Paule Vezelay: Living Lines is curated by Simon Grant on behalf of the Royal West of England Academy, and will open on 25 January 2025.
Bristol’s Pioneer of Abstract Art
Paule Vézelay, born Marjorie Watson-Williams in 1892, grew up in Clifton, Bristol. Her family home on Rodney Place, which survived the bombings of WWII, remains a private residence today. In a full-circle moment, its current owner is lending one of Vézelay’s works to the RWA’s landmark exhibition dedicated to this trailblazing artist.
As a student at Clifton High School, Vézelay was as energetic on the hockey and cricket fields as she was in her creative pursuits. Outside the classroom, her father, a specialist doctor, would take her on trout-fishing trips across Somerset. These outdoor adventures, combined with the rolling landscapes of her surroundings, left a lasting mark on her art, which often celebrated natural forms and organic shapes.
Aged 18, Vézelay began studying painting and etching at the Bristol School of Art, located in the RWA building. It was clear from the start that she had talent to spare. Early in her career, she found inspiration in the bustling cultural life of the city. The grand Bristol Hippodrome, then newly opened in 1912, captured her imagination. Her 1918 watercolour of the Hippodrome, on loan from the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, will feature in the RWA exhibition alongside other drawings and prints of performers and audiences.
In 1926, Vézelay took a bold leap, leaving Bristol for the artistic epicentre of Paris. Reinventing herself, she adopted the name Paule Vézelay to mark her new beginning and fully immerse herself in the international art scene. There, she thrived, holding solo exhibitions and moving in the same circles as cultural icons like Hemingway, Kandinsky, Sonia Delaunay, and Alexander Calder. Her move to abstraction was pioneering, cementing her place in art history.
When WWII broke out, Vézelay reluctantly returned to Bristol to care for her elderly mother. Despite the upheaval, she continued to contribute, securing a permit from the War Artists Advisory Committee to document wartime Bristol in drawings and photographs. Her sketches of bombed-out buildings and the twisted metal of the Blitz capture both the devastation and resilience of her hometown. She was also fascinated by the curious shapes of barrage balloons, which she once described as “tough monsters.”
Vézelay’s wartime contributions didn’t stop at art. With help from Frome MP Mavis Tate, she founded the first branch of the Women’s Defence Corps in Bristol after the central War Office had dismissed women’s offers to help. It’s a testament to her determination and pioneering spirit.
Uncompromising and clear-sighted in her artistic ambitions, Vézelay continued to push artistic boundaries throughout her long career. Somewhat forgotten and left out of the art history books in recent years, there is no better place to revive and celebrate the work of Vezelay than her home town of Bristol. The upcoming RWA exhibition celebrates her extraordinary life, featuring sixty works produced over a seven-decade career with from collections as far-reaching as Tate and as close to home as her family residence on Rodney Place.
ENDS
For press information please contact:
Hemali Modha | RWA Marketing Manager | hemali.modha@rwa.org.uk
Kitty Malton | +44 7514 803577 | kitty@sam-talbot.com
Notes to Editors
Exhibition details
Paule Vezelay: Living Lines is curated by Simon Grant on behalf of the RWA (Royal West of England Academy), Bristol. The exhibition will tour to Towner Eastbourne from May to August 2025. It is accompanied by the first comprehensive publication on Paule Vézelay, edited by Simon Grant and published by Lund Humphries in January 2025. Jennifer Higgie writes: “A fascinating book about a fascinating life! Beautifully illustrated and written, this long overdue study of Paule Vézelay’s seven-decade career as an artist and textile designer makes clear how central she was to the development of abstraction in both France and England.” The book features new contributions by Grant as well as Gemma Brace, curator, writer, and head of exhibitions at Arnolfini, Bristol; Helen Janecek, art historian and former health service administrator; Sarah Wilson, art historian, curator and Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Courtauld Institute; and Nina Gioria, a masters student at the École du Louvre in Paris.
Catalogue supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Paule Vézelay: Living Lines
Saturday 25 January – Sunday 27 April 2024
Press Day: Friday 24 January
Admission: £9.90 day ticket, £18 Annual Art Pass for one year’s unlimited entry to RWA exhibitions
Tickets for Paule Vézelay: Living Lines also grant entry to the parallel exhibition, RWA Biennial Open 2025: Paper Works.
About the Royal West of England Academy
The RWA is a renowned art gallery promoting visual arts through exhibitions, education, and collaboration. Situated in the heart of Bristol since 1858, the RWA has a rich history of supporting and showcasing innovative and thought-provoking works by both emerging and established artists. Visit www.rwa.org.uk for more information.
About Paule Vézelay
Paule Vézelay (born Marjorie Watson-Williams) grew up in Bristol and studied painting and etching at the Bristol School of Art 1910 to 1912, before moving to London where she studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and the London School of Art. By the 1930s she became a central figure within the Parisian avant-garde, joining the group Abstraction-Création in 1934 and exhibiting in several significant pioneering exhibitions of non-figurative art in France, Italy and the Netherlands. In 1939 Vézelay returned to England, but continued to exhibit regularly in France after the war. In England, she almost disappeared from public view until the Tate Gallery retrospective exhibition of her work in 1983. Her work is represented in museums and public collections in Britain and abroad including Tate; the British Museum; the Imperial War Museum; the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; the Kunstmuseum, Basel; the Australian National Gallery; and the Arts Council of Great Britain.
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