JOAN EARDLEY R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1921-1963) §
GIRL WITH DOLL
Estimate: £8,000 - £12,000
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale | Lots 112- 206 | Thursday 05 June from 6pm
Description
Pastel and charcoal
Dimensions
16.5cm x 12.5cm (6.5in x 5in)
Provenance
Given by Angus Neil (1924-92) to the mother of the present owners
Footnote
A key figure in Eardley’s life was the talented yet erratic Angus Neil (1924-92). A former soldier and joiner, Neil met Eardley during their studies at Hospitalfield in Arbroath in 1947. Eardley was drawn to Neil’s sense of humour and practicality. Across their long friendship, Neil would stay with her for protracted periods in her Townhead studio and Catterline cottage, painting alongside her and – helpfully - warding off unwanted attention during sketching excursions into more dangerous parts of the city. Eardley was also sensitive to his mental health struggles and tolerant of his sometimes challenging behaviour and violent outbursts. Like Sandeman, Neil would be a lifelong companion.
Neil was known to have struggled greatly after the loss of his stalwart friend Eardley to cancer, even being sectioned at one point in Montrose Psychiatric Hospital. He was dependent for a time on the charity and care of members of his circle, notably the artist Carole Gibbons, as well as the local medical community. Lyon & Turnbull are delighted to present to market select works from one of Eardley’s sketchbooks, gifted by Neil to a caring local doctor in Glasgow in the 1960s who gave him room and board during a breakdown. The sketchbook has been much treasured by descendants within the doctor’s family. It gives a wonderful insight into Eardley’s oeuvre, containing representations of virtually every subject one might associate with her: from studies of children to cityscapes and shorelines; all excellent examples of her astute observational skills and intuitive mark-making ability, as well as her astounding consistency of quality.
Of all her subject matter, Eardley’s sensitive depictions of the local children in Glasgow are arguably her best loved images, and probably her most famous. She favoured some sitters over others - those brimming with character that were able to sit naturalistically. The Samson family lived in Rottenrow, round the corner from her studio. The twelve siblings lived in extreme poverty in a two-roomed flat. They loved to pose for the ‘unusual’, ‘kind’s Eardley, whose studio was always warmed by a potbellied stove and who distributed cheese and syrup sandwiches, sweets and sixpences to her keen sitters.
The two children who appear in the exquisite drawing offered here are very likely members of the Samson family. This little pair recur as a repeat study by Eardley in a handful of drawings. The little boy in the blue jumper - his short thatch of hair captured in cross-hatched lines - is cradled in the arms of his older sister, who clasps her hands protectively around his middle. Eardley, both to her credit as regards the dignity of her sitters, and favourably in terms of the longevity of her imagery, assiduously favoured truth over sentimentality. Nonetheless there is an unavoidable sense of pathos in the truth contained within this image. Though her expression is merely a suggestion, the little girl glances down, the heavy weight of responsibility for her younger sibling palpable. It is a fine, highly resolved example of Eardley’s Townhead studies of a scale that is scarce to market.