£21,250
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture ft. S.J. Peploe at 150 | 668
Auction: Scottish Paintings & Sculpture ft. S.J. Peploe at 150
Oil on board
Eardley had a solo exhibition at the Gaumont Cinema in Aberdeen in 1951. It was organised by the cinema's manager, Reg Miller and local art teacher Annette Soper. It was thanks to the latter that soon afterwards Eardley visited the nearby fishing village of Catterline for the first time, which was to have a tremendous impact on her life and work. She returned in 1952 and rented a cottage there from about 1954.
Haystack and Farm Gate, Dusk is an intimate yet powerful work. It was probably painted in the hinterlands of Catterline but may have been made near Eardley's friend Audrey Walker's cottage in Caverslee in the Scottish Borders. Eardley found endless inspiration in the cycle of day into night, the seasons and the agricultural calendar as experienced in the countryside and captured in her work, which she executed en plein air. In this instance a view over a field to a haystack - or possibly the gable end of a house - caught her attention. The bottom right passage is suggestive of grazing sheep. The low horizon allows the foreboding sky equal presence in the composition. It was painted with vigour on board, which is left bare in some areas, increasing its sense of spontaneity. Certain passages verge on the abstract, whilst the surface is sensuous, with the result that a modest scene is transformed into a compelling image.