Alice Spawls

Sep 13, 2023 | lrb.co.uk | Alice Spawls

In October​ 2012, Pallant House Gallery in Chichester put on an exhibition of works by the painters Gwen John and Celia Paul. What now seems obvious was then inspired. The comparison diminished neither. Two artists, distinct but in obvious affinity, spoke across their different periods and each made the other more necessary, more triumphant. It was as though Cézanne and Van Gogh had lived a century apart, the fingers of one stretching out almost to touch the other.