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{{short description|British painter}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Carol Rhodes
| image = Photo of Carol Rhodes.jpg
| birth_name = Carol Mary Rhodes
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1959|04|07|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Edinburgh]], Scotland, United Kingdom
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|12|04|1959|04|07|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Glasgow]], Scotland, United Kingdom
| alma_mater = [[Glasgow School of Art]]
| occupation = Artist
| years_active = 1982–2017
}}
'''Carol Mary Rhodes''' (7 April 1959 – 4 December 2018) was a Scottish artist known for paintings and drawings of landscapes and marked by human intervention. Rhodes was born in [[Edinburgh]], but spent her infancy and youth in [[Serampore]], India. She moved to the UK in her mid teens and studied fine art at the [[Glasgow School of Art]]. Graduating in 1982 she became politically active around issues of disarmament, feminism and social justice. Her focus returned to painting around 1990, and she developed her distinctive idiom of aerial-view, ‘man-made’ landscapes around 1994. These began to be exhibited in the United Kingdom and internationally, and entered many public collections. Rhodes’s work, and her part-time lecturing at Glasgow School of Art, was influential for younger generations of artists. In 2013, she was diagnosed with [[Motor neuron disease|motor neurone disease]].

==Biography==
Carol Mary Rhodes was born on 7 April 1959 in the Scottish capital of [[Edinburgh]].<ref name="GuardianObit">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/dec/13/carol-rhodes-obituary|title=Carol Rhodes obituary|last=Fraser Jenkins|first=David|date=13 December 2018|work=[[The Guardian]]|accessdate=29 July 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729065607/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/dec/13/carol-rhodes-obituary|archive-date=29 July 2019}}</ref> She was the daughter of the medical doctor and theologian William Rhodes, and his wife Helen (née MacDonald), a former detective. Rhodes had an elder sister and a younger adopted brother.<ref name="TimesObit">{{cite news|title=Carol Rhodes; Edinburgh-born artist who impressed with her paintings from an aerial perspective and took part in anti-nuclear campaigns|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/carol-rhodes-683fpdn9t|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=7 January 2019|access-date=29 July 2019|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703124829/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/carol-rhodes-683fpdn9t|archive-date=3 July 2019}}</ref> Her parents were also missionaries for the [[Church of Scotland]] and were posted to India.<ref name=ScotsmanObit>{{cite news|last=Elliott|first=Patrick|title=Obituary: Carol Rhodes, Scottish artist whose ambiguous paintings speak of man's desire to govern the land|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-carol-rhodes-scottish-artist-whose-ambiguous-paintings-speak-of-man-s-desire-to-govern-the-land-1-4840771|work=[[The Scotsman]]|date=8 December 2018|accessdate=29 July 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729071112/https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-carol-rhodes-scottish-artist-whose-ambiguous-paintings-speak-of-man-s-desire-to-govern-the-land-1-4840771|archive-date=29 July 2019}}</ref> Rhodes lived her initial years in [[Nagpur]],<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /> and she was later raised in [[Serampore]], [[Bengal]] on the edge of the [[Ganges|Ganges river]], where she befriended employees of the [[Senate of Serampore College (University)|University of Serampore]], her father's place of work.<ref name="DTObit">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/12/13/carol-rhodes-acclaimed-scottish-painter-obituary/|title=Carol Rhodes, acclaimed Scottish painter – obituary|date=13 December 2018|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|accessdate=29 July 2019|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729065607/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/12/13/carol-rhodes-acclaimed-scottish-painter-obituary/|archive-date=29 July 2019}}</ref> In 1971, the family sent her to be educated at the [[Woodstock School]],<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /> a missionary boarding school in the [[Transhimalaya|Himalayan]] cantonment town of [[Landour]].<ref name="TimesObit" /> There, she and her friends embraced pacifism.<ref name="DTObit" />

Rhodes' family returned to the United Kingdom when she was 14. They settled in [[Sussex]] and later in [[Dumfries]],<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /> for Rhodes to take her O and A-Level examinations while moving between several comprehensive schools.<ref name="DTObit" /> Although Rhodes could not adapt to the country's cold climate—she contracted hypothermia at one point—<ref name="DTObit" /> she remained while her parents returned to India though she spent her summer and Christmas holidays in Bengal.<ref name="TimesObit" /> Starting in 1977, Rhodes enrolled at the [[Glasgow School of Art]] and was taught by the realist painter [[Alexander Moffat]].<ref name="DTObit" /> She graduated with a degree in fine art in 1982,<ref name="TimesObit" /> and stopped painting soon after.<ref name="ScotsmanObit" />

After graduating Rhodes organised events at The Women's Centre Glasgow and the [[Transmission Gallery]].<ref name="GuardianObit" /> She was a committee member of the Transmission Gallery from 1986 to 1988 and co-founded the Glasgow Free University with the writers [[Alasdair Gray]] and [[James Kelman]] in 1987.<ref name="DTObit" /> Furthermore, Rhodes worked as an assistant at the [[Third Eye Centre]],<ref name="GuardianObit" /> and part-time as a technician at the [[Tramway (arts centre)|Tramway and the Centre for Contemporary Art]].<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /> During the 1980s, she took part in movements associated with radical left-wing feminism.<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /><ref name="HScotlandObit">{{cite news|last=Jeffrey|first=Moira|title=Obituary: Carol Rhodes, painter and influential figure at The Glasgow School of Art|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/17287168.obituary-carol-rhodes-painter-and-influential-figure-at-the-glasgow-school-of-art/|work=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]]|date=10 December 2018|accessdate=29 July 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729065610/https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/17287168.obituary-carol-rhodes-painter-and-influential-figure-at-the-glasgow-school-of-art/|archive-date=29 July 2019}}</ref> Rhodes took part in the [[Reclaim the Night]] demonstrations,<ref name="DTObit" /> joined anti-nuclear protesters at the [[Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp]],<ref name="TimesObit" /> and protested against the introduction of nuclear submarines at [[HMNB Clyde]].<ref name="GuardianObit" />

She was keen to return to painting and in 1990, she found the opportunity when fellow painter [https://www.artuk.org/discover/artists/mace-rowan-b-1961/search/-39/page/136/sort_by/birth_year/order/desc/view_as/grid Rowan Mace] offered to share a studio room at [[Tramway (arts centre)|Tramway art centre]] in Glasgow. Rhodes focussed on man-made landscapes composed of industrial estates, quarries, fields, power stations, reservoirs, depots, car parks and airports.<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /><ref name="AJStyle">{{cite news|url=https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/opinion/carol-rhodes-paintings-are-more-truthful-than-google-maps/8648057.article|title=Carol Rhodes paintings are more truthful than Google Maps|last=Olcayto|first=Rory|date=8 May 2013|work=[[Architects' Journal]]|accessdate=29 July 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729064000/https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/opinion/carol-rhodes-paintings-are-more-truthful-than-google-maps/8648057.article|archive-date=29 July 2019}}</ref> In 1994, her work was on exhibition in the New Art Scotland show at the [[Centre for Contemporary Arts]] and the [[Aberdeen Art Gallery]].<ref name="DTObit" /> Around this time, Rhodes returned to the Glasgow School of Art to take on a studio in its main building and teach.<ref name="GuardianObit" /><ref name="ScotsmanObit" /> She took a [[Scottish Arts Council]] (SAC) residency in Slovenia in 1995 and exhibited in a show that toured to [[Zagreb]] as the [[Croatian War of Independence]] came to an end.<ref name="DTObit" />

In January 1996, Rhodes was awarded a £7,500 grant from the SAC to expand her work.<ref name="ETimesFunding">{{cite news|title=Boost for Artists|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A93747032/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=e6a2cf8a|work=[[Evening Times]]|date=7 January 1996|accessdate=29 July 2019|page=7|via=Gale OneFile: News|url-access=subscription}}</ref> She began working with the Andrew Mummery Gallery in 1997 and her paintings were collected by [[Tate|the Tate]], [[Arts Council England]], the [[British Council]] and the [[Yale Center for British Art]] among other institutions.<ref name="DTObit" /> She exhibited increasingly widely, nationally and internationally,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Carol Rhodes|publisher=Skira Editore|year=2018|isbn=9788857238142|pages=Bibliography}}</ref> and in 1999 Rhodes was nominated for the [[Jerwood Painting Prize]].<ref name="TimesObit" /> A solo exhibition of Rhodes occurred the Tramway Project Room in 2000 and a mid-career prospective on the painter took place at the [[Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art]] from 2007 to 2008.<ref name="ScotsmanObit" />

In 2012, she began to have a small weakness in one of her knees and was diagnosed with [[Motor neuron disease|motor neurone disease]] at the conclusion of 2013. Rhodes began using a walking stick to help her mobility in 2014 and switched to a wheelchair in the next year. The illness ended her painting practice by late 2016 and she visited her last exhibition the following year.<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /> Her works were further exhibited at the [[Metropolitan Arts Centre]] in Belfast in 2017,<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /> and much of it was reproduced in a monograph edited by Andrew Mummery and written by Lynda Morris and Moira Jeffrey was launched in 2018.<ref name="GuardianObit" /><ref name="TimesObit" /> By that year, Rhodes could only communicate via an Eye Gaze Communication System. She died at her home in Glasgow on 4 December 2018.<ref name="ScotsmanObit" />

==Personality and personal life==

Jeffrey, in her obituary of Rhodes in [[The Herald (Glasgow)|''The Herald'']], described the painter as "tall, austerely beautiful, charismatic and soft-spoken" and a person who "embodied the life of the independent artist and determined dedication to her chosen path."<ref name="HScotlandObit" /> She had a child from a twelve-year relationship with the artist Richard Walker and lived with the writer and artist Merlin James from 2004 until her death. There were no children of the second relationship.<ref name="TimesObit" />

==Artistic style and analysis==
Rhodes admired the work of [[Stefano di Giovanni]], [[Nicolas Poussin]], [[Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin]] and [[Walter Sickert]].<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /> She worked slowly,<ref name="RhodesMAP06">{{cite journal|last1=Sam|first1=Sheridan|last2=Schwabsky|first2=Barry|title=Carol Rhodes, Lucy McKenzie: Paint|url=https://mapmagazine.co.uk/carol-rhodes-lucy-mckenzie-p|journal=MAP Magazine|issue=7|date=September 2006|accessdate=29 July 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729073218/https://mapmagazine.co.uk/carol-rhodes-lucy-mckenzie-p|archive-date=29 July 2019}}</ref> using oils,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2002/01/29/traveling-light/|title=Traveling Light|last=Rosenberg|first=Karen|date=29 January 2002|work=[[The Village Voice]]|access-date=29 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729071008/https://www.villagevoice.com/2002/01/29/traveling-light/|archive-date=29 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> "in a very, very concentrated way",<ref name="TimesObit" /> using medium-density fibreboard and plywood panels.<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /> This meant only a small number of paintings were produced each year.<ref name="TimesObit" /> She used a variety of source material, including aerial photographs, travel, art and geography books.<ref name="ScotsmanObit" /> The compositions, which have been described as if "seen from a low-flying plane",<ref name="AJStyle" /> were carefully planned, copied onto a painting board. Creating a slightly unsettling view, a balance "between the plausible and provocative."<ref name="GuardianObit" /> Journalist Morgan Falconer wrote Rhodes' works "appear to continue without end beyond the frame."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Falconer|first=Morgan|date=31 July 2002|edition=|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T097696|title=Rhodes, Carol|encyclopedia=[[Grove Art Online]]|author-link=}}</ref>

Rhodes’s work has been discussed my many critics.<ref name=":0" /> Tom Lubbock in ''[[The Independent]]'' wrote the viewpoint and the semi-fictional approach Rhodes employed was "the opposite of a gimmick: an idea that bestows great freedom of operation."<ref name="IndependentStyle">{{cite news|last=Lubbock|first=Tom|title=Carol Rhodes turns the world upside down|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/carol-rhodes-turns-the-world-upside-down-765013.html|work=[[The Independent]]|date=10 December 2007|accessdate=29 July 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729071110/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/carol-rhodes-turns-the-world-upside-down-765013.html|archive-date=29 July 2019}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]''<nowiki/>' Ken Johnson observed that in her works "roads cut straight or wind across the rectangle, dividing broad areas textured to resemble agricultural fields, forests, sand or bodies of water."<ref name="NYTimesStyle">{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Ken|title=Art in Review; Carol Rhodes|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/11/arts/art-in-review-carol-rhodes.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=11 January 2002|accessdate=29 July 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100831083922/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/11/arts/art-in-review-carol-rhodes.html|archivedate=31 August 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> In the ''[[Architects' Journal]]'' Rory Olcayto noted the colours used are "pale, as if drenched by the sun or washed through by rain."<ref name="AJStyle" /> Patrick Elliott for ''[[The Scotsman]]'' called each painting "a carefully judged marriage of precision and ambiguity. They are not political statements, or at least not overtly so, and she spoke of them in terms of colour, brushwork and composition."<ref name="ScotsmanObit" />

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|title=Carol Rhodes|last1=Jeffrey|first1=Moira|last2=Morris|first2=Lynda|publisher=[[Rizzoli Bookstore|Rizzoli International Publications]]|date=28 Aug 2018|isbn=978-88-572-3814-2|editor-last=Mummery|editor-first=Andrew|location=New York, United States}}

==External links==
* [https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/carol_rhodes.htm Carol Rhodes: Saatchi Gallery]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhodes, Carol}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish women artists]]
[[Category:21st-century Scottish painters]]
[[Category:21st-century Scottish women artists]]
[[Category:Academics of the Glasgow School of Art]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art]]
[[Category:Painters from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish contemporary artists]]
[[Category:Scottish expatriates in India]]
[[Category:Scottish women activists]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish women painters]]
[[Category:21st-century British women painters]]

Carol Rhodes - Revision history

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