Colin Middleton RHA RUA MBE (1910-1983)
Sunflowers
Oil on panel, 101.5 x 69cm (40 x 27'')
Signed with monogram; also signed 'Colin M' and inscribed with title verso
(The reverse with an...

Colin Middleton RHA RUA MBE (1910-1983)
Sunflowers
Oil on panel, 101.5 x 69cm (40 x 27'')
Signed with monogram; also signed 'Colin M' and inscribed with title verso
(The reverse with an experimental collage and oil paint composition)

 

Still life was a subject that Colin Middleton turned to only occasionally throughout his career but the small number that are known demonstrate the range of his work across four decades. A small series of Sunflower paintings dates from the early 1960s; three of these were exhibited at the Magee Gallery, Belfast, in 1963 although the present painting does not appear to have been one of them.

Girl with Sunflower (1952) and Edge of Fields (1957) introduce in a more peripheral manner Middletons interest in this particular image, which might be seen in the context of his longstanding passion for van Gogh. He had first seen his work in London in 1928 and had then been able to visit a large touring exhibition while it was at the Tate in December 1947. The series painted in the early 1960s appear to have been the first occasion on which the flower became the focus of the entire work.

The late 1950s and early 1960s were a transitional period for Middleton, when his work became in general more austere and geometric, but the Sunflowers paintings seem to sit slightly apart from many other works of the time, with an evocative palette and an active and expressive handling of paint.

 

Dickon Hall, February 2019

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