Artist Dame Phyllida Barlow has died aged 78

Artist Dame Phyllida Barlow known for her large-scale sculptures and installations, often made from modest materials including cardboard, plywood or polystyrene, has died aged 78.
Almost as notable as his works of art was his biography. Dame Phyllida Barlow rose to international prominence as a sculptor only after retiring in 2009 after four decades of teaching art. Her career included 20 years as a teacher at the Slade School of Fine Art, where she taught artists such as Rachel Whiteread, Tacita Dean and Monster Chetwynd.
Although she produced art throughout her teaching career, Dame Phyllida Barlow's first major exhibition in a public gallery was not until the following year at the Serpentine. Shows at the New Museum in New York and the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas followed, and she was subsequently commissioned to create the site-specific exhibition “dock” for Tate Britain's Duveen Galleries in 2014.

Dame Phyllida Barlow was born in Newcastle in 1944, the daughter of Erasmus Darwin Barlow, a psychiatrist, great-grandson of Charles Darwin, and Brigit Ursula Hope Black, a writer. The family moved to Richmond, West London after the war, and his childhood experiences with bomb damage would inspire much of his work throughout his life.
“I have a lot of references about damage, repair and regeneration. A kind of cycle of decay and regeneration. It fascinates me, because this is what my generation has witnessed, seeing London in ruins and then seeing it rise and then fall again.” stated artist. In 1966, Barlow married another artist, Fabian Peake, son of writer and illustrator Mervyn Peake, creator of the Gormenghast books, and they had five children.
Dame Phyllida Barlow's most recent exhibition, titled Hurly-Burly and in collaboration with Whiteread and Alison Wilding, opened at Gagosian Paris in January. Prior to the inauguration Whiteread stated: “Phyllida has been a very, very inspiring 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 dear friend and also a visionary artist. His ideas, knowledge, experience and ironic humor were always shared with the most extraordinary warmth. His generosity of spirit extended through his artistry and his many years of teaching and mentoring." “A truly caring and sociable human being, Phyllida has been a guiding light and inspiration to 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 have created together.”

Dame Phyllida Barlow was nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize in 1998 and 2004. Two years later she received the Hugo Boss Prize and in 2008 she was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts. He has had solo exhibitions of his work at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Germany; and Kunsthalle Zürich, among other spaces. In 2014, she was chosen to create a commission for the Duveen Gallery at Tate London. “His sculptures have an inherent weirdness,” Sam of Artforum wrote after seeing his massive cardboard and wood work entitled Dock. “Barlow's achievement is to have made this strangeness his own.” In 2017, he represented the United Kingdom at the Venice Biennale.