JOAN EARDLEY R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1921-1963) §
FOOTSTEPS IN THE SNOW, THE ROW, CATTERLINE
£55,200
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale: 08 June 2023 | From 18:00
Description
Signed, oil on canvas, with another painting of a 'Kitchen with Stove' verso
Dimensions
36cm x 53.5cm (14in x 21in)
Provenance
Provenance:
Given by the Artist to Mrs McLusky in 1963
Acquired from the above by McEwan Gallery, Ballater in 1980
Acquired from the above by Dr Mackenzie in 1980 and thence by family descent to the present owner
Footnote
Note: Eardley’s first visited Catterline in 1951 and the village became a new stimulus where she could depict the immensities of nature in the open air, painting and sketching 'on the spot' in all seasons, weather conditions and times of day.
As Patrick Elliott has explained
Catterline was not a picturesque Highland village…but a working harbour with boats, fishing nets and fields of wheat, barley and oats. People may be absent from Eardley’s Catterline paintings, but their presence is felt.’ (Patrick Elliott and Anne Galastro, Joan Eardley: A Sense of Place, Edinburgh 2016, p.10)
Eardley made frequent painting trips to Catterline between 1952 and 1954, before renting the small cottage at No. 1 South Row. She thereafter split her time between Glasgow and the village. Whilst keeping No.1 as a store, Eardley went on to purchase No. 18 South Row in 1959. Her relationship with the immediate area deepened and in 1961 Eardley declared:
When I’m painting in the north-east I hardly ever move out of the village…I find that the more I know of the place, or of one particular spot, the more I find to paint…I don’t think I’m painting what I feel about scenery, certainly not scenery with a name; because that is the north-east, just vast wastes, vast seas, vast areas of cliff…well – you’ve just go to paint it.’ (As quoted in Elliott and Galastro, op.cit., p.11)
Eardley gave Footsteps in the Snow, The Row, Catterline (Lot 168) to her mother’s housekeeper, Mrs McLusky in 1963. Mrs McLusky later explained that it had been made at daybreak after a fresh fall of snow. The footprints are those of the artist leaving No.1 South Row and finding the place from which to paint the scene. The cottage was the last in a row of ten and has been described thus:
No.1 was…the most exposed and southerly cottage in the village, at the least favoured end of the least favoured row, half as desirable as a coal shed…while there were a few bits of furniture in it when Eardley moved it, it seems to have had no permanent recent resident. It suited Eardley perfectly. (Elliott and Galastro, ibid., p.39).
The low vantage point means the cottage nestles above swathes of snow and beneath a sky in which dawn is advancing. Touches of colour bring out features such as the window frames and areas of weathering on the gable end. The interior painted on the work’s reverse provides a glimpse into its interior, showing the artist’s kettle set upon a gas stove. On receiving the painting, Mrs McLusky pointed out that it was unsigned, whereupon Eardley wrote her name in pencil at the lower right.