Sicilian Lemons watercolour on paper 15 x 23cm
Christine McArthur
A Summer Garden in Five Vases and other paintings 3 – 20 May 2022 PREVIEW DAYS
Friday 29 April: 12-6pm Saturday 30 April: 11-4pm
The entire exhibition can be viewed at www.thackeraygallery.com The exhibition continues until 1pm on 20 May 2022 All work is available to purchase now
18 THACKERAY STREET
|
KENSINGTON
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LONDON
W8 5ET
www.thackeraygallery.com | enquiries@thackeraygallery.com | 020 7937 5883
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A Summer Garden in Five Vases I’m always far ahead with work for exhibitions so that I have plenty of time to really look at the paintings and decide if I like them and would want them hanging on my walls. Duncan Shanks, the great Scottish artist, taught me that. What happened this time, because of lockdown, was that I had lots and lots of work, very, very early. Being in isolation is the usual for an artist but seeing all the suffering and being fearful all the time and trying to be positive and being aware of the sacrifices made by so many brave people in hospitals, shops, delivery vans, schools, well it did make me wonder about the validity of painting as usual in my studio. I felt guilty. Over a year ago I laid out all the work I had done and thought it was the very best I was capable of under the circumstances. I had experimented a lot, gone back to materials I hadn’t used in years – all sorts of things. But that very night I wakened up at 3 am and decided, with the help of my husband, to go round to a large skip I had seen and throw it all in – all except for “a Summer Garden in Five Vases”. That was the one painting I had done which made me feel hopeful and even a bit happy with the beauty of life. The flowers themselves, from Thomas Maxwell in Edinburgh filled 5 vases and beyond!!! They were Glorious and that painting was the starting point for the new work.Then came “Flowers on Louis Armstrong’s Birthday”, “for Claudia Roden”, “Matisse’s Pineapple”....................because life has to go on.
Christine McArthur, 2022 2
A Summer Garden in Five Vases mixed media on board 102 x 102cm
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Birdsong mixed media on board 76 x 92cm
Leaves falling across a Garden mixed media on board 76 x 92cm
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First Anemones ink drawing on paper 29 x 34cm
Second Anemones ink drawing on paper 29 x 34cm
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Third Anemones ink drawing on paper 29 x 34cm
Sicilian Lemons II ink drawing on paper 29 x 34cm
For Claudia Roden mixed media on panel 102 x 102cm
Flowers on Louis Armstrong’s birthday mixed media on panel 60 x 78cm
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Matisse’s Pineapple mixed media on panel 74 x 59cm
A Kind of Gladioli mixed media on panel 74 x 59cm
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Japanese Steam Study, Quivering Steam - acrylic on board - 17 x 17cm
II. Japanese Steam Study, Steam in Impending Gloom - acrylic on board - 17 x 17cm III. Japanese Steam Study, Chrysanthemum Steam - acrylic on board - 17 x 17cm IV. Japanese Steam Study, Altocumulus Steam - acrylic on board - 17 x 17cm V. Japanese Steam Study, Steam under Green Rain - acrylic on board - 17 x 17cm VI. Japanese Steam Study, Steam under Blue Rain - acrylic on board - 17 x 17cm
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Barbara Hepworth’s Studio Garden, St Ives - Watering Can watercolour on paper 13 x 21cm
Barbara Hepworth’s Studio Garden, St Ives - Rooftops Beyond watercolour on paper 13 x 21cm
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Honeysuckle and Lemon watercolour on paper 15 x 23cm
In Judith’s Garden watercolour on cold pressed paper 31 x 41cm
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Japanese Steam Study in Fading Light mixed media on panel 76 x 76cm
A Blue Lemon mixed media on panel 102 x 102cm
Lemons and Pears on Dark Blue mixed media on panel 76 x 76cm
Interior with Pots and Daffodils mixed media on panel 102 x 102cm
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The Darkest Day mixed media on panel 76 x 76cm
BIOGRAPHY Christine McArthur was born in Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow in 1953. She studied at The Glasgow School of Art between 1971 & 1976, which included a post-diploma year. After graduating she taught and produced book illustrations until the demand for her work enabled her to paint full-time. Her early work was primarily in oil and she became well known for her large-scale still life paintings on canvas. In the late 1980s she began to work in oil, pastel and watercolour but more recently she has reverted to oil, as well as acrylic and collage. Christine McArthur was awarded Scottish Education Department travelling scholarships in 1975 and 1976 and was elected a member of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts in 1990. In 1995 she was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour. In 1997 John Lewis commissioned four large murals – each 6ft x 15ft - for the Glasgow store in 1999. In 2002 she received a commission from John Lewis for murals for the extension to their Peter Jones store, Sloane Square, London.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS FROM 1984 – PRESENT:
Peter Potter Gallery, Haddington; Sue Rankin Gallery, London; Fine Art Society, Glasgow; Portland Gallery, London; Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow; Ancrum Gallery, Roxburgh; Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh; Courtyard Gallery, Crail; John Martin Gallery, London; Gertsey Gallery, Moscow; Gertsey Gallery, Atlanta, USA; Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall; Ainscough Gallery, Devon; The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh; Thackeray Gallery, London
AWARDS:
S.E.D. travelling scholarship 1975, and 1976. Arts Council Award 1979, and 2004. Glasgow Soc. of Women Artist’s Trust Fund Award, Lauder Award; R.G.I., N.S. Macfarlane Award; Alexander Graham Munro prize, RSW
PRIVATE & CORPORATE COLLECTIONS INCLUDE:
Christine has a number of artworks in collections thoughout the United Kingdom, as well as Internationally.
Front Cover: For Claudia Room - mixed media on panel - 102 x 102cm Back Cover: Snowdrops in a Georgian Coffee Cup - acrylic on paper board - 14 x 17cm