Growing up in the Southwest of England lends itself to a myriad of environments, we’re just as close to the barren moors as we are to the softly shifting, and often brutal, movements of the sea. While we may not have mountains, like our subject matter in this film will encounter, it is uncomplicated to understand how the scope of surroundings can influence art, in all its guises.

In Mark Cousins’ A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, we explore the multiplicity of the painting talent of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, a Scottish artist who throughout much of her life was undervalued by the critical community. In this documentary, we learn of her synaesthesia and its effect on her work in an era unlike now, she grew up in St Andrews, Scotland and not only extensively travelled but was also an important part of the modernist art movement in St Ives, Cornwall.

But even after an extensive background, all this was the start of what was to come in her career. In 1949, Willie (as she preferred to be called) visited Switzerland’s Grindelwald glacier, and that journey shaped not only her perspective on her life, it had a profound effect on her mind and the way she considered and created her paintings, plus, eventually those who’ve been inspired and admired her work since. Cousins’ film merges his own camera work, and occasional representational reconstructions, alongside archival insight direct from Barns-Graham herself. For this, they had access to her private notebooks, as well as help along the way from people who knew her, via her Trust established by Willie in 1987.

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things endeavours to give us a richer assessment of her life, from her younger years up to when she died in 2004, and I think it succeeds in highlighting not only her untainted talents, but also the tribulations she challenged to receive eventual recognition, out of a system that tended to undervalue her impact.

The film opens with Mark Cousins’ voiceover and his thoughts on what you’d expect from someone when you first look at them. In this case, it’s Willie in her 70s. From pictures of a lady in her waterproofs and sturdy shoes, you may not assume she’s an artist and a stimulating question arises; do the judgements we make on people, from a first look, offer an authentic insight to who they are, or are we projecting our already established viewpoints? In truth, we should keep our mind open, as if any experience hasn’t already shaped our view. But we do judge, and that point reflects how Barns-Graham was viewed by those in powerful positions for many years.

A look back into her life offers a direct look at her synaesthesia, and how that shaped her everyday view on the world around her. An early diary entry, voiced by Tilda Swinton, reveals her memory of elephants coming to St. Ives and how the spectacle made her think of grey, in the form of socks and rocks, and this sparked her subconscious mind into more unexpected connections. This was an era where people were less likely to discuss such things, but Willie had a fascination with colours and numbers, where each letter of the alphabetic represented a certain shade of colour. She’s then form those ideas into actual grids, and eventually it worked its way through to her sketches and paintings. In one notebook, she even spelt prayers out in colour hues and specific boxes. It looks like a secret language. But there is a key, and the code can be broken. I loved seeing that process.

In a latter segment of the film, we learn that one moment changed it all, and it was a trip to Switzerland’s Grindlewald glacier. It fired an obsession that lasted decades. She was absorbed by its form, its enormous existence, the sounds, creaks, and ability to be both alive and full of lines and shades of all colours and shadows. For her, it seemed to b r e a t h e. Her work from this time shows us how deeply she felt the experience. And this documentary, A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, enables us to enter her mind with her, it’s a compliment to synaesthesia and its prism. If anything, it helps lead us away from reading art gallery labels, towards simply engaging in the outcome on the wall before us.

This is a fascinating art film into a Scottish painter I should have known more about beforehand, but then the documentary also indicates of why I may not have encountered her as much as I could have. Mark Cousins’ film is a solid celebration of the woman Wilhemina Barns-Graham was and is emphatically not surface level. Like her artwork, it offers us a comprehensive picture of the person she was, and how her inimitable insight alongside the art she created, is someone we should continue to highlight and champion, to this very day.

Bonus Features include a ‘Making of’ featurette; further explorations with Cousins on Burns-Graham’s travels in Spain and the Balearics, plus new discoveries from her archive, which is led by the Trust and brings us up to date. And, as well as the film on DVD and Blu-ray, you get a look inside the 2022 exhibition, which is mentioned in the documentary, curated by the director. This installation was at the Fruitmarket Gallery, and it brought her glacial work to life on a larger scale than her paintings.

You also get a bonus mini essay on Mark’s other favourite films about painters, and excellent St. Ives letter reproduction of Willie’s manifesto titled ‘Statement on Work 1968’ and 3 art cards, which includes one of my new favourite pieces: Pilgrimage [1958].

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things is out now from Conic Films

You can stream it, or buy on Blu-ray/DVD: https://www.conic.film/films/glimpse