Miss Julian

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

A single rose rests on folds of white cloth on what appears to be the cover of Country Life magazine. Except that the cover looks like a mock-up, without any stories or editorial; the top edge of the title is cropped or cut out of our view; and the name in the title of the work, ‘Miss Julian,’ seems at odds with the gender usually associated with that honorific. Simeon Barclay uses the rose as a signifier for a peculiarly British idea of beauty that foregrounds particular notions of race, glass and gender. In this work, the rose, placed in isolation on the folds of cloth, also brings to mind ideas of death. 

Barclays’ work looks at reclaiming aspirational imagery in popular culture, particularly as conveyed in magazines such as Country Life and Vogue to offer alternative narratives of British identity and desire. He often challenges colonial stereotypes in his work, examining spaces where ideas of masculinity, blackness and Britishness intersect. Writing about his work, Barclay’s gallery observes that the artist’s ‘understanding of wider social concerns around the rhetoric of belonging, and the place of the diaspora as a stakeholder in the shaping of an evolving British culture, [contribute to] Barclay’s sharp awareness of the psychological, socio-cultural and political contexts that inform lived experience.’

Simeon Barclay was born in Huddersfield in Yorkshire. He worked in manufacturing in the north of England while studying art at night school. He received a BA from Leeds Metropolitan University in 2010 and an MFA from Goldsmiths College, London in 2014. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions including at the South London Gallery, London and Touchstones, Rochdale (2022); The Turnpike, Leigh (2020); The Holden Gallery, Manchester (2019); The Tetley, Leeds (2018), Art Now at Tate Britain (2017); and Cubitt, London (2016). Group exhibitions have been held at venues including Somerset House, London; The British Art Show 9 at Aberdeen Art Gallery and Wolverhampton Art Gallery; and MIMA, Middlesborough (all 2021); Southbank Centre, London and Sunderland Museum (both 2020); Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham, Wales; Bluecoat, Liverpool and G39, Cardiff (all 2019); and Jerwood Space and South London Gallery (both 2018).

Places

Subjects

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil paint, oil painting

Artist

Simeon Barclay (1975 - )

Title

Miss Julian

Date

2021

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 92.0 cm; width: 66.5 cm; depth: 3.0 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Workplace, March 2022

Provenance

Workplace, London UK; from whom purchased by UK Government Art Collection, 31 March 2022

GAC number

19062