Rita Duffy (b.1959)

Hazel Martin, St. Ives Gardens

Oil on canvas, 66 x 59.5cm (26 23½)

Signed; signed again, inscribed with title and dated 1984 verso

 

Provenance: The Eamonn Mallie...

Rita Duffy (b.1959)

Hazel Martin, St. Ives Gardens

Oil on canvas, 66 x 59.5cm (26 23½)

Signed; signed again, inscribed with title and dated 1984 verso

 

Provenance: The Eamonn Mallie Collection

Hazel Martin was a familiar figure in the life of Rita Duffy. She lived opposite her home in St. Ives in Stranmillis in Belfast. Hazel was the sister of the well-known radio presenter Ivan Martin. She was unmarried and lived alone in her little terraced house. Invited to comment on the background to the painting, evocative of a Stanley Spencer opus, Rita said "I was making works about what was going on around me, of people with whom I lived - scenes that I knew. It was my way of deconstructing the colonial atmosphere in which I grew up. Basically Hazel was a neighbour. Rather than making work coming from elsewhere I was making work where I was rooted - rather than looking around and seeing what was going on in London.

People of my generation easily identify with Duffy's 'Hazel Martin'. We all had neighbours, aunties or grannies, mirror images of Hazel, wrapped in those big aprons of the day. There is a quiet dignity about Hazel. She felt no compulsion to dye her hair blue to pretend she was 'middle class.' She was happy with her lot like the maker of her portrait.

Eamonn Mallie

 

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