London - Royal Academy - Rose Wylie - The Picture Comes First

The rebel painter of the British art world.

Royal Academy 

Rose Wylie - The Picture Comes First

At the RA - Royal Academy on London's Piccadilly, the exhibition - Rose Wylie - The Picture Comes First - until April 19.   Rose Wylie OBE RA - 1934, Kent - is one of the most celebrated artists working in Britain today. This exhibition brings together Rose Wylie’s most iconic works alongside new and unseen paintings, marking her largest show to date. Now 92 years old, she remains incredibly cool and modern, with a style that feels fresh and relevant. Her art blends cinema, history and personal memory—including the Blitz—often featuring women like Elizabeth I, Marilyn Monroe and Serena Williams. Starting her career in her fifties, she has become a true cultural icon, creating bold, playful works that capture life’s small, funny and touching moments.

Park Dogs and Air Raids - 2017

“I think the war probably had something to do with it, because it was a kind of exciting moment, from the point of view of bombs coming down, and air raids and stuff. From a child’s point of view, that was quite special, quite unusual… I wasn’t really frightened, because it was going on all the time – that was what it was.”

Early Memory Series No. 2: Doodle Bug - 1998

Black Doodlebug - 2022

"I like stuff that goes across time, through trans-temporality, or whatever you want to call it. And I very much like cultures which were excluded from my art education when I was a student. They literally didn’t exist in that education. It was all determined exclusion." 

In this horse painting with labelled parts, Rose Wylie playfully mocks her traditional art-school training at Folkestone and Dover School of Art in the 1950s. Moving beyond strict anatomy and technique, she developed a freer style inspired by a wider range of influences.

Irreverant Anatomy Drawing - 2017

"...relating to 'now', as to 'appearance' and 'look' of women as far as clothes go, I like skirts, they allow for something to paint - fun for where you paint the 

legs sticking out - they can break restricting idea of 

'correct' anatomy and can call for invention..."

RW Party Clothes  (Rose Wylie) - 2016

Reclining Figure - 2010

 "I started with a drawing of the hand, and them I did an ink painting of the drawing.    And then an oil painting of all three stages in six feet across each canvas and it became a kind of a statement that drawing for me is important."

HAND, Drawing as Central - 2022

Wylie explained why she painted the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, whose highly publicised 1963 divorce case was made into a television series in 2021: “It’s not because she’s the Duchess, I don’t paint kings and queens because of their status, but because I like their outfits. In this case, the three-strand pearl necklace caught my attention. Through this object the Duchess was identified in the sex act she was engaged in with another man. It caused her to lose the divorce case… And in the end, it’s about money. Marrying for money, which is often disastrous… The text underscores the fact that the paparazzi are photographing them, that people are saying, “Oh, that’s a handsome couple”. Not that they are, they are “generally thought to be”.”

A Handsome Couple - 2022

" I like Ingres portraits more than his other stuff: as are Goya's marvellous 'black-frocked' and 'white-frocked' Duchess of Alba, and the pin-eyed Queen."

Countess of Altimara in Pale Pink and White-Frock and Daughter - 2016

"I love chance. Chance is like the break in the dotted line. 

Anything that is out of control, I like."

‘Politics and other issues are often there, if you see it like that - some of my paintings have been called ‘mediated political: But that is not what they are about. I see a good photo in the paper (or television news) and use it for its visual/formal qualities, not the politics. The politics is why it’s in the newspaper.’ 

Pink Skater (Will I Win, Will I Win) - 2015

Wylie appreciates the optical drama and contrast in the work of specific directors, such as Quentin Tarantino, as revealed by her paintings ‘Kill Bill (Film Notes)’ (2007) (which depicts a single frame from slightly different perspectives), ‘Inglourious Basterds (Film Notes)’ (2010) and ‘Brunhilde (Film Notes)’ (2024) after ‘Django Unchained’ (2012). 

Inglorious Basterds (Film Notes) - 2010

‘I do use [a] diary... as something to work with. I think for painting you’ve got to have something to work with and it’s got to be real and it’s better if it’s not manufactured, and my life is real for not manufactured, and my life is real for me, so I delve into it... So I’m making diary paintings, which are also history paintings because the diary and the history merge.’ 

Inspiration also comes from Wylie’s immediate surroundings: her home filled with objects and items that accumulate meaning for her; her “work-with-nature” garden, closely guarded by her cat, Pete; and the small community of neighbours and dwellings around her.  Daily life, whether the satisfaction of an enjoyable meal or a stimulating evening dinner with friends, provides Wylie with endless source material for both drawings and paintings. As for us all, everyday life is peppered with public events, shared through the screen or radio, mixing personal occurrences and memories with moments from popular culture or history.

NB

All quotes are by the artist

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