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framed dimensions: 52 x 63 cm
signed and dated lower left
In Still Life with Flowers, painted in 1965, Blackadder takes a time-honoured subject, the still life, and turns it into a composition that is both bold and subtly subversive. At first glance, the white vase of flowers occupies the centre of the canvas, but around it, Blackadder constructs a world of unexpected colour and painterly tension.
The background is a rich, electric petrol teal, punctuated by a secondary vase in white and cobalt, which both echoes and offsets the central form. The flower heads themselves are built in impasto, their thick application contrasting with the thinned washes of paint elsewhere, particularly the lime green leaves, loosely swept over a grey ground. Blackadder has employed turpentine to dilute the oil, creating translucent veils of pigment that give the work a lightness and fluidity, while retaining structure.
This dynamic contrast between thick and thin, control and freedom, gives the painting a carefree confidence, a touch of punk attitude, even. It is both exquisitely judged and intentionally offbeat, revealing the artist’s willingness to take risks with composition and material. As ever, Blackadder lets the painting speak for itself. In Still Life with Flowers, Blackadder’s voice is clear, measured, daring, and entirely her own. What begins as a classic still life unfolds into something richly contemporary, infused with instinct, intellect, and an unmistakable painter’s touch.
PROVENANCE:
Portland Gallery, London, 1988
Elizabeth Blackadder was born in Falkirk in 1931. She studied at ECA from 1949 until 1954 under Robert Henderson Blyth and William Gillies inter alia and earned travelling scholarships to southern Europe and Italy. In 1956 she married artist and fellow Scottish Gallery exhibitor John Houston and began teaching in Edinburgh. She taught at Edinburgh College of Art from 1962 until her retirement in 1986. One of Scotland’s greatest artists, she also garners recognition and success in London. In 1972, Blackadder was elected member of the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh and in 1976 she gained entry at the Royal Academy, London – the first woman to be elected into both institutions. In 2001, Elizabeth was made the first female Artist Limner by HRH The Queen, a position within the Royal Household unique to Scotland. One decade later, in 2011 (the year she turned 80) a major retrospective of her work opened at the National Galleries of Scotland.
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