All in stillness stands | Jill Kempson

  • Jill Kempson, Briliant Trees
  • Jill Kempson, Whispering Reeds
  • Jill Kempson, Still Point of the Turning World
  • Jill Kempson, After the Rain II
  • Jill Kempson, High Summer II
  • Jill Kempson, After the Rain
  • Jill Kempson, Where the Trees Meet
  • Jill Kempson, Tree at Water's Edge II
  • Jill Kempson, Mirrored Afternoon
  • Jill Kempson, Tree Icon I
  • Jill Kempson, Tree Icon II
  • Jill Kempson, Tree Icon III
  • Jill Kempson, Tree Icon VII
  • Jill Kempson, Tree Icon VIII
  • Jill Kempson, Tree Icon IX
  • Jill Kempson, All in Stillness, Stands
  • Jill Kempson, Passage
  • Jill Kempson, Parc de Sceaux
  • Jill Kempson, Parc de Saint Cloud
  • Jill Kempson, Luxembourg
  • Jill Kempson, Pink Forest
  • Jill Kempson, Pathway with Blue Trees
  • Jill Kempson, In the Summer's Heat - Through the Vibrant Air
  • Jill Kempson, In the Garden
  • Jill Kempson, Time Past, Time Present, Time Future

All in stillness stands
08 Oct - 03 Nov 10

Art to me is an anecdote of the spirit, and the only means of making concrete the purpose of its varied quickness and stillness.


Mark Rothko



Through return to simple living comes control of desires. In control of desires stillness is attained. In stillness the world is restored.
Lao Tzu

The content of these paintings for the most part are based upon an exploration of a small number of private gardens in Norfolk, which I visited in June 2008. The exhibition also incorporates my painted response to the sepia photographs of Parisian gardens by the French photographer Eugene Atget from the early 1900's. 
I have not set out to portray an in depth understanding of the English garden per se. The gardens that I visited offered me the chance to explore themes that are always present in my work: Light, Earth, Sky and Water. It was with intense fascination that I was able to observe, absorb and note down the alluring atmospheres and stillness of these remarkable gardens.This invaluable experience has touched upon a place in the self that is brimming with the abundance of nature's ever present renewing energy.

I hope the paintings speak of this place.


Jill Kempson September 2010

Is landscape painting meaningful today? Since its beginning it has had to struggle for legitimacy in the hierarchy of the painting genres. In the sixteenth century, Italian artists imposed the representation of the human figure as the highest achievement for every painter. Consequently, history painting - that is, works depicting scenes from religion, mythology or historical events- was considered the most noble. More recently, the domination of ‘contemporary art' in official circles presents a new challenge for painting in general and landscape painting in particular.

Jill Kempson's oeuvre, in all its rich diversity, shows us that landscape painting has the capacity to express all the colours and dimensions of the human soul. Earth can be seen as representing stability, our roots; Water, serenity and peace; Sky, inspiration and hope; Light, the soul's aspiration for infinity.


Patrick Le Chanu Jill Kempson's Oeuvre: Landscape in Perspective 

Translated by Karen Le Chanu.