The Rivalry of Flowers

A book of new paintings and works by Shani Rhys James, one of Britain's leading and most distinctive artists. Her latest work has developed a lighter palette to deal with new subjects of flowers and colourful patterned wallpaper backgrounds. These themes of domesticity are not anodyne however, but informed by 'The Yellow Wallpaper', Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1892 story about the plight of women in the home. Rhys James's paintings continue her exploration of the position of women in society, and in particular how women can be imprisoned by consumerism and the domestic environment. The 52 colour images in the book include photographs of a new development in Rhys James's work, automata based on the motifs of past paintings. The paintings are accompanied by a Foreword by the artist and critic William Packer, a perceptive interview of Rhys James by Francesca Rhydderch, in which the artist discusses her background and her interest in the position of women, and an essay by Edward Lucie-Smith which explores her paintings in an art history context. Produced to accompany a touring exhibition, this is a comprehensive introduction to the latest work of a fine painter.

Shani Rhys James is one of Wales' leading painters, who has been awarded an MBE for services to art. Born in Australia she was trained at London's St Martin's College of Art and has been living and pursuing her art in Wales for over 30 years. Her work has garnered many awards including the Glyndwr Award, BP National Portrait Award, Hunting/Observer Art Prize and the Jerwood Painting Prize. Edward Lucie-Smith was born in 1933 at Kingston, Jamaica and was educated at King's School, Canterbury and Merton College, Oxford. He is an internationally known art critic and historian, who is also a prize-winning poet, an anthologist and photographer. He has published more than a hundred books in all, including more than sixty books about art, chiefly but not exclusively about contemporary work. A number of his art books are used as standard texts throughout the world. Movements in Art since 1945, first published in 1969, has been continuously in print since that date, and has been completely updated five times since first publication. A new edition was published in March 2001. Other well-known texts include Sexuality in Western Art and 20th Century Latin American Art. Francesca Rhydderch is a freelance writer and literary editor based in Aberystwyth. After taking her first degree at Cambridge University in Modern Languages she was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Wales Aberystwyth for her comparative study on the work of Virginia Woolf and Kate Roberts. She was associate editor of Planet: The Welsh Internationalist (1998-2000) and English-language editor at Gomer Press (2000-2002) before taking up the editorship of New Welsh Review (2002-2008). Her first novel, The Rice Paper Diaries, is published in 2012, by Seren. William Packer was born in 1940 and studied painting at Wimbledon School of Art. He taught at his old school, and at art schools around the country. He served on the Fine Art Board of

A book of new paintings and works by Shani Rhys James, one of Britains leading and most distinctive artists. Her latest work has developed a lighter palette to deal with new subjects of flowers and colourful patterned wallpaper backgrounds. These themes of domesticity are not anodyne however, but informed by The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilmans 1892 story about the plight of women in the home. Rhys Jamess paintings continue her exploration of the position of women in society, and in particular how women can be imprisoned by consumerism and the domestic environment.The 52 colour images in the book include photographs of a new development in Rhys Jamess work, automata based on the motifs of past paintings. The paintings are accompanied by a Foreword by the artist and critic William Packer, a perceptive interview of Rhys James by Francesca Rhydderch, in which the artist discusses her background and her interest in the position of women, and an essay by Edward Lucie-Smith which explores her paintings in an art history context. Produced to accompany a touring exhibition, this is a comprehensive introduction to the latest work of a fine painter.

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