(Front & Back Cover) 1. Vineyard near St Jean Pla de Cort Oil on Panel, 24 x 48 inches
Foreword The collection of paintings that make up Edward Beale’s exhibition is like a diary of months spent working from a roof overlooking the Thames at Lambeth Reach as well as travelling to the Hebrides, Derbyshire, Provence, Catalonia and the Dordogne. Each location has particular characteristics which help or hinder but always affect his manner of working the paint. The roof offered a vantage point within a few streets of the artist’s studio yet revealed new panoramas over the Thames and the city beyond. The few days of heavy snow in January gave a rare opportunity for painting in a blizzard. Edward found that the paint tended to become powdery and crystalline and difficult to manipulate without adding more linseed oil to maintain its fluidity. He found he could use the dry, raw appearance of the paint that the conditions had created. The Hebrides present special challenges for painting outside. Conditions are rarely perfect. Most often the practical difficulty must be overcome of preventing the easel from blowing over in winds that come straight off the Atlantic. Rain can be constant, or perhaps more infuriating and intermittent. A painting begun in bright sunshine might end in a squall. Even a little sunshine in this terrain intensifies the colours to great brilliance and this can be seen in Edward’s paintings of Coll Beach and the mountains of Harris. The mountains of the Pyrenees provide a dynamic subject. They can be seen in many of Edward’s Catalonian paintings. The terracotta clay soil, palms and cacti, together with the strong light, make exotic contrasts in this work. While in the greener region of the Dordogne he visited the medieval town of St Emilion in the heart of the wine growing area. Its parchment coloured stone buildings now accommodate a modern way of life, but to draw them triggers the imagination and a sense of its history. At the top of the steep streets from the old town walls the countryside spreads out in tidy ranks of vines. Tractors, as narrow as they are tall, move along the rows tending the crops. Several places around the perimeter of St Emilion give an unimpeded view of the town with its distinctive spire rising between the vine covered slopes. The place from which Edward works must have a space for a vehicle, be away from busy roads and have shade to prevent the sun shining directly onto the painting. He found a place at the edge of a vineyard where recent rain had made the fertile soil into a glutinous mud. The warm May afternoon was perfect for landscape painting. Clouds gathered over the town which was now a series of small shapes along the horizon. It nestled in the landscape. The task was to make these shapes significant enough to read as St Emilion and to show how the fields fell away into the distance and how the sky had become the most dramatic part of the view. Light changing constantly from strong and crisp, subdued and soft, to dark and dramatic presents a quandary which forces the painter to make decisions about what to leave out rather than attempting to put everything in. It is about trying different marks to suggest in two dimensions equivalents for a three dimensional world in order to accomplish an accurate rendering of what he observes and experiences. Edward’s method of working involves a lot of paint applied in a robust vigorous way. A small aluminium table serves as a palette with tins of paint lined up along the back. Bigger tins of white are placed nearby on the ground. The board has been prepared with wooden battening around the edges on the back to enable the finished painting to be handled and then hung on a wall to dry. The front surface is covered with an offwhite emulsion ground. Just before he begins he covers the surface in linseed oil to make sure the paint stays wet as he works. He chooses the shape and size of the board and then quickly decides on the composition which is sketched in brisk movements using blue or crimson paint. Working with large brushes he paints wet into wet. With sustained and intense concentration he orchestrates planes, edges, form, tone and colour in a way which owes nothing to photography and everything to observation. ‘It’s about the feel of the day,’ he says. Edward sets out to keep faith with the medium, by not trying to disguise the painting process. He has this to say about the special paint he uses:
2. Picture of Edward Beale
‘The things I first liked about this paint were its malleable viscosity and how well it lent itself to impasto painting. The paint is best used boldly. I use heavily loaded brushes to add an element of unpredictability which I like to exploit. I aim for a sense of energy within a painting. The density of the colours and sensuousness of the paint on the brush are other important qualities. It dries with a sheen that I like very much. Its sheer abundance is liberating. I enjoy being able to use paint in such large quantities. I was first told about the paint in 1968 at Camberwell School of Art by tutors who were already using it. It was recommended to me because of its high quality and reasonable price. The twenty-eight pound kegs (now five litres) of paint were a revelation to me. I would order several tins at a time. I always felt a thrill of excitement to see them arrive by lorry all the way from Sheffield. I continued to use the paint through my years as a student at the Royal Academy and have been using it more or less ever since those days.’ Claire Edwards, MA, (Phil) July 2009
have great pleasure in inviting you to
An Exhibition of
New Paintings by
Edward Beale Exhibition dates: Wednesday 30th September to Saturday 24th October 2009
3. Traffic over Lambeth Bridge, Oil on Panel, 20 x 24 inches
4. Nocturne at Albert Embankment, Oil on Panel, 20 x 24 inches
5. Lambeth Bridge from Albert Embankment, Oil on Panel, 20 x 30 inches
6. Changeable sky over the Houses of Parliament Oil on Panel, 12 x 24 inches
7. Thames at Millbank, evening Oil on Panel, 12 x 26 inches
8. Pink cyclamen in a white planter, Oil on Panel, 20 x 15 inches
9. Flowers in a Spanish vase, Oil on Panel, 26 x 18 inches
10. Chrysanthemums in glass jug with lemons, Oil on Panel, 26 x 20 inches
11. Flowers with lilies and grapefruit, Oil on Panel, 24 x 32 inches
12. Edward Beale, Barge going downstream towards Westminster Bridge Pencil Drawing, 8 x 111⁄2 inches
13. Edward Beale, Rain over Parliament Pencil Drawing, 8 x 111⁄2 inches
14. Edward Beale, Dredger approaching Lambeth Bridge Pencil Drawing, 8 x 111⁄2 inches
15. Edward Beale, Lambeth landscape with train from Waterloo Pencil Drawing, 8 x 111⁄2 inches
16. Snow over the Thames, Oil on Panel, 24 x 36 inches
17. View from Lambeth High Street, Oil on Panel, 24 x 28 inches
18. Across Lambeth High Street from Albert Embankment, Oil on Panel, 24 x 48 inches
Picture of Edward Beale
19. Vase of flowers on green stripes, Oil on Panel, 201â „2 x 34 inches
20. Flowers in a red vase with yellow background, Oil on Panel, 24 x 20 inches
21. Approaching storm at Mas Magrana, Oil on Panel, 21 x 24 inches
22. Apple trees in blossom at Mas Magrana, Oil on Panel, 28 x 36 inches
23. Bonfire at Mas Magrana with Mimose, Oil on Panel, 20 1/2 x 24 inches
24. Autumn landscape from Ceret roof, Oil on Panel, 24 x 28 inches
25. Cap d’Antibes from St Paul de Vence, Oil on Panel, 10 x 18 inches
26. Ploughed field near St Aulaye, Oil on Panel, 12 x 24 inches
27. Autumn view of the Pyrenees, Oil on Panel, 12 x 24 inches
28. Sunset over Millbank, Oil on Panel, 8 x 12 inches
29. Towards Vauxhall Bridge, Oil on Panel, 15 x 25 inches
30. Les Hauts de Ceret in Spring, Oil on Panel, 24 x 48 inches
31. Flowers in miniature vase against blue with yellow stripe Oil on Panel, 12 x 9 3â „4 inches
32. Purple orchid with grapefruit Oil on Panel, 18 x 24 inches
33. Lilies in red vase with grapefruits, Oil on Panel, 28 x 36 inches
34. Canigou Snowcapped, Oil on Panel, 24 x 30 inches
35. Fallow Field near Vives, Oil on Panel, 24 x 30 inches
36. Cork Oaks near Ceret, Oil on Panel, 24 x 35 inches
37. Spring afternoon at Mas Magrana, Oil on Panel, 28 x 36 inches
38. Cherry tree in Autumn, Mas Magrana Oil on Panel, 20 x 21 inches
39. Cottages at Achmor, Oil on Panel, 14 x 23 inches
40. The Old Woman of the Moor from Achmor, Oil on Panel, 13 x 23 inches
41. The Bay at Lemreway, Oil on Panel, 24 x 36 inches
42. Sunset over Battersea, Oil on Panel, 12 x 24 inches
43. Barge moving downstream Oil on Panel, 10 x 16 inches
44. Incoming tide at Coll Beach, Oil on Panel, 131â „2 x 22 inches
45. Afternoon at Coll Beach, Oil on Panel, 24 x 48 inches
46. Boat alongside barge near Canary Wharf (Docks 27) Oil on Panel, 24 x 48 inches
47. Derelict Cottage near Les Granges, Oil on Panel, 24 x 36 inches
48. Orchid with grapefruits against sky blue, Oil on Panel, 28 x 36 inches
49. Still life with flowers in a green jug against blue, Oil on Panel, 24 x 30 inches
Printed by Plus Art +44 (0) 115 972 4000
This catalogue and works illustrated in it are protected by copyright and other rights. No part of this catalogue may be adapted or reproduced by any means for any purpose without the written consent of Petleys. None of the illustrated works may be reproduced, photographed or otherwise copied or adapted without the written consent of the artist.
9 Cork Street, Mayfair, London W1S 3LL Tel. +44(0)20 7494 2021 Fax. +44(0)20 7287 3113 info@petleys.co.uk http://www.petleys.co.uk