BERWICK-UPON-TWEED.- This summer, The Granary Gallery in Berwick-upon-Tweed opened Joan Eardley: The Sea at Catterline, a major exhibition developed in partnership with The Fleming Collection, exploring the powerful seascapes created by one of the most distinctive British artists of the 20th century.

Regarded as one of the most original and admired artists of her generation, Joan Eardley (1921–1963) is widely known for her tender, yet unsentimental, portraits of street children in Glasgow. Alongside this celebrated body of work, however, she produced an extraordinary series of landscapes and seascapes inspired by the small fishing village of Catterline, south of Aberdeen, where she spent the latter part of her life. The exhibition is part of the RSA Celebrating Together Project across the UK, marking 200 years of the Royal Scottish Academy.

Eardley first visited Catterline in 1951 and was immediately captivated by its dramatic coastline and wild environment. Dividing her time between her Glasgow studio in Townhead and the remote coastal village, she eventually settled there, working from cottages overlooking the North Sea.

Perched on the edge of a cliff above the village’s crescent-shaped bay, Eardley found endless inspiration in the surrounding landscape – from the buildings and farmland to the rugged shoreline. Yet it was the sea itself that became her most compelling subject. The constantly shifting waves, crashing against the shore, offered a way for Eardley to capture both the raw power of the natural world and the emotional intensity that characterises her work.

Initially finding the sea difficult to paint, Eardley’s approach evolved with the influence of abstract expressionism. The ever-changing movement of the water allowed her to push her practice in new directions, producing works of striking energy and texture. Often painting outdoors in challenging conditions, she experimented with a range of materials, incorporating artist’s paint, boat paint, newspaper, sand and grasses layered onto hardboard to convey the physical force of wind and sea.

The exhibition focuses on works made between the mid-1950s and 1963, a period widely considered the peak of Eardley’s creative powers. Loans from the Royal Scottish Academy, The Fleming Collection, Aberdeen Art Gallery and private collections bring together a remarkable group of paintings and works on paper created in response to Catterline’s dramatic coastline.

Highlights of the exhibition include Summer Sea (c.1960-63) from the Royal Scottish Academy, Field of Barley by the Sea from The Fleming Collection and The Sea II (1963) from Huddersfield Art Gallery, which demonstrate the extraordinary vitality and emotional intensity of Eardley’s late seascapes.

The exhibition also includes works by artists who had a significant impact on her life and creative practice, including Margot Sandeman and her lover Lil Neilson, with whom she had an intense relationship toward the end of her life.

James Lowther, Head of Visual Arts at The Maltings, said: “Joan Eardley’s paintings of Catterline are among the most powerful responses to landscape in twentieth-century British art. Standing on the cliff edge above the North Sea, she developed a way of painting that captured not just the appearance of the waves, but their extraordinary force and emotional intensity. This exhibition brings together a remarkable group of works from the final years of her life, when she was working with real confidence and freedom.”

Theodore Albano, Director, Fleming Collection, said: “The Fleming Collection is so excited to work with the Granary Gallery and the RSA for their bicentenary. This particular show is one we are very excited for, as it includes some of Eardley’s finest works form the last years of her life, while also delving into her interpersonal relationships, as well as her deep love of Catterline. In my eyes, these Catterline pictures by Eardley are some of the most powerful paintings put to canvas in the Scottish Art Historical Canon of the last 75 years.”

Joan Eardley died in August 1963 at the age of 42. Her ashes were scattered along the shoreline at Catterline, where she had long been a familiar figure to local villagers, often seen painting in her characteristic RAF flying suit and heavy boots as she faced the restless North Sea.

Joan Eardley: The Sea at Catterline has been curated by The Maltings (Berwick) Trust in partnership with The Fleming Collection and forms part of RSA 200: Celebrating Together, a nationwide programme marking the bicentenary of the Royal Scottish Academy.