THE programme for the main exhibition to celebrate the centenary of the birth of one of Scotland’s finest artists, Joan Eardley, has been announce by The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh.
Based in Dundas Street, the gallery will host the exhibition from July 30 to August 28. The gallery stated: “This new exhibition from The Scottish Gallery seeks to show that Eardley’s cultural capital has never been higher. In the 58 years since her passing, after she succumbed to cancer in August 1963, Eardley’s reputation has been enhanced and today her value is hugely augmented.
“A painter who happened to be a woman, whose accent was English and who was gay, did achieve much success, including being one of the first women to be made a member of the Royal Scottish Academy, not least because of the advocacy of The Scottish Gallery. Today we can recognise that nothing has dated her, the work is as direct and powerful as it was in the 50s.”
Eardley’s Glasgow is one of the central themes of this centenary exhibition, with a focus on the works she produced in and around her Townhead studio. These works are frequently about children; even the paintings of looming tenements usually have children in the street or gaping out of windows.
The buildings are the setting and backdrop for the lives of the human subjects who were the main preoccupation of the urban Eardley, a community she valued so dearly.
READ MORE: Remembering one of Scotland’s finest, who battled tragedy to produce her art
The exhibition also explores her works from Catterline, where Eardley had a home from 1954. Concentrating on the landscape, her subjects range from the wild winter storm to the thrum of life in the field-edges above the cliff top.
Events include Joan Eardley Exhibition Tour with Tommy Zyw, Tuesday, August 3, 11am; James Naughtie on Joan Eardley, Thursday, August 5, 6pm.
Joan Eardley Exhibition Tour with Christina Jansen, Wednesday, August 11 at 11am; Joan Eardley, Centenary in Context, Thursday, August 12, 5pm; Anne Morrison-Hudson in conversation with Guy Peploe, Saturday, August 14, 11am.
Watch out for further details in The National.
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