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Colin Middleton
MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS
Lot 14
Price Realised:
€25,000
Estimate:
€25,000 - €35,000
Colin Middleton RHA, RUA, MBE, 1910-1983
MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS
Oil on board, 20" x 24" (50.8 x 61cm), signed; signed and dated 7th Feb 1943 verso; inscribed on canvas strip verso. Opus no. 54.
Provenance: The Artists' wife, Kate w...
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Lot 14
Colin Middleton
MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS
Lot 14
Colin Middleton
MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS
Estimate:
€25,000 - €35,000
Colin Middleton RHA, RUA, MBE, 1910-1983
MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS
Oil on board, 20" x 24" (50.8 x 61cm), signed; signed and dated 7th Feb 1943 verso; inscribed on canvas strip verso. Opus no. 54.
Provenance: The Artists' wife, Kate whereby gifted to their daughter, Peggy, in 1985; Tom Caldwell Gallery, Dublin (label verso).
Painted in the first few months of 1943, My Hearts in the Highlands was included in Colin Middletons first one-person exhibition, held at the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery in the autumn of that year.
While the paintings subtitle, Cinderella No.3, connects it with a small series of works within this exhibition that refer to the themes of light, wisdom and healing the recur within variants of the Cinderella story, it could also be seen alongside a series of three pictures, dominated by their distinctive red tones, completed in 1942, and all now in the collection of National Museums Northern Ireland, The Discovery, The Return and Thinking of Antwerp.
These all appear to be highly autobiographical works. The 1943 exhibition charts the traumatic impact of the sudden death of Middletons first wife in the summer of 1939, only months before Britain entered the Second World War, and subsequently the horror of the Blitz of Belfast in 1941, before a striking change of mood that occurs around the spring of 1942, when Middleton appears to have met Kathleen, whom he was to marry.
The female archetype, a constant throughout all periods of Middletons work, is transformed at this period, and becomes associated with positive natural qualities of rebirth and fecundity, while it also appears in the form of brightly-dressed girls, perhaps a reference to the two young daughters Kathleen had with her first husband. In My Hearts in the Highlands, the angelic female figure above the girl has a quality of protection and hope that is difficult to separate from Middletons new relationship, and it is similarly tempting to see the trumpeter as a projection of the artist, perhaps playing to summon this figure or in response to it.
Middleton used songs as titles for a number of paintings at this period. My Hearts in the Highlands is taken from a poem and song by Robert Burns, and this expression of love for something or someone even when apart, might be interpreted as a comment on the complexity of Colin and Kathleens relationship at this time, when she was still living with her first husband, Bruce Barr.
Middleton sets the male figure apart from the two female figures, each relating to separate groups of buildings set apart from each other; it might be reasonable to see the jagged, hilly landscape to the left as a suggestion of Cave Hill, in north Belfast, where Middleton was living with his mother, while the houses by the sea at the right might represent Kathleens home at that time, by Strangford Lough, around Ringneill. It is a gently uplifting painting, with a mood of hope and renewal.
Dickon Hall
MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS
Oil on board, 20" x 24" (50.8 x 61cm), signed; signed and dated 7th Feb 1943 verso; inscribed on canvas strip verso. Opus no. 54.
Provenance: The Artists' wife, Kate whereby gifted to their daughter, Peggy, in 1985; Tom Caldwell Gallery, Dublin (label verso).
Painted in the first few months of 1943, My Hearts in the Highlands was included in Colin Middletons first one-person exhibition, held at the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery in the autumn of that year.
While the paintings subtitle, Cinderella No.3, connects it with a small series of works within this exhibition that refer to the themes of light, wisdom and healing the recur within variants of the Cinderella story, it could also be seen alongside a series of three pictures, dominated by their distinctive red tones, completed in 1942, and all now in the collection of National Museums Northern Ireland, The Discovery, The Return and Thinking of Antwerp.
These all appear to be highly autobiographical works. The 1943 exhibition charts the traumatic impact of the sudden death of Middletons first wife in the summer of 1939, only months before Britain entered the Second World War, and subsequently the horror of the Blitz of Belfast in 1941, before a striking change of mood that occurs around the spring of 1942, when Middleton appears to have met Kathleen, whom he was to marry.
The female archetype, a constant throughout all periods of Middletons work, is transformed at this period, and becomes associated with positive natural qualities of rebirth and fecundity, while it also appears in the form of brightly-dressed girls, perhaps a reference to the two young daughters Kathleen had with her first husband. In My Hearts in the Highlands, the angelic female figure above the girl has a quality of protection and hope that is difficult to separate from Middletons new relationship, and it is similarly tempting to see the trumpeter as a projection of the artist, perhaps playing to summon this figure or in response to it.
Middleton used songs as titles for a number of paintings at this period. My Hearts in the Highlands is taken from a poem and song by Robert Burns, and this expression of love for something or someone even when apart, might be interpreted as a comment on the complexity of Colin and Kathleens relationship at this time, when she was still living with her first husband, Bruce Barr.
Middleton sets the male figure apart from the two female figures, each relating to separate groups of buildings set apart from each other; it might be reasonable to see the jagged, hilly landscape to the left as a suggestion of Cave Hill, in north Belfast, where Middleton was living with his mother, while the houses by the sea at the right might represent Kathleens home at that time, by Strangford Lough, around Ringneill. It is a gently uplifting painting, with a mood of hope and renewal.
Dickon Hall
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In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive notification of being outbid.
PLEASE BID EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.
In order to allow rival bidders the opportunity to respond to a late bid the following extensions will apply:
IF A BID IS RECEIVED WITHIN THE FINAL 45 SECONDS OF THE COUNTDOWN THE CLOCK WILL RESET TO 60 SECONDS.
At any point you can leave a maximum bid, representing the highest price you are prepared to pay for a particular lot. Bidding only advances when there is competition from a rival bidder. In that case the system bids on your behalf, only up to the maximum if required. All bids are relayed to you be email, along with notification if you have been outbid.
All maximum bids are confidential and not disclosed. The system will endeavor to purchase the lot for you for the least price. Bids are subject to buyer’s premium of 25% (incl vat) for art sales and 27.5% (incl vat) for design sales, with no additional charges.
In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive notification of being outbid.
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