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framed dimensions: 50 x 79.5 cm
signed and dated lower left
Still Life with Oil Lamp and Grater offers an intimate glimpse into the domestic realities and artistic integrity of life at Catterline, the remote fishing village on the northeast coast of Scotland. Neilson lived and worked in one of the village’s small stone cottages, perched above the cliffs, spartan dwellings which had no electricity or running water for years, and where the rhythms of daily life were inseparable from the act of painting. In this painting, Neilson captures this pared-back existence with quiet precision. A carefully arranged set of utilitarian objects, an oil lamp, a grater, and other modest kitchen items, are bathed in the subdued natural light of the cottage interior. The elongated board enhances the horizontal balance of form, while her subtle palette and textured brushwork evoke both material presence and emotional stillness. These are her objects of survival and witness to a life where art and living were one and the same. Like the other artists who worked in Catterline, she transformed the ordinary into something quietly profound. In this painting, we sense not just what was seen, but how it was lived.
Born in Kirkcaldy, Lilian Neilson studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee from 1955 to 1960, followed by a brief period at Hospitalfield House in Arbroath, where she became friends with Joan Eardley. She completed a post-diploma year tutored by Hugh Crawford and Alberto Morrocco in 1960-61 and was awarded a travelling scholarship to France and Italy in 1961-62. Following this time in Europe, she joined Joan Eardley in Catterline where Neilson responded to the dramatic northeast coastline and began painting powerful landscapes and seascapes. The artist also worked backstage with Reet Guenigault in theatres including the Traverse in Edinburgh, but she returned to Catterline to help nurse Joan Eardley when her illness was diagnosed in 1962. Neilson bought one of the tiny fishing cottages, No 2 South Side, Catterline, with her home on one side and studio on the other. Like Eardley, she lived a frugal life. She moved permanently to Catterline in 1986 where Neilson undertook monthly surveys of the coastline and local beaches and began studying printmaking in Dundee. Her final exhibition, Certain Days and Other Seasons, was held at the Seagate in Dundee and Aberdeen Museum & Art Gallery.
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