Earlier this year we shared the remarkable story of Summer Fields, a Joan Eardley painting that had disappeared from view for more than sixty years before turning up, unexpectedly, in a charity shop in the East Midlands. The story travelled far and wide, attracting considerable press attention and proving, once again, the extraordinary and enduring interest in anything connected with Joan Eardley. Now, rather wonderfully, it has started doing the rounds all over again.
A recent bounce back from the original press release has given the story a second life, bringing Summer Fields back into the news and introducing its unlikely journey to a new audience. A painting that disappeared for decades, resurfaced by chance, returned to Edinburgh and found a new home is now enjoying another unexpected return of its own.
The story began with a house clearance donation and a dark, unassuming painting. On the reverse was a worn fragment of a label carrying just enough information to raise questions: “Summer, Joan, Exhibited, The Scottish Gallery.” Our archive provided the missing link. A handwritten entry from May 1961 recorded the sale of a painting titled Summer Fields by Joan Eardley. The painting was brought back to Edinburgh, conserved and eventually unveiled at The Scottish Gallery. It was subsequently acquired by a private collector, with the sale raising £29,500 for the charity from which it had emerged, supporting medical research in the UK.
Where had Summer Fields been for all those years? How did it eventually find its way into a charity shop? And how many other paintings are still waiting to be recognised? In 2027, we will reveal that this is not the first time that Joan Eardley’s work has ended up in a charity shop…
Joan Eardley continues to be discovered, researched, discussed and looked at afresh, while stories surrounding her life and work have an extraordinary ability to capture the imagination. More than sixty years after her death, there is still a sense that we are finding things out. For us, the unexpected return of this story is another reminder of the importance of archives, provenance and simply paying attention. Sometimes a fragmentary old label is enough to begin a remarkable journey.
And sometimes, it seems, a good Eardley story refuses to disappear. We can’t wait to release our Scottish Gallery Press book on Joan Eardley in May 2027.
