Elizabeth Bridge (1912-1996)
| Artist Name | Elizabeth Bridge (1912-1996) |
|---|---|
| Title | Floral Still Life - Promise of Life |
| Description | This beautiful British 1950's exhibited floral still life oil painting is by noted female artist Elizabeth Bridge. It was painted in 1955 and exhibited at the Royal Academy London that same year, entitled Promise of Life. The composition is an arrangement of dried flowers and grasses in a jug on a table with a variety of seed heads in autumnal colours. The seeds perhaps represent the promise of new life, hence the painting's title. The arrangement is shot through with the sliver seed heads of Honesty or Lunaria. This is an amazing plant; vivid purple flowers in spring that eventually become transparent silver circles, like little moons. Annual Honesty is not just a plant; it's a symbol of transparency and integrity. The contrast of the silver honesty amongst the arrangement is just beautiful and the detail and brushwork are superb. This is an excellent example of Bridge's work with sound exhibition provenance. Signed lower left. |
| Provenance | Exhibited Royal Academy London, 1955, no. 679 entitled Promise of Life, label verso. James Bourlet & Sons Ltd label verso. |
| Medium | Oil on Board |
| Size | 20 x 24 inches |
| Frame | Housed in a light Bourlet frame, 31 inches by 27 inches, in good condition. |
| Condition | Good condition. |
| Biography | Elizabeth Bridge (1912-1996) was a painter in oil and watercolour of still-life, figures and landscapes, sometime with a pattern element. At the age of 17 she gained a scholarship to Hornsey School of Art. Bridge began her career by carrying out small commissions and illustrations for newspapers, before concentrating on painting. She painted in a realist style and it was her paintings of flower studies where she excelled- painting wonderful studies of flowers with a fresh and vibrant palette. In 1947, she is recorded as living in Charlbury, Oxon and it was in that year that she first exhibited at the Royal Academy. She went on to exhibit in London at the Royal Academy until 1966, by which time she had moved to Moreton-in-the-Marsh in Gloucestershire. Bridge was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and the Royal Institute of Painters in Oil-Colours. She also exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Society of Women Artists and she gained an Honourable Mention at the Paris Salon. Many of Elizabeth Bridge’s flower paintings and some of her portraits were reproduced. A group of her paintings were sold at Christie’s South Kensington a year after her death in 1997. |
| Price | £3000 |
