Dame Phyllida Barlow, described by the Guardian as “one of the art world’s most celebrated late starters”, has died aged 78.
The artist was best known for her large-scale sculptures and installations, often made from modest materials including cardboard, plywood or polystyrene. She represented Britain in the Venice Biennale in 2017.
Almost as remarkable as her artworks was her biography. Barlow rose to international prominence as a sculptor only after retiring in 2009 after four decades teaching art. Her career included 20 years as a professor at the Slade School of Fine Art, where her students included Rachel Whiteread, Tacita Dean and Monster Chetwynd.
Though she had been making her own art throughout her teaching career, Barlow’s first major show at a public gallery was not until the following year at the Serpentine. Presentations at the New Museum in New York and the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas followed, and she was commissioned to create the site-specific exhibition “dock” for the Duveen Galleries of Tate Britain in 2014. Barlow became a Royal Academician in 2011 and was made a dame in 2021.
In 2017, Barlow said of her late acclaim: “To put it bluntly, I think the timing has been, for me, perfect. I’m ready for it and the work’s ready for it. It’s ready to fulfil all sorts of ambitions I want for the work. Not for myself – I’m not particularly interested in myself – but I’m interested in what the work can do … I can now be confident that things do go wrong but can also be retrieved.”
Born in Newcastle in 1944, Barlow was the daughter of Erasmus Darwin Barlow, a psychiatrist who was a great-grandson of Charles Darwin, and Brigit Ursula Hope Black, a writer. The family moved to Richmond, west London, after the war, and her childhood experiences of bomb damage would inspire much of her lifelong work.
“I have lots of references about damage and reparation and regeneration,” she said. “A kind of cycle of decay and regeneration. That fascinates me, because that is what my generation has witnessed, seeing London in ruins and then seeing it come up, and then fall down again.”
In 1966, Barlow married another artist, Fabian Peake, son of the writer and illustrator Mervyn Peake, creator of the Gormenghast books. They had five children.
Barlow’s most recent exhibition, entitled Hurly-Burly and in collaboration with Whiteread and Alison Wilding, opened at Gagosian Paris in January. Speaking before its launch, Whiteread said: “Phyllida has been a really, really inspirational teacher. Hundreds and hundreds of students have been taught by her who just think she’s the best.”
Iwan Wirth, the president of Barlow’s gallery Hauser & Wirth, described her as “a cherished friend as well as a visionary artist”.
He said: “Her ideas, knowledge, experience and wry humour were always shared with the most extraordinary warmth. Her generosity of spirit extended through her art, her writings, and her many years of teaching and mentorship.
“A truly thoughtful and companionable human being, Phyllida was a guiding light and inspiration to so many. Her loss will be felt deeply by all who knew and collaborated with her in the art community and beyond. Our thoughts are with Fabian and the wonderful family they created together.”
