Rushes, O!
Oil on canvas, 1990
138.1 x 414 x 4.1 cm
4ft 6⅜ x 13ft 7 x 1⅝ in.

‘To me, art – colour in art – is wonderfully indulging… All the painting I’ve liked has always been colour painting. I’ve found that I respond to colour more than anything.’ – Gillian Ayres, 1995.

Gillian Ayres was a celebrated abstract painter and printmaker. Green Grow the Rushes, O! marks a period in which Ayres travelled frequently. In 1990, she travelled to Jaipur at the invitation of the British Council, to paint for the Seventh Triennale-India. Vivacious brushstrokes and vibrant colours are influenced by landscape, mood and environment.

Many titles in her work are used as a linguistic tool, alluding to the mood of a completed painting with themes, including history and music. Green Grow the Rushes, O! references the traditional English folksong of the same name, and speaks of the culture of communal singing and celebration of nature.

I'll sing you one, O
Green grow the rushes, O
What is your one, O?
One is one, and all alone,
And ever more shall be so.

Born in London, Gillian Ayres first exhibited in Young Contemporaries in 1949, and her first solo show was in 1956, at Gallery One, London. She was awarded an OBE in 1986, and in 1991 was elected as a Royal Academician. She was made an Honorary Doctor of English Literature by London University in 1994, and was made a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art in 1996. A major retrospective of her work was held at the Serpentine Gallery (1983), at the Tate (1995) and at the Royal Academy (1997). Her work can be found in numerous important public collections throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; the Museum of Modern Art, Brasilia, Brazil, as well as the Tate, London; British Museum, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

Details from Gillian Ayres, Green Grow the Rushes, O!, 1990