Elisa Montessori. Recent work. 21 Jan-28 Feb 2004. With a sure and experienced hand Montessori paints bright, fast and well-behaved abstractions. They remind you of nature reflections on lily ponds, petals falling in sun-drenched gardens, streaks of sunset over mountains. Pleasing colour and quick tendrils of shape slide over the slopes of the canvas, which sometimes bears its own frame brushed around in silky black, giving it an extra titillating spice and dimension.

Montessori, in a country where so few women have been allowed to come to the fore and develop, has reached full maturity. Her painting now seems as pleasantly fleeting as summer weather. But the marks and curling shreds and swathes of paint are subtly energetic and bear solid structure and thought under their dew. Edith Schloss