
Penny Day
Head of UK and Ireland
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Sold for £22,562.50 inc. premium
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Head of UK and Ireland

Head of Department

Director
Provenance
With Eakin Gallery, Belfast, where acquired by the present owner, 27 April 1998
Private Collection, Northern Ireland
Colin Middleton is something of an art historical chameleon with an infamous lack of a 'signature' look. He worked in a wide variety of styles – from surrealist to expressionist to cubist to impressionist – with broad influences, ranging from the Flemish Masters to Paul Klee to Vincent van Gogh. He used these styles indiscriminately and moved back and forth between them over the years and even decades, as the circumstances of his life or environment suggested them.
The artist had no regard for time in his work and ruthlessly eliminated any contemporary references to create what was essential, what was enduring – the landscape and the people of his beloved Ulster, as in the present work. November Evening, Bangor Pier was painted in 1955 but the scene depicted could be anytime – 1920s or 2019. Showing a quayside in winter, three huddled figures are making their way silently and a single streetlight illuminates the dusk that will soon turn to night but for now, casts pink, purple, orange and blue hues over the Irish Sea.
We are grateful to Dickon Hall for his assistance assistance in cataloguing this lot.