A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham was an British artist, who, like so many women artists, was treated as being of lesser importance during her lifetime, and has only subsequently been appreciated after her death. Mark Cousins, the wonderful curator of all things cinematic, has created a beautiful film celebrating her life and work, with her epiphany on the Grindelwald glacier in 1949 acting as a kind of pivot into a deeper sense of the meaning of things, and inspiring her glacier paintings for which she is best known. The film, narrated by Cousins and Tilda Swinton, also shows the work she created at an earlier period in St Ives; it is a thing of beauty, subtlety and understanding, combining sound and vision to enhance our appreciation of Barns-Graham’s art and life.

SYNOPSIS: 
Narrated by Tilda Swinton, A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things offers a profound cinematic journey into the life of visionary painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. At 36, Barns-Graham, a rising star in the modernist St. Ives group, experienced a transformative epiphany while climbing the Grindelwald glacier in Switzerland in May 1949. This profound moment rewired her perception and profoundly influenced her art for the rest of her life. The film immerses viewers in her artistic evolution, exploring rich themes such as gender, neurodiversity, climate change, and the nature of creativity from youth to old age.

Details
Run time: 1h 28 min
Certificate: 12A
Director: Mark Cousins
Writer: Mark Cousins
Cast: Tilda Swinton (voice)

Country: UK
Genre: Documentary
Language: English