houses built c.1953–55.
The Garage: J. & A. Stephen, The old post office: CarriersTo Store. Demolished 1964. ‘Sarah’s Cottage’, 41 and Motor Hirers. The oldThe post office: Store. Demolished 1964. 1964. ‘Sarah’s‘Sarah’s Cottage’, To old Angus post office: Store.Demolished Demolished Cottage’, Neil’s home which Eardley bought The old post office: Store. 1964. ‘Sarah’s Cottage’, To 71 Stonehaven To AngusAngus Neil’s home EardleyEardley boughtbought 23which which Stonehaven Neil’s home 23 from 1958–64. in May 1959, then Stonehaven Angusfrom Neil’s home which Eardley bought 23 1958–64. in May 1959, then Stonehaven from 1958–64. in May 1959, then 23 Demolished 1964. sold in 1960. 22 Demolished 1964. sold in 1960. from 1958–64. in May 1959, then 1 25 Demolished 1964. sold in 1960. 2 20 Demolished 1964. Bridgend: two sold in 1960. 43 Salmon 9 joined cottages 1 Bridgend: two joined cottages Bridgend: two joined cottages School, bought by James and Dorothy bothy School,School, boughtbought by James and Dorothy 15 by James and Dorothy built 1956. Morrison in 1958. 108 15 Bridgend: two in joined cottages built 1956. Morrison 1958. 15 built Morrison in 1958. 26 1956. Makin Green, 26 89-91 School, bought by James and Dorothy 26 The six Burnside Cottages: council Boat shed where the salmon nets The six Burnside Cottages: councilcouncil 15 built 1956. Morrison inThe 1958. six Burnside Cottages: 97 houses built c.1953–55. The Garage: were hung out to dry. houses built c.1953–55. 26The Garage: 20
A LIFE IN CATTERLINE
Co as tg ua rd 4 Bu 3 ild in 2 gs 1 1a
Four houses built after 1955.
Station Officer’s house, the largest property in the village.
houses built c.1953–55.
The six Burnside Cottages: council Four houses built after 1955. housesFour built c.1953–55. houses built after 1955. 80,
5
No.18, which Eardley bought in December 1959.
Four houses built after 1955.
Co as tg 5 ua 1 a 7 rd 4 s 14 t C 5 1 g 8 o ua 15 as 3 Buil t 5 din r 4 g dB 16 u gs 17 uil 4 ard B2 3 dinCoa 3 uild 1 18 2 5 gs stgu 2 ing 1a s 1 4 ard B 1 uil 1 3 1a dina 2 gs 1 1a 109
80, 81, 92 81, 92
89-91
distinctive mou features in man of Eardley’s wo
15
12
11
Dunnie Woof
114
113 Catterline Bay Pier Catterline Bay Craig Catterline Bay
109
Pier, c.1839–40.
15
16
17
11a
11
12
12 11
11a
113
80, 81, 92 81, 92
14
13
24
24
16
12
10 16
16
11a
CATTERLINE IN THE 1950S AND 1960S
7 54
a shed at the No.1 Catterline No.1 Catterline No.1 Catterline (South Row): back of(South the Inn. Row):
71
Kale Tap: this tall, Makin Kale Tap: this tall, Kale Tap: thisGreen, tall, mound distinctive distinctive moundmound Boat shed where theinsalmon distinctive features many nets features in many 97 inEardley’s many out were hung to dry. Dunniefeatures of works. DunnieDunnie of Eardley’s 99, 100, works. 99, 100, Woof of Eardley’s works. 103, 104 103, 104 Woof Woof Pier Craig Pier, c.1839–40. Pier Craig Pier Craig Pier, c.1839–40. Pier, c.1839–40. 80, Kale Tap: this t 81, 92 81, 92
80, 81, 92 81, 92
114
16
17
16
15
14
14
114
13
13
109 109 Catterline Bay 114
54
(South Row): the cottage Eardley the cottage EardleyEardley 53 53 the cottage rented from 72 24 rented rented from from 72 66 c.1954–59, used72 c.1954–59, used used Mrs Taylor. c.1954–59, 16 as a store from as a store as afrom store from and ultimately68, 1959–63 1959–63 and ultimately 69 1959–63 and ultimately bought in January 1963. boughtbought in January 1963. 1963. in January
5853 60
10
9 8
68, 69
60
24
9 8
53
10
No.1 Catterline (South Row): the cottage Eardley rented from 72 c.1954–59, used as a store from 1959–63 and ultimately bought in January 1963.
ow 2 1 th R Sou 4 3 5 6
54
Corn Mill Mrs Taylor. Nos. 2-6: Nos 2–6 mainly Mrs Taylor. Mrs Taylor. unoccupied during Eardley’s time in Catterline The village shop and 54 used forinstorage. 58- was housed
113
1 ow th R 3 2 Sou 5 4 7 6 ow 2 1 9 8 th R Sou 4 3 10 5 7 6 th Row 2 1 9 8 Sou 4 3 5 6
was housed in at the a shed a shed aatshed the at the back of the Inn. back the Inn. To of the back of the Inn.
7
•
16
11
24
9 8
Edinburgh
Nos 14–15, the Massons’ Inn (renamed the Creel Inn from c.1953). LaterThe village shop The village shop shop The village enlarged into No.13. was housed in was housed in
113
Co
12 11
11a
To the To the To the Corn Mill Corn Mill Corn Mill
10
8 joan eardley
•
Nos 14–15, the Massons’ Nos 14–15, the Massons’ Nos 14–15, Massons’ Innthe (renamed the Creel Inn Inn (renamed the Creel No.18, whichInn (renamed theInn Creel Inn from c.1953). Later from c.1953). Later Later from c.1953). Eardley bought enlarged into No.13. enlarged into No.13. enlarged into No.13.
Carriers and Motor Hirers.Hirers. Carriers and Motor
71 The Garage: 71 Kale Tap: this tall, 2 2 20 2 1& A. Stephen, J. 25 2 2 2 2 1 distinctive mound 25 0 2 2 21 Salmon 41 20 43 Carriers 25 and Motor Hirers. SalmonSalmon 20 19 43 19 features 43 9 bothyin many 1 71 108 Dunnie bothy bothy of Eardley’s works. Makin Green, 108 89-91 MakinMakin Green,Green, 2 Woof 2 89-91 Boat shed where the salmon nets 89-91 1 25 shed 2 Boat where the salmon nets nets 97 Boat shed where the salmon 0 were hung out to dry. 2 97 were hung out to dry. 99, 100, Salmon Pier, c.1839–40.19 9799, 100, were hung out to43 dry. 99, 100, 99, 100, 99, 100, 103, 103, 104 104 99, 100, 103, 104 103, 104103, 104 bothy 103, 104
108
in December 1959.
Mrs Taylor.
Glasgow
No.18, which 114 StationNo.18, Officer’s which which No.18, Eardley bought bought house,Eardley the largest Eardley in bought December 1959. in December 1959. 1959. property in in the village. December
18
13
• • Stonehaven CATTERLINE • The village shop housed in Montrose • was a shed at the Arbroath • back of the Inn.
Pier Craig
109
41
99, 100, 99, 100,20 The Garage: J. & A. Stephen, 103, J. &104 A. J.Stephen, 20 104 & A. Stephen, 41103, Carriers and Motor Hirers.
work there from 1952–54.
13
14
To the Corn Mill
108
Station Officer’s house, the largest 113 house, house, the largest the largestin the village. property property in the property village. in the village.
1181a
15
16
17
18
Nos 14–15, the Massons’ Inn (renamed the Creel Inn from c.1953). Later enlarged into No.13.
Aberdeen
81, 92 81, 92
Station1955. Officer’s Four houses built after Station Officer’s
20
41
The Watch House known as ‘the Watchie’. The Watch House House knownknown as ‘the as Watchie’. The Watch ‘the Watchie’. Built for Customs & Excise, was bought by as ‘t The Watch House known Built for Customs & Excise, was bought by Built forAnnette CustomsSoper & Excise, wasShe bought by in 1952. let Eardley Built for Customs & Excise, wa Annette Soper in 1952. She let Eardley Annettework Soperthere in 1952. let Eardley fromShe 1952–54. work there from 1952–54. Annette Soper in 1952. She let work there from 1952–54.
7
66 68, 69
Nos. Nos 2-6: 2–6 mainly Nos. Nos 2-6: 2–6 mainly Nos. 2-6: Nos 2–6 mainly during unoccupied unoccupied duringduring unoccupied Eardley’s time in Eardley’s time intime in Eardley’s Catterline and Catterline and and used for storage. 58- Catterline used for storage. 60 used for storage. 5860
68, 6669
Catterline in the 1950s and 1960s
Catterline Bay The number markers correspond to works illustrated in this book. In each case the arrows indicate Eardley’s CATTERLINE IN THE 1950S AND 1960S CATTERLINE IN THE 1950S AND 1960S position and her direction of view.CATTERLINE IN THE 1950S AND 1960S KEY:
The number markers correspond to works illustrated The number markers correspond to works works illustrated The number markers correspond illustrated in this book. In each case to the arrows indicate Eardley’s in this in book. In each case the arrows indicate Eardley’s this book. In each the arrows Public water taps and pumps. position and case her direction of indicate view. Eardley’s position and her direction of view. position and her direction of view. KEY: Public water taps and pumps. KEY: KEY: Public water and pumps. Publictaps water taps and pumps.
66
0
50
100m 0
Sou 5 6
Nos. Nos 2-6: 2–6 mainly
0
0 50
9 50
50 100m 100m
100m
houses built c.1953–55.
The Garage: J. & A. Stephen, The old post office: CarriersTo Store. Demolished 1964. ‘Sarah’s Cottage’, 41 and Motor Hirers. The oldThe post office: Store. Demolished 1964. 1964. ‘Sarah’s‘Sarah’s Cottage’, To old Angus post office: Store.Demolished Demolished Cottage’, Neil’s home which Eardley bought The old post office: Store. 1964. ‘Sarah’s Cottage’, To 71 Stonehaven To AngusAngus Neil’s home EardleyEardley boughtbought 23which which Stonehaven Neil’s home 23 from 1958–64. in May 1959, then Stonehaven Angusfrom Neil’s home which Eardley bought 23 1958–64. in May 1959, then Stonehaven from 1958–64. in May 1959, then 23 Demolished 1964. sold in 1960. 22 Demolished 1964. sold in 1960. from 1958–64. in May 1959, then 1 25 Demolished 1964. sold in 1960. 2 20 Demolished 1964. Bridgend: two sold in 1960. 43 Salmon 9 joined cottages 1 Bridgend: two joined cottages Bridgend: two joined cottages School, bought by James and Dorothy bothy School,School, boughtbought by James and Dorothy 15 by James and Dorothy built 1956. Morrison in 1958. 108 15 Bridgend: two in joined cottages built 1956. Morrison 1958. 15 built Morrison in 1958. 26 1956. Makin Green, 26 89-91 School, bought by James and Dorothy 26 The six Burnside Cottages: council Boat shed where the salmon nets The six Burnside Cottages: councilcouncil 15 built 1956. Morrison inThe 1958. six Burnside Cottages: 97 houses built c.1953–55. The Garage: were hung out to dry. houses built c.1953–55. 26The Garage: 20
A LIFE IN CATTERLINE
Co as tg ua rd 4 Bu 3 ild in 2 gs 1 1a
Four houses built after 1955.
Station Officer’s house, the largest property in the village.
houses built c.1953–55.
The six Burnside Cottages: council Four houses built after 1955. housesFour built c.1953–55. houses built after 1955. 80,
5
No.18, which Eardley bought in December 1959.
Four houses built after 1955.
Co as tg 5 ua 1 a 7 rd 4 s 14 t C 5 1 g 8 o ua 15 as 3 Buil t 5 din r 4 g dB 16 u gs 17 uil 4 ard B2 3 dinCoa 3 uild 1 18 2 5 gs stgu 2 ing 1a s 1 4 ard B 1 uil 1 3 1a dina 2 gs 1 1a 109
80, 81, 92 81, 92
89-91
distinctive mou features in man of Eardley’s wo
15
12
11
Dunnie Woof
114
113 Catterline Bay Pier Catterline Bay Craig Catterline Bay
109
Pier, c.1839–40.
15
16
17
11a
11
12
12 11
11a
113
80, 81, 92 81, 92
14
13
24
24
16
12
10 16
16
11a
CATTERLINE IN THE 1950S AND 1960S
7 54
a shed at the No.1 Catterline No.1 Catterline No.1 Catterline (South Row): back of(South the Inn. Row):
71
Kale Tap: this tall, Makin Kale Tap: this tall, Kale Tap: thisGreen, tall, mound distinctive distinctive moundmound Boat shed where theinsalmon distinctive features many nets features in many 97 inEardley’s many out were hung to dry. Dunniefeatures of works. DunnieDunnie of Eardley’s 99, 100, works. 99, 100, Woof of Eardley’s works. 103, 104 103, 104 Woof Woof Pier Craig Pier, c.1839–40. Pier Craig Pier Craig Pier, c.1839–40. Pier, c.1839–40. 80, Kale Tap: this t 81, 92 81, 92
80, 81, 92 81, 92
114
16
17
16
15
14
14
114
13
13
109 109 Catterline Bay 114
54
(South Row): the cottage Eardley the cottage EardleyEardley 53 53 the cottage rented from 72 24 rented rented from from 72 66 c.1954–59, used72 c.1954–59, used used Mrs Taylor. c.1954–59, 16 as a store from as a store as afrom store from and ultimately68, 1959–63 1959–63 and ultimately 69 1959–63 and ultimately bought in January 1963. boughtbought in January 1963. 1963. in January
5853 60
10
9 8
68, 69
60
24
9 8
53
10
No.1 Catterline (South Row): the cottage Eardley rented from 72 c.1954–59, used as a store from 1959–63 and ultimately bought in January 1963.
ow 2 1 th R Sou 4 3 5 6
54
Corn Mill Mrs Taylor. Nos. 2-6: Nos 2–6 mainly Mrs Taylor. Mrs Taylor. unoccupied during Eardley’s time in Catterline The village shop and 54 used forinstorage. 58- was housed
113
1 ow th R 3 2 Sou 5 4 7 6 ow 2 1 9 8 th R Sou 4 3 10 5 7 6 th Row 2 1 9 8 Sou 4 3 5 6
was housed in at the a shed a shed aatshed the at the back of the Inn. back the Inn. To of the back of the Inn.
7
•
16
11
24
9 8
Edinburgh
Nos 14–15, the Massons’ Inn (renamed the Creel Inn from c.1953). LaterThe village shop The village shop shop The village enlarged into No.13. was housed in was housed in
113
Co
12 11
11a
To the To the To the Corn Mill Corn Mill Corn Mill
10
8 joan eardley
•
Nos 14–15, the Massons’ Nos 14–15, the Massons’ Nos 14–15, Massons’ Innthe (renamed the Creel Inn Inn (renamed the Creel No.18, whichInn (renamed theInn Creel Inn from c.1953). Later from c.1953). Later Later from c.1953). Eardley bought enlarged into No.13. enlarged into No.13. enlarged into No.13.
Carriers and Motor Hirers.Hirers. Carriers and Motor
71 The Garage: 71 Kale Tap: this tall, 2 2 20 2 1& A. Stephen, J. 25 2 2 2 2 1 distinctive mound 25 0 2 2 21 Salmon 41 20 43 Carriers 25 and Motor Hirers. SalmonSalmon 20 19 43 19 features 43 9 bothyin many 1 71 108 Dunnie bothy bothy of Eardley’s works. Makin Green, 108 89-91 MakinMakin Green,Green, 2 Woof 2 89-91 Boat shed where the salmon nets 89-91 1 25 shed 2 Boat where the salmon nets nets 97 Boat shed where the salmon 0 were hung out to dry. 2 97 were hung out to dry. 99, 100, Salmon Pier, c.1839–40.19 9799, 100, were hung out to43 dry. 99, 100, 99, 100, 99, 100, 103, 103, 104 104 99, 100, 103, 104 103, 104103, 104 bothy 103, 104
108
in December 1959.
Mrs Taylor.
Glasgow
No.18, which 114 StationNo.18, Officer’s which which No.18, Eardley bought bought house,Eardley the largest Eardley in bought December 1959. in December 1959. 1959. property in in the village. December
18
13
• • Stonehaven CATTERLINE • The village shop housed in Montrose • was a shed at the Arbroath • back of the Inn.
Pier Craig
109
41
99, 100, 99, 100,20 The Garage: J. & A. Stephen, 103, J. &104 A. J.Stephen, 20 104 & A. Stephen, 41103, Carriers and Motor Hirers.
work there from 1952–54.
13
14
To the Corn Mill
108
Station Officer’s house, the largest 113 house, house, the largest the largestin the village. property property in the property village. in the village.
1181a
15
16
17
18
Nos 14–15, the Massons’ Inn (renamed the Creel Inn from c.1953). Later enlarged into No.13.
Aberdeen
81, 92 81, 92
Station1955. Officer’s Four houses built after Station Officer’s
20
41
The Watch House known as ‘the Watchie’. The Watch House House knownknown as ‘the as Watchie’. The Watch ‘the Watchie’. Built for Customs & Excise, was bought by as ‘t The Watch House known Built for Customs & Excise, was bought by Built forAnnette CustomsSoper & Excise, wasShe bought by in 1952. let Eardley Built for Customs & Excise, wa Annette Soper in 1952. She let Eardley Annettework Soperthere in 1952. let Eardley fromShe 1952–54. work there from 1952–54. Annette Soper in 1952. She let work there from 1952–54.
7
66 68, 69
Nos. Nos 2-6: 2–6 mainly Nos. Nos 2-6: 2–6 mainly Nos. 2-6: Nos 2–6 mainly during unoccupied unoccupied duringduring unoccupied Eardley’s time in Eardley’s time intime in Eardley’s Catterline and Catterline and and used for storage. 58- Catterline used for storage. 60 used for storage. 5860
68, 6669
Catterline in the 1950s and 1960s
Catterline Bay The number markers correspond to works illustrated in this book. In each case the arrows indicate Eardley’s CATTERLINE IN THE 1950S AND 1960S CATTERLINE IN THE 1950S AND 1960S position and her direction of view.CATTERLINE IN THE 1950S AND 1960S KEY:
The number markers correspond to works illustrated The number markers correspond to works works illustrated The number markers correspond illustrated in this book. In each case to the arrows indicate Eardley’s in this in book. In each case the arrows indicate Eardley’s this book. In each the arrows Public water taps and pumps. position and case her direction of indicate view. Eardley’s position and her direction of view. position and her direction of view. KEY: Public water taps and pumps. KEY: KEY: Public water and pumps. Publictaps water taps and pumps.
66
0
50
100m 0
Sou 5 6
Nos. Nos 2-6: 2–6 mainly
0
0 50
9 50
50 100m 100m
100m
73 · Eardley’s watercolour paints (with ear of corn) Private collection
74 · Autumn Flowers and Seed-heads, c.1960
Pastel and oil on three sheets of paper, 25 x 22.6 cm (irregular) National Galleries of Scotland: presented by the artist’s sister, Pat Black, 1987
but most had a more experimental, preparatory role. She often started on a single sheet and then attached additional sheets in a piecemeal fashion with paperclips. Over 1,300 drawings were found in her studios after her death. They were integral to her working practice – partly as studies to be translated into larger paintings, partly as stages in a thinking process. William Macaulay, who ran The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, wanted more of her drawings to sell, but Eardley had reservations, having let some go and later regretted it. She explained that ‘previously I have set little value on my drawings, except for my own personal use – and they have often become destroyed during the working of a picture’.24 But having recently been kept indoors through illness, she had sorely missed them: ‘I found myself so much in need of drawings, to let me feel some contact with my subjects and my work when I was unable to get around last winter – that I swore I would not sell any for a long time, once I had managed to do some more’.25 In 1960 she began to stick real grasses, stalks and seed-heads into her landscape paintings, embedding them in her home-made, claggy oil paint. There are not many works of this type: the most substantially collaged paintings are the richly matted Seeded Grasses and Daisies, September, 1960 [75] and Summer Fields, 1961 [76]. Ever the realist, instead of painting grasses, she simply picked up real ones and pressed them into the congealed paint. This collage approach seems to slightly pre-date her use of collage in her Glasgow paintings, when she stuck newspaper and sweet wrappers onto her portraits of children. Some 92 joan eardley
of the seascapes have newspaper embedded in the foaming waves to give them three-dimensional substance, such as January Flow Tide [99], which also includes a piece of silver foil. She stuck a newspaper crossword into the clotted paint in one seascape, allowing the squares of the puzzle to read as a fishing net.26 Eardley included Seeded Grasses and Daisies, September in her show at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh in May 1961. The critic Sydney Goodsir Smith saw Eardley hanging it and cautioned her that it would be ‘bits of dust’ within a year.27 Eardley was furious and argued back: she knew her craft and was confident it would last. (It has.) The artist Anne Redpath (1895–1965) also saw and admired this painting in the exhibition, but she too wondered about its longevity.28 Eardley does seem to have had second thoughts about the process, and never used it again to the same degree. It was
73 · Eardley’s watercolour paints (with ear of corn) Private collection
74 · Autumn Flowers and Seed-heads, c.1960
Pastel and oil on three sheets of paper, 25 x 22.6 cm (irregular) National Galleries of Scotland: presented by the artist’s sister, Pat Black, 1987
but most had a more experimental, preparatory role. She often started on a single sheet and then attached additional sheets in a piecemeal fashion with paperclips. Over 1,300 drawings were found in her studios after her death. They were integral to her working practice – partly as studies to be translated into larger paintings, partly as stages in a thinking process. William Macaulay, who ran The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, wanted more of her drawings to sell, but Eardley had reservations, having let some go and later regretted it. She explained that ‘previously I have set little value on my drawings, except for my own personal use – and they have often become destroyed during the working of a picture’.24 But having recently been kept indoors through illness, she had sorely missed them: ‘I found myself so much in need of drawings, to let me feel some contact with my subjects and my work when I was unable to get around last winter – that I swore I would not sell any for a long time, once I had managed to do some more’.25 In 1960 she began to stick real grasses, stalks and seed-heads into her landscape paintings, embedding them in her home-made, claggy oil paint. There are not many works of this type: the most substantially collaged paintings are the richly matted Seeded Grasses and Daisies, September, 1960 [75] and Summer Fields, 1961 [76]. Ever the realist, instead of painting grasses, she simply picked up real ones and pressed them into the congealed paint. This collage approach seems to slightly pre-date her use of collage in her Glasgow paintings, when she stuck newspaper and sweet wrappers onto her portraits of children. Some 92 joan eardley
of the seascapes have newspaper embedded in the foaming waves to give them three-dimensional substance, such as January Flow Tide [99], which also includes a piece of silver foil. She stuck a newspaper crossword into the clotted paint in one seascape, allowing the squares of the puzzle to read as a fishing net.26 Eardley included Seeded Grasses and Daisies, September in her show at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh in May 1961. The critic Sydney Goodsir Smith saw Eardley hanging it and cautioned her that it would be ‘bits of dust’ within a year.27 Eardley was furious and argued back: she knew her craft and was confident it would last. (It has.) The artist Anne Redpath (1895–1965) also saw and admired this painting in the exhibition, but she too wondered about its longevity.28 Eardley does seem to have had second thoughts about the process, and never used it again to the same degree. It was
11 · Self-portrait, 1943
Oil on plywood, 53.4 x 45.7 cm National Galleries of Scotland: purchased 2001
2
JOAN EARDLEY DISCOVERS CATTERLINE Joan Eardley’s parents, Irene Morrison (1891–1981) and William Eardley (1888–1929), married in 1917 in Glasgow, where he was stationed during the First World War.1 After the war, William ran Bailing Hill dairy farm at Warnham, near Horsham in West Sussex. Joan was born there on 18 May 1921. William had been gassed in France and left traumatised, and had severe depression. In 1925 the family moved to Lincoln, where he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, but by the end of 1926 he was in financial difficulty. William and Irene separated. Irene, Joan (then aged five), her younger sister Pat (1922–2013) and their aunt Sybil (1893–1984) moved into Irene’s mother’s house in Westcombe Park Road, between Blackheath and Greenwich in south-east London. Joan’s father moved to Penrith in Cumbria (then Cumberland), where he worked as an Inspector of Livestock. Burdened by financial problems and depression, he took his own life in December 1929, aged 41.2 With war looming, in 1939 the family moved to Auchterarder, near Perth in Scotland, where they had relatives. In January 1940 they settled in a house at 170 Drymen Road, Bearsden, an affluent, almost rural suburb on the north-west side of Glasgow. Eardley enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art soon after. One of the first people she met at the School of Art was fellow student Margot Sandeman
(1922–2009), who would remain a lifelong friend. They spent several holidays together in a little bothy at Corrie on the Isle of Arran, on one occasion going on a trip in a horse-drawn cart [12]. Basic rural life held a strong appeal for Eardley from the outset of her career as an artist. Eardley emerged as a leading student at the School of Art. Cordelia Oliver (1923–2009), who became her close friend (and stalwart champion in later years, through her work as an art critic), was a year behind her, but they shared some classes. She recalled: I retain a vivid memory of Joan Eardley at work in the life-class … the way she would stand for long minutes at a time, assimilating the model on the throne, not in detail so much as in the thrusts of the pose and the relationships of form with form, volume with space. Only then would she make her chalk marks on the paper, swiftly and with meaning.3 This approach involving intense looking and concentrated recording would be the foundation stone upon which Eardley’s art was based. She graduated with her diploma in 1943, her self-portrait [11] winning the Guthrie Prize. Reluctant to go into teaching or be conscripted, for nearly two years she worked as a joiner’s labourer at a small boat-building firm belonging to friends of the family, John A. Russell, in Bearsden.4 21
11 · Self-portrait, 1943
Oil on plywood, 53.4 x 45.7 cm National Galleries of Scotland: purchased 2001
2
JOAN EARDLEY DISCOVERS CATTERLINE Joan Eardley’s parents, Irene Morrison (1891–1981) and William Eardley (1888–1929), married in 1917 in Glasgow, where he was stationed during the First World War.1 After the war, William ran Bailing Hill dairy farm at Warnham, near Horsham in West Sussex. Joan was born there on 18 May 1921. William had been gassed in France and left traumatised, and had severe depression. In 1925 the family moved to Lincoln, where he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, but by the end of 1926 he was in financial difficulty. William and Irene separated. Irene, Joan (then aged five), her younger sister Pat (1922–2013) and their aunt Sybil (1893–1984) moved into Irene’s mother’s house in Westcombe Park Road, between Blackheath and Greenwich in south-east London. Joan’s father moved to Penrith in Cumbria (then Cumberland), where he worked as an Inspector of Livestock. Burdened by financial problems and depression, he took his own life in December 1929, aged 41.2 With war looming, in 1939 the family moved to Auchterarder, near Perth in Scotland, where they had relatives. In January 1940 they settled in a house at 170 Drymen Road, Bearsden, an affluent, almost rural suburb on the north-west side of Glasgow. Eardley enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art soon after. One of the first people she met at the School of Art was fellow student Margot Sandeman
(1922–2009), who would remain a lifelong friend. They spent several holidays together in a little bothy at Corrie on the Isle of Arran, on one occasion going on a trip in a horse-drawn cart [12]. Basic rural life held a strong appeal for Eardley from the outset of her career as an artist. Eardley emerged as a leading student at the School of Art. Cordelia Oliver (1923–2009), who became her close friend (and stalwart champion in later years, through her work as an art critic), was a year behind her, but they shared some classes. She recalled: I retain a vivid memory of Joan Eardley at work in the life-class … the way she would stand for long minutes at a time, assimilating the model on the throne, not in detail so much as in the thrusts of the pose and the relationships of form with form, volume with space. Only then would she make her chalk marks on the paper, swiftly and with meaning.3 This approach involving intense looking and concentrated recording would be the foundation stone upon which Eardley’s art was based. She graduated with her diploma in 1943, her self-portrait [11] winning the Guthrie Prize. Reluctant to go into teaching or be conscripted, for nearly two years she worked as a joiner’s labourer at a small boat-building firm belonging to friends of the family, John A. Russell, in Bearsden.4 21
32 · The toilet behind No.1 South Row, c.1957
Photograph by Joan Eardley Joan Eardley Archive, National Galleries of Scotland Archive: presented by the artist’s sister, Pat Black, 1987
31 · Joan Eardley seated on a pile of
Eardley’s cottage was fully exposed to the raging easterly gales which came in from the North Sea. It was also the nearest cottage to the foghorn beyond the lighthouse at Kinneff, which would sometimes sound for days on end. None of the cottages on the South Row had letterbox slots in their doors, for the simple reason that they would have blown open and let in the wind and rain. On one stormy winter night, Eardley wrote to Audrey Walker:
wooden boards, c.1955
Photograph by Audrey Walker Joan Eardley Archive, National Galleries of Scotland Archive: presented by the artist’s sister, Pat Black, 1987
poor little No 1 is getting rocketed about. Every now and then by an extra hard blast of wind the door is blown open and what amounts to about a bucket full of rain is sloshed in through the open door … Nothing we can do to assure the chimney staying in place – or the roof for that matter … The rain has poured into the studio so that the floor is one enormous lake.13
bedwarmer, filling it up from the water she boiled over her fire. Margot Sandeman later recalled: ‘She had mice in the cottage. At dusk they would come out and run about, jumping in and out of the coal bucket. She didn’t mind it at all!’12
She added, typically, that she would like to go out and paint, ‘though I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my easel standing’. The South Row cottages all had chemical toilets housed in little wooden sheds at the front, except Eardley’s, which had a toilet at the back. Late in 1957 she had her toilet shed remodelled, adding a new door [32]. A cause for mock celebration, she mentioned it in a letter to Audrey Walker: ‘It’s got a WINDOW and it’s going to have a curtain, so as those folks what is shy can pull that wee lace curtain – and feel right soft and cosy.’14 Walker recorded that the door was made from a rejected painting on its stretcher, which could presumably be enjoyed from a seated position.15 Eardley was helped in a lot of her labouring work by Angus Neil (1924–1992). Born in Kilbarchan in Renfrewshire, he had a troubled upbringing and had No.1 south row 43
32 · The toilet behind No.1 South Row, c.1957
Photograph by Joan Eardley Joan Eardley Archive, National Galleries of Scotland Archive: presented by the artist’s sister, Pat Black, 1987
31 · Joan Eardley seated on a pile of
Eardley’s cottage was fully exposed to the raging easterly gales which came in from the North Sea. It was also the nearest cottage to the foghorn beyond the lighthouse at Kinneff, which would sometimes sound for days on end. None of the cottages on the South Row had letterbox slots in their doors, for the simple reason that they would have blown open and let in the wind and rain. On one stormy winter night, Eardley wrote to Audrey Walker:
wooden boards, c.1955
Photograph by Audrey Walker Joan Eardley Archive, National Galleries of Scotland Archive: presented by the artist’s sister, Pat Black, 1987
poor little No 1 is getting rocketed about. Every now and then by an extra hard blast of wind the door is blown open and what amounts to about a bucket full of rain is sloshed in through the open door … Nothing we can do to assure the chimney staying in place – or the roof for that matter … The rain has poured into the studio so that the floor is one enormous lake.13
bedwarmer, filling it up from the water she boiled over her fire. Margot Sandeman later recalled: ‘She had mice in the cottage. At dusk they would come out and run about, jumping in and out of the coal bucket. She didn’t mind it at all!’12
She added, typically, that she would like to go out and paint, ‘though I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my easel standing’. The South Row cottages all had chemical toilets housed in little wooden sheds at the front, except Eardley’s, which had a toilet at the back. Late in 1957 she had her toilet shed remodelled, adding a new door [32]. A cause for mock celebration, she mentioned it in a letter to Audrey Walker: ‘It’s got a WINDOW and it’s going to have a curtain, so as those folks what is shy can pull that wee lace curtain – and feel right soft and cosy.’14 Walker recorded that the door was made from a rejected painting on its stretcher, which could presumably be enjoyed from a seated position.15 Eardley was helped in a lot of her labouring work by Angus Neil (1924–1992). Born in Kilbarchan in Renfrewshire, he had a troubled upbringing and had No.1 south row 43
81 · Boats on the Shore, c.1963
Oil on board, 101.6 x 115.6 cm National Galleries of Scotland: Scott Hay Collection, presented 1967
make something that can hang between reality and abstraction with this sort of subject. I can’t achieve it anyway.’9 The sea offered more scope as her more energetic style evolved. Previously, the sea had been an obstacle for her when she approached it as a realist artist; now it was the ideal subject as she embraced the painterly values of abstraction. She admired the paintings of her contemporary Alan Davie (1920–2014), the Scottish Abstract Expressionist who won international acclaim in the late 1950s. She had a reproduction of one of his paintings on the wall in her cottage: ‘I’ve pinned that Alan Davie on the wall next to [the] map. It’s really a very fine painting, I wish I could see it. They are tremendous shapes these vicious straight lines and the 3 triangles.’10 The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art opened in Edinburgh in 1960 in the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, providing, for the first time in Scotland, a permanent display of contemporary international art. Eardley mentions visiting the Gallery in one of her letters, and picked out two works she particularly liked, by Jean Dubuffet and Antoni Tàpies.11 Eardley’s late sea paintings feature certain recurring motifs associated with fishing, such as boats, tall poles, nets and creels. Before thinking about these works as paintings, it may be helpful to examine all this fishing paraphernalia and say something of the people who used it. Although she did not paint the people of Catterline, their working materials and their cottages and crops act as analogues for their lives. Eardley was instinctively drawn to poor communities who lived on the margins, to people whose way of life was under threat. Even though
they are largely devoid of figurative references, her Catterline paintings are as much about people and community as are her paintings of Glasgow children. Old nets can serve pictorial ends, but they can also speak of human endurance and resilience in the face of change. By the late 1950s there were just four fishing boats left in Catterline: the Hopefull, the Linfall, the Mascot and the Fear Not.12 They were shallow-draught boats with inboard engines. They can be seen in many of Eardley’s paintings and drawings and can be identified by their numbers and their colour: the blue Linfall and the green Mascot are the boats most often seen, featuring, for example in Green and Blue Boats [80] and Boats on the Shore [81]. Designed and built in the early years of the twentieth century, these two boats were 21 feet long and were old ship’s lifeboats. They had two main catches: lobster and crab caught in creels, and haddock and cod caught on a long line or a short line (known as a ‘smaline’). The Hopefull (A267) belonged to ‘Big’ Jim Stephen (who lived at No.21), the Mascot (A440) to the Watt family, the Linfall (A471) to Harry Wylie and the Fear Not (A627) to Alec Criggie.13 The Hopefull and the Meanwell were identical, purpose-built fishing boats made in Cowie, Stonehaven, in 1907. These fishermen and their families lived in cottages overlooking the bay. Eardley knew them all and exchanged words with them about the weather on a daily basis. Most of the villagers were connected in some way, and many had been born in Catterline, as had their parents and grandparents. For example, Jim Stephen who owned the Hopefull married Annette Soper, the schoolteacher who had first the sea 103
81 · Boats on the Shore, c.1963
Oil on board, 101.6 x 115.6 cm National Galleries of Scotland: Scott Hay Collection, presented 1967
make something that can hang between reality and abstraction with this sort of subject. I can’t achieve it anyway.’9 The sea offered more scope as her more energetic style evolved. Previously, the sea had been an obstacle for her when she approached it as a realist artist; now it was the ideal subject as she embraced the painterly values of abstraction. She admired the paintings of her contemporary Alan Davie (1920–2014), the Scottish Abstract Expressionist who won international acclaim in the late 1950s. She had a reproduction of one of his paintings on the wall in her cottage: ‘I’ve pinned that Alan Davie on the wall next to [the] map. It’s really a very fine painting, I wish I could see it. They are tremendous shapes these vicious straight lines and the 3 triangles.’10 The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art opened in Edinburgh in 1960 in the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, providing, for the first time in Scotland, a permanent display of contemporary international art. Eardley mentions visiting the Gallery in one of her letters, and picked out two works she particularly liked, by Jean Dubuffet and Antoni Tàpies.11 Eardley’s late sea paintings feature certain recurring motifs associated with fishing, such as boats, tall poles, nets and creels. Before thinking about these works as paintings, it may be helpful to examine all this fishing paraphernalia and say something of the people who used it. Although she did not paint the people of Catterline, their working materials and their cottages and crops act as analogues for their lives. Eardley was instinctively drawn to poor communities who lived on the margins, to people whose way of life was under threat. Even though
they are largely devoid of figurative references, her Catterline paintings are as much about people and community as are her paintings of Glasgow children. Old nets can serve pictorial ends, but they can also speak of human endurance and resilience in the face of change. By the late 1950s there were just four fishing boats left in Catterline: the Hopefull, the Linfall, the Mascot and the Fear Not.12 They were shallow-draught boats with inboard engines. They can be seen in many of Eardley’s paintings and drawings and can be identified by their numbers and their colour: the blue Linfall and the green Mascot are the boats most often seen, featuring, for example in Green and Blue Boats [80] and Boats on the Shore [81]. Designed and built in the early years of the twentieth century, these two boats were 21 feet long and were old ship’s lifeboats. They had two main catches: lobster and crab caught in creels, and haddock and cod caught on a long line or a short line (known as a ‘smaline’). The Hopefull (A267) belonged to ‘Big’ Jim Stephen (who lived at No.21), the Mascot (A440) to the Watt family, the Linfall (A471) to Harry Wylie and the Fear Not (A627) to Alec Criggie.13 The Hopefull and the Meanwell were identical, purpose-built fishing boats made in Cowie, Stonehaven, in 1907. These fishermen and their families lived in cottages overlooking the bay. Eardley knew them all and exchanged words with them about the weather on a daily basis. Most of the villagers were connected in some way, and many had been born in Catterline, as had their parents and grandparents. For example, Jim Stephen who owned the Hopefull married Annette Soper, the schoolteacher who had first the sea 103
104 · Seascape (Foam and Blue Sky), 1962
Oil on board, 94 x 167 cm National Galleries of Scotland: the Henry and Sula Walton collection, bequeathed 2012
feelings and experience went into these pictures? Big, semi-abstract paintings with loose, gestural brushwork are often called ‘Expressionist’. If she was an Expressionist, what exactly was she expressing? Autobiographical readings of pictures often get short shrift, but it is hard to avoid them in Eardley’s case. When we know of her introversion and awkwardness, coupled with her burning, passionate nature, and the frustrations that chance had thrown at her, the paintings look like declarations of an emotional condition. Writing on the train to London, she described herself as being ‘Like a bottle with the bung stuck in’ when she was unable to paint.56 She was drawn towards raging seas for a reason. The lack of a central focus, the avoidance of descriptive detail, the need to paint things in constant movement, things which never rested, all look like metaphors for her own state of mind. Angus Neil viewed Eardley’s predicament, loving two women – Margot Sandeman and Audrey Walker – both of whom were married and had families, as being one of constant torment. He knew Eardley as well as anyone; he believed that her emotional frustrations were channelled into an ‘utter dedication to her muse’: her art.57 Cordelia Oliver, a friend from the Glasgow School of Art, had a similar view, although in her monograph published in 1988 she was not explicit. She noted that ‘the black dog of melancholia hounded Joan Eardley intermittently throughout her life’ and believed that it was because she yearned for stable and constant companionship which she could never achieve.58 Oliver seems to have been unaware of the love which bound Eardley and Lil Neilson in the last year of her life, when she produced some of her greatest works. 128 joan eardley
104 · Seascape (Foam and Blue Sky), 1962
Oil on board, 94 x 167 cm National Galleries of Scotland: the Henry and Sula Walton collection, bequeathed 2012
feelings and experience went into these pictures? Big, semi-abstract paintings with loose, gestural brushwork are often called ‘Expressionist’. If she was an Expressionist, what exactly was she expressing? Autobiographical readings of pictures often get short shrift, but it is hard to avoid them in Eardley’s case. When we know of her introversion and awkwardness, coupled with her burning, passionate nature, and the frustrations that chance had thrown at her, the paintings look like declarations of an emotional condition. Writing on the train to London, she described herself as being ‘Like a bottle with the bung stuck in’ when she was unable to paint.56 She was drawn towards raging seas for a reason. The lack of a central focus, the avoidance of descriptive detail, the need to paint things in constant movement, things which never rested, all look like metaphors for her own state of mind. Angus Neil viewed Eardley’s predicament, loving two women – Margot Sandeman and Audrey Walker – both of whom were married and had families, as being one of constant torment. He knew Eardley as well as anyone; he believed that her emotional frustrations were channelled into an ‘utter dedication to her muse’: her art.57 Cordelia Oliver, a friend from the Glasgow School of Art, had a similar view, although in her monograph published in 1988 she was not explicit. She noted that ‘the black dog of melancholia hounded Joan Eardley intermittently throughout her life’ and believed that it was because she yearned for stable and constant companionship which she could never achieve.58 Oliver seems to have been unaware of the love which bound Eardley and Lil Neilson in the last year of her life, when she produced some of her greatest works. 128 joan eardley
113 · Catterline in Winter, 1963
Oil on board, 120.7 x 130.8 cm National Galleries of Scotland: purchased 1964
snow-covered road that leads from the Creel Inn down to the pier. The tall stone post on the right marks the western boundary of No.18. The sketchy blue marks to the right indicate a blue bench, which stood there for many years. The vertical sticks in the centre foreground are, once more, Mrs Beattie’s drying poles. The building by the stony track (it was rough and untarmacked and barely qualified as a road) and directly under the setting sun is No.12, which belonged to the Watt family; the black form attached to it is the shed they used for storing nets. The sun, a misshapen smudge of creamy-white paint, hangs heavy in the lead-grey sky. Its position tells us that it is afternoon, around three. It is beginning to get dark, and it must be cold. In her letters, Eardley mentioned how the nights drew in quickly in winter: ‘Once again it’s evening, such long evenings now. At 4 o’clock it is almost dark, and by 4.30–4.45 quite dark … Angus comes in and we eat, and then he goes away again to work inside his house – and there’s still a whole evening.’16 But the lack of social contact didn’t bother her – and, in a letter to Audrey Walker, she mentioned being ‘here all winter with never a social outing of any kind. Yet that aspect has never worried me.’17 Eardley mentioned various ailments in her letters. She took painkillers for her neck over a period of years – and, as soon as she stopped taking the ‘bloody drugs’, as she called them, the pain returned.18 She mentioned doctors from time to time, but it is difficult to establish the precise nature of her sickness or sicknesses. She almost never mentioned her health in her voluminous correspondence with Lil Neilson over the winter of 1962–63. It seems
that she did not appreciate the gravity of what was to be her fatal illness until it was too late. Instead, she was looking to the future. Now that she was the proud owner of No.1, in March 1963 she arranged for a 15-ton lorry to come up the narrow, gritted road in Catterline and have a cement floor laid in the cottage.19 That month she was also busy preparing her solo exhibition at the Roland, Browse & Delbanco gallery, a prestigious gallery at 19 Cork Street, just off Bond Street in central London. Eardley rarely exhibited in England. She showed once at the annual summer exhibition at the Royal Academy in London, in 1953 when she submitted an uncharacteristic early work.20 Her solo exhibition at the St George’s Gallery in 1955 had come about fortuitously rather than being engineered by her. It was not in Eardley’s nature to hustle for a show. It would take an external force to change things, and that force came in the formidable shape of Lillian Browse (1906–2005), ‘the Duchess of Cork Street’ as she was known, of the Roland, Browse & Delbanco gallery. Browse had admired Eardley’s work for some years but had failed to make contact. In her autobiography she noted that Eardley was ‘a rather solitary being, carefully guarding her privacy’.21 She attended the opening of Eardley’s exhibition at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh in 1961 and then met her for lunch. They got on well. Eardley admired Browse’s eyelashes and wondered if they might be false.22 Thereafter Browse nurtured the rapport, leading, to her surprise, to Eardley’s agreement to hold an exhibition at the London gallery in 1963. In March 1963 Browse travelled to Catterline to help select the show. She arrived in the village The Last Year 141
113 · Catterline in Winter, 1963
Oil on board, 120.7 x 130.8 cm National Galleries of Scotland: purchased 1964
snow-covered road that leads from the Creel Inn down to the pier. The tall stone post on the right marks the western boundary of No.18. The sketchy blue marks to the right indicate a blue bench, which stood there for many years. The vertical sticks in the centre foreground are, once more, Mrs Beattie’s drying poles. The building by the stony track (it was rough and untarmacked and barely qualified as a road) and directly under the setting sun is No.12, which belonged to the Watt family; the black form attached to it is the shed they used for storing nets. The sun, a misshapen smudge of creamy-white paint, hangs heavy in the lead-grey sky. Its position tells us that it is afternoon, around three. It is beginning to get dark, and it must be cold. In her letters, Eardley mentioned how the nights drew in quickly in winter: ‘Once again it’s evening, such long evenings now. At 4 o’clock it is almost dark, and by 4.30–4.45 quite dark … Angus comes in and we eat, and then he goes away again to work inside his house – and there’s still a whole evening.’16 But the lack of social contact didn’t bother her – and, in a letter to Audrey Walker, she mentioned being ‘here all winter with never a social outing of any kind. Yet that aspect has never worried me.’17 Eardley mentioned various ailments in her letters. She took painkillers for her neck over a period of years – and, as soon as she stopped taking the ‘bloody drugs’, as she called them, the pain returned.18 She mentioned doctors from time to time, but it is difficult to establish the precise nature of her sickness or sicknesses. She almost never mentioned her health in her voluminous correspondence with Lil Neilson over the winter of 1962–63. It seems
that she did not appreciate the gravity of what was to be her fatal illness until it was too late. Instead, she was looking to the future. Now that she was the proud owner of No.1, in March 1963 she arranged for a 15-ton lorry to come up the narrow, gritted road in Catterline and have a cement floor laid in the cottage.19 That month she was also busy preparing her solo exhibition at the Roland, Browse & Delbanco gallery, a prestigious gallery at 19 Cork Street, just off Bond Street in central London. Eardley rarely exhibited in England. She showed once at the annual summer exhibition at the Royal Academy in London, in 1953 when she submitted an uncharacteristic early work.20 Her solo exhibition at the St George’s Gallery in 1955 had come about fortuitously rather than being engineered by her. It was not in Eardley’s nature to hustle for a show. It would take an external force to change things, and that force came in the formidable shape of Lillian Browse (1906–2005), ‘the Duchess of Cork Street’ as she was known, of the Roland, Browse & Delbanco gallery. Browse had admired Eardley’s work for some years but had failed to make contact. In her autobiography she noted that Eardley was ‘a rather solitary being, carefully guarding her privacy’.21 She attended the opening of Eardley’s exhibition at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh in 1961 and then met her for lunch. They got on well. Eardley admired Browse’s eyelashes and wondered if they might be false.22 Thereafter Browse nurtured the rapport, leading, to her surprise, to Eardley’s agreement to hold an exhibition at the London gallery in 1963. In March 1963 Browse travelled to Catterline to help select the show. She arrived in the village The Last Year 141
75 · Seeded Grasses and
Daisies, September, 1960 Oil, grass stalks and seedheads on board, 121.9 x 133.3 cm National Galleries of Scotland: purchased with funds given by an anonymous donor, 1964
76 · Summer Fields, 1961
Oil and grass on board, 106 x 105 cm National Galleries of Scotland: presented by Mrs M.E.B. Scott Hay, 1984
75 · Seeded Grasses and
Daisies, September, 1960 Oil, grass stalks and seedheads on board, 121.9 x 133.3 cm National Galleries of Scotland: purchased with funds given by an anonymous donor, 1964
76 · Summer Fields, 1961
Oil and grass on board, 106 x 105 cm National Galleries of Scotland: presented by Mrs M.E.B. Scott Hay, 1984
94 · The Wave, 1961
Oil on board, 121.9 x 188 cm National Galleries of Scotland: purchased (Gulbenkian UK Trust Fund) 1962
by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in January 1962 (at the discounted price of £120) the Keeper, Douglas Hall (1926–2019), invited Eardley to comment on it. It was painted during Feb 1961 – entirely outside – as is the case with all my sea paintings. It was one of four paintings which I had in progress during a stormy period of weather in February. I worked on all four together – or rather from one to the other according to the tide.32 The water looks surprisingly straight and regular, but that is because, once more, Eardley seems to be showing a wave breaking over the pier and not a breaking wave in open water. This painting was shown in 1961 at the RSA, where it was commended by the art critic of the Glasgow Herald: ‘This painter seems to grow in stature from exhibition to exhibition; no one else in Scotland is painting with such power on this scale’.33 Throughout her time in Glasgow, Eardley painted mainly on canvas. In Catterline she used canvas until about 1959, and then turned almost exclusively to hardboard, which was often known by the trade name Masonite. Cost and availability may have played a part in that choice – and, given her phenomenal output in her last years, paintings on board were easier to store and were more robust. There was another pragmatic factor: she painted mainly indoors in Glasgow, and outdoors in Catterline, where big, stretched canvases would be difficult to carry about in the wind. Her boards were bought from a joiner in Stonehaven called Thompson. Hardboard comes in standard 4 x 8-foot sheets (121 x 242 cm). She never 116 joan eardley
painted on boards quite that size, although she often retained the shorter, four-foot (121 cm) dimension. Two of her best-known works, The Wave [94] and Catterline in Winter [113], are painted on the uncut four-foot height of the board. The offcuts would be used for smaller pictures. Before using the hardboard sheets, she sometimes left them in the rain to weather, so they would not buckle or bulge.34 She stored the bigger ones behind the salmon bothy on the beach. Her paints and brushes came from Millars, an art supply shop in Glasgow’s Trongate, but she could also buy them in Aberdeen. Later on, she made her own paints in her cottage: photographs by Audrey Walker show her grinding pigments [98]. Angus Neil also helped. She decanted the paint into big household tins which can be seen at her feet in photographs of her working on the shore. Home-made paint was cheaper, but more importantly it had a runny consistency, producing the drips, splashes and heavy Tachiste globs which were central to Eardley’s aesthetic in her later years. The splashes acted as analogues for the spray of the waves; the scumbled, congealed surface, often rapidly scratched with the back end of a brush, became a metaphor for urgency, authenticity, passion and release. She often left loose brush bristles marooned in the glutinous paint – evidence of her vigorous application of paint and proclaiming an indifference to conventional standards of finish. Eardley often framed her own works, but latterly, for exhibitions, left the job to her dealers although she was uncomfortable telling people what to do. She advised on something ‘as simple as possible’, with at most a quarter-inch whiteish slip and a gold
94 · The Wave, 1961
Oil on board, 121.9 x 188 cm National Galleries of Scotland: purchased (Gulbenkian UK Trust Fund) 1962
by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in January 1962 (at the discounted price of £120) the Keeper, Douglas Hall (1926–2019), invited Eardley to comment on it. It was painted during Feb 1961 – entirely outside – as is the case with all my sea paintings. It was one of four paintings which I had in progress during a stormy period of weather in February. I worked on all four together – or rather from one to the other according to the tide.32 The water looks surprisingly straight and regular, but that is because, once more, Eardley seems to be showing a wave breaking over the pier and not a breaking wave in open water. This painting was shown in 1961 at the RSA, where it was commended by the art critic of the Glasgow Herald: ‘This painter seems to grow in stature from exhibition to exhibition; no one else in Scotland is painting with such power on this scale’.33 Throughout her time in Glasgow, Eardley painted mainly on canvas. In Catterline she used canvas until about 1959, and then turned almost exclusively to hardboard, which was often known by the trade name Masonite. Cost and availability may have played a part in that choice – and, given her phenomenal output in her last years, paintings on board were easier to store and were more robust. There was another pragmatic factor: she painted mainly indoors in Glasgow, and outdoors in Catterline, where big, stretched canvases would be difficult to carry about in the wind. Her boards were bought from a joiner in Stonehaven called Thompson. Hardboard comes in standard 4 x 8-foot sheets (121 x 242 cm). She never 116 joan eardley
painted on boards quite that size, although she often retained the shorter, four-foot (121 cm) dimension. Two of her best-known works, The Wave [94] and Catterline in Winter [113], are painted on the uncut four-foot height of the board. The offcuts would be used for smaller pictures. Before using the hardboard sheets, she sometimes left them in the rain to weather, so they would not buckle or bulge.34 She stored the bigger ones behind the salmon bothy on the beach. Her paints and brushes came from Millars, an art supply shop in Glasgow’s Trongate, but she could also buy them in Aberdeen. Later on, she made her own paints in her cottage: photographs by Audrey Walker show her grinding pigments [98]. Angus Neil also helped. She decanted the paint into big household tins which can be seen at her feet in photographs of her working on the shore. Home-made paint was cheaper, but more importantly it had a runny consistency, producing the drips, splashes and heavy Tachiste globs which were central to Eardley’s aesthetic in her later years. The splashes acted as analogues for the spray of the waves; the scumbled, congealed surface, often rapidly scratched with the back end of a brush, became a metaphor for urgency, authenticity, passion and release. She often left loose brush bristles marooned in the glutinous paint – evidence of her vigorous application of paint and proclaiming an indifference to conventional standards of finish. Eardley often framed her own works, but latterly, for exhibitions, left the job to her dealers although she was uncomfortable telling people what to do. She advised on something ‘as simple as possible’, with at most a quarter-inch whiteish slip and a gold
