A Moment of Sadness
1981
oil on board
51h x 76w (cm)
Private Collection (UK)
- REP/PBSixty-odd years after his life-changing holiday in Whitby, Dad was still using the resonant imagery of its harbour in his paintings. The two lighthouses and the harbour occur in quite a few of his pictures as places of security from the open seas. But here there is a certain bleakness in this rampart of stone and a feeling of portentousness.
The jokey or angry clowns of his earlier work have given way to more melancholy figures. Nostalgia haunts the picture.
Provenance & Events
References:
Books
- "Richard Eurich (1903-1992) Visionary Artist"; Edward Chaney and Christine Clearkin (contributions by James Hyman, David McCann and Peyton Skipwith), pub. 2003: Paul Holberton Publishing, ISBN 1903470110 [Cat 53*, illustrated (detail on cover and pg 82)]
Catalogues
- "Richard Eurich OBE RA - Paintings Since the War"; The Fine Art Society [Cat 36, illustrated]
Related Works
Clowns by the Sea (c1929)
. . . and back.
Fog Bank, Whitby (1934)
'A Moment of Sadness' references the two lighthouses at the entrance to Whitby harbour. Other works use them too.
Dancing Men (1948)
Richard's use of clowns by the sea goes back . . .
Coast Scene with Rainbow (1953)
Whitby style lighthouse again. Zoom in and you will find a clown in white.
The Whitby Lights (1962)
Note how the triangles of the brown sails are picked up in 'A Moment of Sadness'.
Pierrot and Fisherman (1975)
Whitby's west pier lighthouse pops up again with a clown.