It’s great to see Paule Vézelay being given overdue recognition in a solo exhibition, but neither she nor her obscure friend Marlow Moss was the first British abstract artist (Major show to celebrate UK’s forgotten female trailblazer of abstract art, 24 December).
Your report implies that it all began with these two in 1928, preceding Barbara Hepworth and (the mostly non-abstract) Henry Moore by several years. But 15 years earlier, immediately before the first world war, Wyndham Lewis (admittedly a sexist so-and-so) and Edward Wadsworth were producing uncompromisingly, even explosively, abstract paintings. To these we might add David Bomberg and at a pinch Vanessa Bell, even if her abstraction was intended for Omega workshop craft designs. Your article “abstracts” too many figures who got there before Vézelay.
Dr Mark Stocker
Christchurch, New Zealand
• Interesting to read that Paule Vézelay might be getting the recognition she deserves. I remember when she moved in as our neighbour in Barnes, London, in the early 1960s and going to visit her with my parents. I was totally amazed by seeing her artworks hung all over the walls in every room. My parents had mainly come to look at her new loft conversion, where she stored many more of her paintings, but my eyes had been opened to a whole new world of art.
My parents’ interest stopped with the impressionists, but here was something very different. I should also add that I also learned from subsequent meetings what a strong and radical person she was, not just in her art but also in her politics and feminism. I am looking forward to going to see the exhibition. It will bring back interesting memories.
Charles Jackson
Brighton
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
