Mark Cousins' film on Wilhelmina Barns-Graham premieres in Italy
Mark Cousins' documentary 'A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things' about Scottish painter Wilhelmina 'Willie' Barns-Graham (1912–2004) had its Italian premiere at the Torino Film Festival. The film explores her life as a leading modernist of the St Ives group, her synesthetic vision linking numbers and colors, and a transformative 1949 hike on a glacier near Grindelwald, Switzerland. Cousins, who narrates alongside Tilda Swinton reading Barns-Graham's diaries, emphasizes her obsession with form and mathematics. The film won top prize at Karlovy Vary Film Festival and was released in UK cinemas in October.
Key facts
- Film directed by Mark Cousins about Wilhelmina Barns-Graham
- Italian premiere at Torino Film Festival
- Barns-Graham was a Scottish painter (1912–2004) and St Ives modernist
- Film focuses on her 1949 glacier hike in Grindelwald, Switzerland
- Cousins narrates; Tilda Swinton reads diaries
- Won first prize at Karlovy Vary Film Festival
- Released in UK cinemas in October
- Cousins' second artist portrait after 'The Eyes of Orson Welles' (2018)
Entities
Artists
- Wilhelmina Barns-Graham
- Mark Cousins
- Tilda Swinton
- Margaret Mellis
- Barbara Hepworth
- Ben Nicholson
- Naum Gabo
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Orson Welles
- Samuel Barber
- Richard Wagner
- Linda Buckley
Institutions
- Torino Film Festival
- Karlovy Vary Film Festival
- Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust
- Artribune
Locations
- Saint Andrews
- Scotland
- United Kingdom
- Cornwall
- St Ives
- Edinburgh
- Switzerland
- Grindelwald
- Orkney
- Alps
- Italy