Sandra Blow

Sandra Blow was one of the pioneers of British abstract painting, particularly gestural expressive abstraction. She introduced a new expressive informality into British art, often incorporating discarded, everyday materials alongside traditional paint. Her large-scale, abstract collages made from found materials became a defining feature of her work. 

Blow studied at St Martin’s School of Art (1941–46) and the Royal Academy Schools (1946–47). It was during this time that she encountered the Italian artist Alberto Burri, whose influence led her to incorporate humble materials, like sackcloth and tar, into her abstract compositions. Upon her return to London in 1950, Blow began to assert herself artistically, establishing a calligraphic style in sensitive landscape drawings and a dynamic, gestural approach to material in her paintings. 

Alongside producing paintings in the capital for over four decades, she also developed an important connection with Cornwall, which deeply influenced her artistic approach. Blow was elected a Royal Academician in 1978. In the later years of her life, Blow relocated permanently to St Ives, where her work evolved into large-scale, elemental canvases, a direction she pursued until her death in 2006.