SUE FITZGERALD
SILK CARNATIONS
60 x 60 cm
Front Cover: Flowers from the Market 60 x 76 cm
All works Mixed Media on Canvas
SUE FITZGERALD
Solo Exhibition
May 2016
CATTO GALLERY
100 Heath Street • Hampstead • London NW3 1DP
Tel: +44 (0)20 7435 6660 • [email protected]
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The great colourist Edouard Vuillard said one should ‘conceive a picture really as a series of harmonies’. What a lovely idea.
After all, if light is composed of different wavelengths, we should think of colour as some kind of symphony. In that sense, the
best painting should be a collection of harmonies as pleasing to the eye as Debussy is to the ear.
This description makes perfect sense when you look at a work by Sue Fitzgerald. She is simply one of Britain’s great colourists.
The cobalts and vermillions in her wonderful still lives just dance across the canvas. And now Sue, one of the Catto’s bestloved and most established artists, is back for another show with a fabulous collection of new works.
Of course, starting this overview with a quote by Vuillard was no accident. It’s possible to trace a line between the ‘Nabis’ school
of painters (to which Vuillard belonged, as did Bonnard and Denis) and Sue Fitzgerald. She admits they were an influence, and
it’s evident in the way she marries a deep passion for colour and pattern with an occasional rejection of conventional perspective.
In Sue’s artistic vision, the maths of ‘correct’ receding space are not always obeyed. Instead, she opens up the foreground. The
tables remain square, whatever the viewing angle.This gives Sue the chance to turn compositions into free form arrangements
of shapes and planes. In the new collection, there are some standout examples. In Summer Balcony and Daisies, a vase of
flowers sits atop a jigsaw of interlocked patterns. In Wild Irises and Fields of Vine and Lilies and Lavender Fields, even the
landscape through the window has been transformed into semi-abstract geometry.
That said, Sue is not locked to this technique. Her control is such that she can clearly pick and choose when to improvise with
perspective and when to be more ‘conventional’. Thus, Cevennes Mountains and Sunflowers is a very lovely ‘correct’ still life
with a background that calls to mind the Provencal landscapes of Van Gogh and Gauguin.
Actually, the backdrops we see in this collection are the mountains of Southern France and the Italian Lakes of Maggiore and
Lake Orta. Sue likes to travel! Exotic locations have been an inspiration to the artist ever since graduating from the schools of
art at Sunderland and York in the 1960s. She has travelled extensively across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. But it’s not just
the landscapes she’s seeking out. Most of the textiles, white porcelain and Nonya pots so lovingly depicted in her work were
picked up from flea markets during these expeditions.
Today, Sue’s work is held in many collections around the world. In 2013 she was an invited artist at the ING exhibition in the
Mall Galleries in London. Her paintings continue to delight her fans and indeed anyone with a love of visual harmony. Come
to the Catto and have a ‘listen’.
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THE GARDEN, SAINT-BAUZILLE-DE-LA-SYLVE
76 x 61 cm
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CEVENNES MOUNTAINS AND SUNFLOWERS
36 x 46 cm
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SUMMER IN APT, PROVENCE
59 x 59 cm
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GINGER JAR FROM HOLLAND VILLAGE, SINGAPORE
51 x 61 cm
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FREESIAS AND SILK IN THE STUDIO
60 x 75 cm
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DRAGON AND WHITE LINEN
70 x 90 cm
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SUMMER BALCONY AND DAISIES
60 x 60 cm
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HOTEL WINDOW, LAKE ANNECY
76 x 60 cm
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WILD IRISES, LANGUEDOC ROUSSILLON
50 x 60 cm
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WILD IRISES AND FIELDS OF VINES
60 x 75 cm
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BOWL FROM CAT STREET, HONG KONG
50 x 61 cm
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TULIPS AND LINEN
50 x 60 cm
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POPPIES AND COBALT BLUE
60 x 76 cm
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LAKE ORTA AND POPPIES
60 x 50 cm
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WHITE TULIPS AND RED SILK
40 x 40 cm
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LANGUEDOC HILLS AND RED TABLE
51 x 60 cm
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LAKE ANNECY AND LILLIES
60 x 75 cm
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ANEMONES AND WATER JUG
50 x 61 cm
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SAN POLO DOORWAY, VENICE
76 x 60 cm
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LILLIES AND LAVENDER FIELDS
76 x 61 cm
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THE SMALL WINDOW, SAN POLO, VENICE
60 x 60 cm
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WHITE TULIP
25 x 36 cm
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LILLIES AND TANGLIN POT
60 x 75 cm
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THE ORCHARD, SAINT-BAUZILLE-DE-LA-SYLVE
51 x 61 cm
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Back Cover: Silk from Tanglin and Nonya Pot 50 x 61 cm
CATTO GALLERY
100 Heath Street • Hampstead • London NW3 1DP
Tel: +44 (0)20 7435 6660 • www.cattogallery.co.uk • [email protected]
Opening times: 10am - 6pm Mon - Sat • 12.30pm - 6pm Sunday • and by appointment
EXHIBITION DATES: Sunday 8th – Tuesday 24th May 2016