The Wave
About this artwork
This work was painted on the shore in Catterline, a village on the east coast of Scotland. It shows a wave breaking over the pier, hence the wave’s regular shape, approaching the artist like a wall of water. Eardley described the circumstances of this work as follows: ‘It was painted during February 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. I worked on all four together – or rather from one to the other according to the tide.’ Here, Eardley has mixed sand into the white paint to give a sense of the froth of the water. When shown at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1961, The Wave was commended by a Glasgow Herald art critic: ‘This painter seems to grow in stature from exhibition to exhibition; no one else in Scotland is painting with such power on this scale.’
Updated before 2020
see media-
artist:
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title:The Wave
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date created:1961
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materials:Oil and grit on hardboard
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measurements:121.90 x 188.00 cm; Framed: 126.80 x 192.90 x 3.80 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased (Gulbenkian UK Trust Fund) 1962
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accession number:GMA 791
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gallery:
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subject:
Joan Eardley
Joan Eardley
Born in West Sussex, Eardley moved to Glasgow at the outbreak of war. She studied at Glasgow School of Art and at Hospitalfield House under James Cowie. Cowie helped to shape her preference for everyday subjects. In 1949 Eardley rented a studio in the centre of Glasgow, and a few years later moved...