LILLIAN NEILSON (SCOTTISH 1938-1998) §
SUNSET, CATTERLINE
Estimate: £500 - £700
Auction: 02 April 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
Signed verso, oil on irregularly-shaped board,
and a companion, signed verso, oil on board (2)
Dimensions
16.5cm x 16cm (6.6in x 6.25in), and 13cm x 18.5cm (5in x 7.25in), each unframed
Provenance
A private collector and friend of the artist; thence by descent to the present owner.
Footnote
Neilson scrapes thick buttery pigment across her compositions, leaving ridges and furrows so pronounced that the painting’s surface itself becomes a landscape of sorts. This impression is only enhanced by the irregular, curved or slanted edges of Neilson’s boards, suggesting that she cut them down to a form she felt was satisfactory. Certain paintings are markedly small, enhancing their portability for the artist as she travelled around the wild Catterline coast in pursuit of a good spot to work for the day.
Neilson arrived in Catterline in the early 1960s on the invitation of Joan Eardley, who had recently established a studio in the remote village, and the pair became lovers and artistic companions. Neilson assimilated technical lessons from Eardley’s landscape style and responded to the dramatic and changeability of the sea and sky. Her Catterline paintings are characterised by frenetic expression and an atmosphere of brooding intensity.
Upon Eardley’s untimely death in August 1963 Neilson purchased No. 2 South Side, Catterline, using one half of the cottage as a living space and the other as a studio. Here, she continued to develop her energetic landscape practice. She lived between Norfolk and Catterline, observing the human impact on the respective coastlines, which precipitated an increasing interest in ecological conservation. Neilson’s paintings express her conflicting frustration with, and devotion to, the land.