Joan Eardley
(1921 – 1963)
Eardley in her studio at 204 St James Road, Townhead, Glasgow with chalk sketches of children c.1950s
Joan Eardley was one of the most original and admired British artists of her generation.
A painter’s painter, who created a unique visual language which has been much emulated, Eardley’s raw, yet tender, depictions of children in 1950s Glasgow contrast vividly with her loose and expressive landscapes painted around Catterline in the north east of Scotland.
Eardley’s star burned brightly in the post-war years before she died at the age of 42 in 1963. Almost 60 years later, her work is being constantly re-evaluated and rediscovered by new generations of fans.
Joan Eardley Around the UK
A MAP OF PAINTINGS IN
UK PUBLIC COLLECTION VENUES
“Joan Eardley is one of the greatest painters in Scottish art history. Very few female Scottish artists have received the attention and recognition that they deserve. In my opinion however, Joan’s name would top any list that set out to acknowledge the most important female painters ever to have put brush to canvas in Scotland. No artist has painted Glasgow’s inner city the way Eardley did and very few have matched her visionary approach to painting the coastline of Scotland. Eardley broke with tradition as a painter, she broke with convention as a person and she never compromised her determination to be an honest witness of the world she saw around her.”
Lachlan Goudie
NEWS & MORE
Eardley and the Samsons on Radio 4
On BBC Radio 4 on 11 April 2023, Audrey Gillan meets the 'Samson girls' of Joan Eardley's paintings who have come to represent a certain image of Glasgow in the postwar years before urban development. As the 50s turned to the 60s, a family of twelve brothers and...
Eardley at the Hunterian
Joan Eardley, Seated Boy, Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow. © The Eardley Estate. Seated Boy by Joan Eardley is one of three works by Joan Eardley now on display at the Hunterian in Glasgow after the gallery opened its doors on a complete rehang. On...
Eardley Painting Sells For Record Price At Auction
JOAN EARDLEY R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1921-1963) THE YELLOW JUMPER - Image by Alex Robson for Lyon & Turnbull One of the last finished paintings of Glasgow’s street children by celebrated Anglo-Scottish artist, Joan Eardley, has sold for £200,200 (including premium), an...
RARE PAINTING TO GO UNDER HAMMER
Alice Strang, Associate Director and Senior Specialist in Modern and Contemporary Art at Lyon and Turnbull with Joan Eardley’s The Yellow Jumper. One of the last finished paintings of Glasgow’s street children by celebrated Scottish artist, Joan Eardley, is set to go...
National Treasure: The Scottish Modern Arts Association
Work by Joan Eardley is now on show as part of National Treasure: The Scottish Modern Arts Association. The exhibition at Edinburgh's City Art Centre until Sunday 16 Oct 2022. The Scottish Modern Arts Association was founded in Edinburgh in 1907. Established by...
Joan Eardley – A Painter’s Painter
AN ONLINE COURSE BY ST IVES SCHOOL OF PAINTING RECORDED IN 2021 Watch Jill Eisele in this recording as she takes us with her on an artists journey to Joan Eardley’s Catterline on the wild east coast of Scotland. Explore how Eardley continues to inspire painters today....
SWARN Q&A | Charlotte Rostek On ‘Scottish Women Artists’
Released earlier this year, Scottish Women Artists is the latest book by Arts and Heritage Curator Charlotte Rostek published by Fleming Collection. There is an interview with Charlotte published on the on the Scottish Women And The Arts Research Network which you can...
Two Children Plus One
Jo Meacock welcomes Kate Downie and Eardley’s niece Anne Morrison-Husdon to Glasgow Museums Resource Centre in May 2021 to view Two Children This project by Glasgow Museums, brings together two renowned Scottish-based artists, Joan Eardley (1921–63), whose centenary...
Watch | Eardley Talk With Alice Strang, Curator And Art Historian
Joan Eardley: A talk with Alice Strang, curator and art historian THE Hunterian, GLASGOW Alice Strang, Curator and Art Historian, discusses the life-time and posthumous collecting of work by Joan Eardley for public collections, including by the Hunterian Art Gallery....
Centenary Year Comes To A Close
Joan Eardley lived for her art. And for friendship. She wrote letters every day to her mother and to close friends. She loved music; Bach, Bartok, Beethoven, Mahler… As her first biographer, art critic – and art school friend – Cordelia Oliver observed,...
New publication by Patrick Elliott
Joan Eardley: Land & Sea - A Life in Catterline A beautifully illustrated book on Joan Eardley has been published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her birth in 2021. Joan Eardley, one of Scotland’s most loved artists, visited the coastal fishing village of...
Joan Eardley Poetry Competition
Paisley Museum and Art Gallery is delighted to present the winners of the Joan Eardley Poetry Competition, together with work by Joan Eardley (1921-1963) from the collection to celebrate the artist's centenary year. The competition was held from May-July 2021 and over...
Scottish Art News Magazine – Joan Eardley Special
https://issuu.com/scottishartnews/docs/san_for_online
New Publication | ‘Joan Eardley: A Personal Tribute’ by David E Johnston
A Personal Tribute reflecting on the Life and Art of Joan Eardley RSA, this booklet explores the artist's Mearns Connections. It records the author's personal journey to discover the profound connections Joan Eardley forged with the area she came to love. The author...
New Eardley display opens at Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art
DISPLAY CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND WORK OF JOAN EARDLEY TO OPEN SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART (MODERN ONE) An extraordinary display celebrating the life of one of Scotland's most popular twentieth- century artists, Joan Eardley, will lead the reopening of the...
Eardley 100 Press Coverage
Studio International10 August 2021https://studiointernational.com/index.php/joan-eardley-centenary-review-the-scottish-gallery-edinburgh Scottish Art NewsSummer 2021https://issuu.com/scottishartnews/docs/san_for_online The Herald7 August 2021Sarah Urwin-Jones Critic's...
Edwin Morgan: An Eardley On My Wall
An online exhibition by The Hunterian, University of GlasgowThis online exhibition features artworks from the personal collection of Scottish poet Edwin Morgan (1920-2010) and marks the Edwin Morgan Centenary which launched on 27 April 2020.Joan Eardley, Sweet Shop,...
Newly Commissioned Tapestry Of July Fields
NEWLY COMMISSIONED TAPESTRY OF JULY FIELDS To mark The Scottish Gallery's exhibition, the Artist's Estate and the gallery are working in partnership with Dovecot Studios to create a new commission in honour of Joan Eardley. This will be created over a period of six...
Online Symposium: Call For Papers
The Isle of Arran – An Artistic Legacy 29th April 2021 The Arran Arts Heritage Trail, in partnership with Paisley Museum and the School of Culture and Creative Arts at the University of Glasgow, will be hosting an online symposium on 29th April 2021 celebrating and...
From The Archive
WATCH: Between The Brush Strokes
Between the Brush Strokes, © 2019 www.gtmp.tv
Life And Work Of Joan Eardley To Be Celebrated In 2021
Joan Eardley Salmon Nets and the Sea, 1960. (The Hunterian, University of Glasgow) Image © Eardley Estate. For Eardley a truly successful painting had to go deeper than a mere visual record, no matter how accurate...Her success lay in her ability to combine the acute,...