Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley

1921 - 1963

England Joan Eardley was a Scottish painter born in Sussex. She studied briefly at Goldsmiths College, London (1938""9). From 1940 she lived in Scotland and studied at the Glasgow School of Art (1940""43) under Hugh Adam Crawford and also she was taught be James Cowie. Eardley was awarded the Guthrie Prize for portraiture and 2 travelling scholarship which she used to travel to Italy and France. She was influenced by the Scottish Colourists, but also deeply affected by the life and atmosphere of the slums of the city. For her subject-matter she concentrated on street life, young children and the elderly, blending realism and compassion but without sentimentality. She was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1955 and a full Academician in 1963.