Joan Eardley
Born – Warnham, England 1921
Died – Killearn, Scotland 1963
Joan Eardley moved to Glasgow from the south of England when war broke out in 1939. Her involvement with the war effort prevented her from receiving her post-graduate diploma from Glasgow School of Art until 1948. With it she received a scholarship to travel to France and Italy. Returning to “the living part of Glasgow”, she became involved in the local community, making studies of the tenements and of the children she befriended. Her work provides a socio-documentary record of the poor environment, which is poignant without being voyeuristic or sentimental. In 1950 Eardley visited the east Scottish fishing villiage of Catterline where she settled in 1956. Here she produced some of her most evocative images, focusing on the local land and seascapes and the changes wrought by the seasons. She often incorperated detritus into her paintings to increase an understanding of her experience. Her zest for the elements, for what was primitive and for humanity is comparable to that of van Gogh. The vigour and intensity of her vision is revealed in the fury and colour of Catterline in Winter, which verges on the abstract and confirms how she valued nature as her “greatest influence.”
Masterpieces:
- Street Kids
- Salmon Net Posts
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About joan eardley
Joan Eardley
Fiona Pearson
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Joan Eardley (Modern Scottish painters ; no. 5)
William Buchanan
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Joan Eardley, RSA
Cordelia Oliver
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