Joan G Edwards - late works
Joan Edwards continued to work in her studio, albeit less regularly, in the years either side of her ninetieth birthday. A number
of the works presented here were discovered in the studio in 2016, with no entry in the artist's record of completed paintings. There were a good many unfinished works, but several substantial and fully completed paintings had simply been put away and forgotten about. As is often the case with 'late' periods, at times she revisited earlier themes, producing new variants of existing works, but there is no diminution in the quality and others show an increase in adventurousness and diversity.
of the works presented here were discovered in the studio in 2016, with no entry in the artist's record of completed paintings. There were a good many unfinished works, but several substantial and fully completed paintings had simply been put away and forgotten about. As is often the case with 'late' periods, at times she revisited earlier themes, producing new variants of existing works, but there is no diminution in the quality and others show an increase in adventurousness and diversity.
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Winter Palm (undated) gouache, 700 x 383 mm the estate of J.G.Edwards discovered December 2016 Provisionally given the above title because of the obvious relation to 'Autumn Palm', an examination of what at first sight could appear to be a golden evening sky will reveal that this is anything but a lazy rehashing of past work. |
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Untitled (c. 2008 -2013) gouache, 410 x 630 mm collection of the artist an uncompleted (?) abstract from her last years |
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Untitled (undated) gouache, 745 x 468 mm the estate of J.G.Edwards discovered December 2016 It can safely be said that this treatment of a pot plant on a windowsill could have been painted by no other artist. |
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Untitled (undated) c. 2008 -2013 gouache, 740 x 430 mm the estate of J.G.Edwards discovered December 2016 Familiar compositional themes, but a work one wishes she had completed. |
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Unfinished Journey (c. 2009 -2013) gouache, 660 x 400 mm collection of the artist This is a work whose 'unfinished' state the artist decided to make a part of its meaning, an ironic insistence that the journey was not and would never be over. It certainly has a different, more recognisably 'late' style - a simplified language, with hints of Dufy perhaps and an echo of Nash in the treatment of the sun. She selected it as the work to illustrate her 2014 Christmas card, dying a fortnight before this date. |
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