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Relief Eight
Relief Eight
Relief Eight

Relief Eight

Artist (Wujingfu, Guangdong, China, 1914 - 2009)
Date1980
Mediumdriftwood on canvas board
ClassificationsSculptures
DimensionsOverall: Height: 86 cm, Width: 56 cm
AcquisitionThe Scottish Arts Council Bequest, 1997.
Copyright© The Estate of Margaret Mellis
LocationOn Display - Gallery 17
Object numberABDAG013614
Keywords
About MeAlthough born in China, Mellis moved to Britain as a baby. Later, she attended Edinburgh College of Art where she met Wilhemina Barns-Graham and William Gear. Mellis married Adrian Stokes, a writer and painter, in 1938 and together they moved to St. Ives. The couple invited Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth to stay with them at the outbreak of the Second World War.

It was Ben Nicholson who encouraged Mellis to use collage in order to create difference surfaces and textures within her work. Gradually these collages became structured reliefs consisting of assemblages of driftwood. Mellis left Cornwall in 1946 and after periods in the south of France and Suffolk, she settled in Southwold.

More About Me
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