Joan Eardley RSA

This Joan Eardley exhibition shows work from throughout her career, and includes some early drawings and paintings from her European travels after graduating from Glasgow School of Art. There is a particular focus on drawings and some wonderful examples of her Catterline landscapes as well as the Samson Children, many of which have been on loan to the major Eardley exhibitions in the Scottish National Galleries in Edinburgh.

Joan Eardley was born in 1921 in Sussex. She studied at Goldsmith's College before coming to Glasgow and attending Glasgow School of Art from 1940-43. She also studied at Hospitalfield, Arbroath under the artist James Cowie. A Post-Diploma at Glasgow in 1948 was followed by two Travelling Scholarships, which took her to France and Italy where she produced powerful studies of peasants. On her return to Glasgow, she set up a studio in Townhead and painted tenement life, including the local children. In 1950 she discovered the fishing village of Catterline on the North East coast of Scotland and there, began some of her most important paintings.