Romany Eveleigh

Febo Series, 1982-84
Watercolour and crayon on paper 
Unframed: 14 x 10 inches (35.5 x 25.5 cm) 
Framed: 16 x 12 inches (40.2 x 30.2 cm) 
Signed, dated and titled on verso 

Courtesy of Richard Saltoun Gallery

Selected by Julia Trotta

Romany Eveleigh’s (1934, London - 2020, Rome) work stands out for her uncompromising sign-based vocabulary rooted in a minimalist aesthetic. Her paintings, drawings and collages explore the human path to understanding, placing painting in a philosophical dimension.

Working in relative solitude, Eveleigh approached art-making as a form of contemplative mark-making, borrowing techniques, and materials from the world of writing and printing. She often worked in series or on large-scale, preferring square supports never larger than the size of her outstretched arms.

Born in London in 1934, Eveleigh spent most of her life in Rome, although she shared a studio in New York with reclusive artist James Bishop for many years. In 1963, Eveleigh was in Ibiza performing a 'happening' with Salvador Dali when she met the photojournalist Anna Baldazzi, who was to become her long-life partner and wife. It was Baldazzi who introduced Eveleigh to the radical feminist movement led by the lesbian activist Michèle Causse, the artist's most prominent supporter.

The famed American art historian Barbara Rose also championed Eveleigh, describing her 1980s paintings as 'spiritual retreats that calm and center the mind', comparing them as aids to contemplation in the same manner as Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and Robert Motherwell.

As a result of Richard Saltoun’s solo presentation of Eveleigh’s work at Frieze Masters in 2022, her work from the Pages series was purchased by the Tate permanent collection. Her inclusion in the Venice Biennale 2024 - Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere - curated by Adriano Pedrosa, heralds her most significant achievement to date.