A Wild and Beautiful Art: The Life of Joan Eardley

As the storm rages, the sea throws up gigantic waves. The rain hammers down, illuminated intermittently by the flash of thunder where a figure can be seen. Paintbrush in hand, with her easel and canvas secured to the ground with rocks and rope, she battles, yet works in harmony with the elements. Razor sharp, her eyes concentrate intently on the canvas, her hand working rapidly as she uses the paint to harness the weather, sky, land and sea.

Joan Eardley was a passionate painter who, in a short career, managed to create some of the most important works of the twentieth century.

Working predominantly in Scotland, Eardley also documented the children of the Glasgow tenements from the 1940s up until her untimely death at only forty-two in 1961.

Hers was a truly wild and beautiful art.

Come and take a look inside her world…