Berwick exhibition to feature Joan Eardley seascapes

What promises to be a dramatic exhibition celebrating the seascapes of Scottish artist Joan Eardley is to open at The Granary Gallery in Berwick on June 6.

It is the latest example of the gallery’s fruitful relationship with the Fleming Collection of Scottish art but the exhibition is also part of the UK-wide Celebrating Together project, marking 200 years of the Royal Scottish Academy.

Eardley (1921-63) was inspired by Catterline, the fishing village south of Aberdeen which she first visited in 1951 when she was struck by its dramatic wildness.

After dividing her time between her Glasgow studio and the remote village, she eventually settled there, working from cottages overlooking the sea.

It became her most compelling subject and she captured its power in paintings that are also full of the emotional intensity that characterises her work.

Often braving wild weather to paint outdoors, she experimented with materials including boat paint, newspaper, sand and grasses to convey the force of wind and sea.

As well as The Fleming Collection, the exhibition includes loans from the Royal Scottish Academy, Aberdeen Art Gallery and private collections.

The exhibition also includes works by artists who had a significant impact on her life and work, including Margot Sandeman and her lover Lil Neilson, who she had a relationship with towards the end of her life.

James Lowther, head of visual arts at The Maltings, said: “Joan Eardley’s paintings of Catterline are among the most powerful responses to landscape in 20^th Century British art.

“Standing on the cliff edge above the North Sea, she developed a way of painting that captured not just the appearance of the waves, but their extraordinary force and emotional intensity.

“This exhibition brings together a remarkable group of works from the final years of her life, when she was working with real confidence and freedom.”

Theodore Albano, director of the Fleming Collection, said: “In my eyes, these Catterline pictures by Eardley are some of the most powerful paintings put to canvas in the Scottish art historical canon of the last 75 years.”

Joan Eardley was only 42 when she died of cancer.

Her ashes were scattered along the shoreline at Catterline where she had been a familiar figure in the RAF flying suit and heavy boots she wore as she painted the sea while braving the elements.

On June 24 at 6pm there will be a talk at the Maltings Cinema at Berwick Barracks by Alice Strang, associate director of Lyon & Turnbull Fine Art Auctioneers about the collecting of Joan Eardley’s work.

Alice will give an insight into the development of the artist’s career and reputation and also into the way museums and galleries go about collecting contemporary British art.

There will also be volunteer-led guided tours of the exhibition throughout its run.

Joan Eardley: The Sea at Catterline runs at The Granary Gallery from June 6 until October 11 (Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 4pm).

Standard admission is £7.50 but for further information go to The Maltings website.