Author and critic Hettie Judah led an in conversation with Christian Peake and Fabian Peake, respectively the granddaughter and son of Maeve Gilmore.
Gilmore’s work was largely autobiographical, with family life a constant subject throughout her practice. Perhaps the most notable of Gilmore’s works are her portraits of her young sons, and depictions of her family’s time on the island of Sark where they lived in the late 1940s; as well as their home in Drayton Gardens, which Gilmore painted with elaborate murals.
This is Gilmore’s first solo institutional exhibition, and almost all of the artist’s paintings have remained in family collections. Nearly 40 years after her death, this event is a special opportunity to learn about Gilmore’s life and practice with those who have stewarded her work.
Christian Peake is the granddaughter of Maeve Gilmore and Mervyn Peake. She has played an important role in archiving Gilmore’s work and bringing her practice to wider attention, including the rediscovery of Gilmore’s manuscript for Titus Awakes, which was posthumously published in 2011. Since 2017, she has run the instagram account @maeve_gilmore_collection.
Fabian Peake is an artist and writer living and working in London, U.K. He is the son of Maeve Gilmore and Mervyn Peake. Recent exhibitions include Galeria Jacqueline Martins, Brussels (2021); Staring at the Silence, Chapel of the Madonna del Pozzo, Spoleto (2020); Kunstmuseum Luzern (2019-2020); and Buffet d'Art, Ambika P3, London (2016). His poetry has been published in journals, magazines and online, and his first collection 'Loose Monk' was published in 2014.
Author and critic Hettie Judah is the senior art critic for The i, and a contributor to Frieze, The Guardian, Vogue, The New York Times, Art Quarterly, Art Monthly, and ArtReview, among others. Recent essays have appeared in a new monograph on the John Moores Prize-winning painter Jacqui Hallum (Anomie, 2021); Procreate Project's publication celebrating the Mother Art Prize (2020); the Freelands Foundation's report on the Representation of Female Artists in Britain During 2019; and in A Woman's Work, on the video work of Katrina Neiburga. Recent books include Art London (ACC Art Books, 2019); Frida Kahlo (Laurence King, 2020); and Caroline Walker: Janet (Anomie, 2020).
