Colin Middleton, R.H.A.

Sale, Christie's, Colin Middleton Studio Sale, London, 4th October 1985, lot 1
Sale, Christie's, Melbourne,  9th May 2001, lot 247
The Frederick Gallery, Dublin

Dublin, The Frederick Gallery, Christmas Exhibition, 2001, no.1.

Original canvas. There are two minor lines of craquelure with a few extremely tiny flecks of corresponding paint loss to the door lower left and to the window upper left. In the upper third of the work there are signs of faint horizontal craquelure and some faint lines in the lower right corner. Otherwise the work is in generally good overall condition with areas of strong impasto. Ultraviolet light reveals pigments which fluoresce that are the hand of the artist. Held under glass in a painted plaster frame with a canvas inset; unexamined out of frame. Please telephone the department on 0207 293 5575 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

1939, the year the present work was painted, was a particularly pivotal but difficult year for Middleton.  He spent much of the 1930s working to build up his reputation, enabling him to eventually paint full time. He was made an Associate of the Royal Ulster Academy in 1935 and was introduced to the works of Salvador Dali and the British Surrealists, as well as artists such as van Gogh, whose work he encountered during a visit in London. By the end of the Thirties his style began to undergo a marked change, drifting away from the surrealism to which he was originally drawn, and following this the critical success which he had long hoped for began to materialize (he showed for the first time at the Royal Hibernian Academy and he had his first one man show in the first years of the 1940s).

Yet it was also in this year that his beloved wife Maye Maclaine, a fellow artist and student whom he married in 1935, died suddenly and war broke out in Europe, the effects of which would be hard felt in his native Belfast, which was extensively bombed. Street Corner Shop betrays very little of this underlying tension and unease, and is instead a quaint depiction of everyday life. While Middleton has kept the scene elegantly simple, his eye for those details which enliven and intrigue is immediately apparent. We see a pair of children gaze longingly at the wares visible through a shop front window, fresh flowers sit in a pot on the window sill upper left and a delicate oil street lamp stands out against the sky upper right.  

While bright and light-hearted, there is also a sense of soberness and stillness, which pervades war-time urban streets. The shop fronts, pavement and figures are reduced to simplified and colourful forms. He makes particular use of architectural details such as the brick window surrounds and the window pains to create a patterned effect, betraying his strong sense of graphic design.  Middleton was trained as a textile designer, having joined the family linen damask firm as an apprentice when his father suffered a stroke in 1927, and he later became full owner. His love of the geometric and abstract appealed to Middleton throughout his career.