Beschreibung:

Colin Middleton RHA RUA MBE (1910-1983) Seaman's Wife (1952) Oil on canvas, 75 x 59.5cm (29.5 x 23.4'') Signed; signed again with title and dated 1952 Artists Ref. 150 Provenance: From the McClelland Collection and on loan from them to IMMA 1999-2004; Sale in these rooms 25th May 2005, Lot 97 where purchased by current owner Exhibited: 'Colin Middleton Exhibition', Irish Museum of Modern Art, January - June 2001 Literature: 'Colin Middleton: A Study by Dickon Hall 2001, Illustrated page 34 Colin Middleton moved to Ardglass, a small fishing village near Strangford, in late 1948 or early 1949. He had just begun his association with Victor Waddington, which was to establish him as one of the leading painters in Ireland, and Ardglass became the first home in which Middleton seems to have felt settled with his second wife and young family. This was also the period during which Middleton produced his most consistent and arguably his greatest work. He became absorbed by the people and the local way of life, particularly the mythology surrounding the sea and the fishing community. 'Seaman's Wife' is one of a series of paintings of single female figures removed from their environment, which are often de-individualised and become almost totemistic. This particular painting is slightly different; there is a great sense of pathos and of the life of this woman. She appears to be pregnant and with her hands protecting her stomach, a reminder of her absent husband and of the constant shadow of loss that hangs over the fishing village. The work of this time is particularly moving in its expression of the artists compassion with the suffering of others, and his sense of a common humanity inspired by the unimaginable horror and tragedy of the war in Europe. Dickon Hall Colin Middleton RHA RUA MBE (1910-1983) Seaman's Wife (1952) Oil on canvas, 75 x 59.5cm (29.5 x 23.4'') Signed; signed again with title and dated 1952 Artists Ref. 150 Provenance: From the McClelland Collection and on loan from them to IMMA 1999-2004; Sale in these rooms 25th May 2005, Lot 97 where purchased by current owner Exhibited: 'Colin Middleton Exhibition', Irish Museum of Modern Art, January - June 2001 Literature: 'Colin Middleton: A Study by Dickon Hall 2001, Illustrated page 34 Colin Middleton moved to Ardglass, a small fishing village near Strangford, in late 1948 or early 1949. He had just begun his association with Victor Waddington, which was to establish him as one of the leading painters in Ireland, and Ardglass became the first home in which Middleton seems to have felt settled with his second wife and young family. This was also the period during which Middleton produced his most consistent and arguably his greatest work. He became absorbed by the people and the local way of life, particularly the mythology surrounding the sea and the fishing community. 'Seaman's Wife' is one of a series of paintings of single female figures removed from their environment, which are often de-individualised and become almost totemistic. This particular painting is slightly different; there is a great sense of pathos and of the life of this woman. She appears to be pregnant and with her hands protecting her stomach, a reminder of her absent husband and of the constant shadow of loss that hangs over the fishing village. The work of this time is particularly moving in its expression of the artists compassion with the suffering of others, and his sense of a common humanity inspired by the unimaginable horror and tragedy of the war in Europe. Dickon Hall