A new exhibition of Elizabeth Blackadder's work shifts focus from her famous flower and cat paintings to chilly landscapes and pared-back still life compositions. The show, held in Hampshire, presents a less familiar side of the Scottish artist, with most pieces exhibited for the first time.
Early Italian Landscapes
Earlier works include a series of Italian landscapes rendered in gouache and watercolour in the 1950s, soon after Blackadder left art college. These were painted after she won a travelling scholarship. Anna Brady, art writer and editor, notes in the catalogue: "Based in Florence, Blackadder would take a bus out into the countryside to paint. While we may have romantic ideals of painting trips to Tuscany, the reality of being a young woman, painting outside and alone, through a bitter winter in postwar Italy would have been altogether harsher. We can almost feel the chill on her fingertips in the group of inky Tuscan landscapes."
Still Life Compositions
The still life oil paintings date from the 1960s and 1970s. Personal objects such as a coffee pot appear repeatedly. Brady explains: "Blackadder seems to gain confidence in doing more with less, her compositions becoming increasingly refined and pared back to the essentials."
Jenna Burlingham, gallery director, said: "What makes this exhibition so exciting is that it shines a light on works from the first two decades of Elizabeth Blackadder's career. Blackadder graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1954 and this show presents a selection of quietly observed landscapes and interiors painted between 1955 and 1975. These works reveal a less well-known side of the artist – quite different from the flowers and cats for which she is so celebrated."
Blackadder's Legacy
Blackadder was the first woman elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy of Arts. Burlingham added: "These are softly rendered in earthy tones, with simplified forms which become almost abstract places. They show Blackadder going beyond mere observation in her response to the landscape."
The exhibition, titled Quiet Observations, Landscapes and Interiors 1955 to 1975, runs from 4 June to 4 July at the Jenna Burlingham Gallery in Kingsclere. Admission is free, and the paintings are for sale.
