Beschreibung:

Oil on canvas Signed lower left 51 x 76 cm. (20 x 30 in) Painted circa 1949 Provenance: Sale. Christie’s London, Modern British and Irish Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings, 14th May, 1992, lot 149 Exhibited: Victor Waddington Gallery, Dublin, Colin Middleton 1949, no. 63 Following the completion of his studies at the Belfast Royal Academy in 1927, Middleton on one of his holiday visits to London was to see the work of Van Gogh for the first time. John Hewitt notes how the exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in 1928, and Middleton’s subsequent further exposure to Van Gogh on a trip with his father to Belgium in 1931, was to leave a lasting impact on his work, which is particularly apparent in the following decade after which ‘An Enigma: Ahead of the seashore’ was executed. [1] The handling of the paint in An Enigma, and the inclusion of the recurring motif of the sea, which Middleton was exploring in similar works of the period (See: Black-backed Gull, c. 1950, and Point of Phenick, c. 1950), places the present painting as part of the larger body of Middleton’s oeuvre where mutated mask-like faces, often made up of brutally layered textures of thick impasto, are placed alongside, or rather on top of, an over-whelming expanse of ocean. The physicality of the landscape in the paintings, and the physcological depth found in the oversized faces, creates a complicated and challenging subject matter that clearly occupied Middleton for a large part of his painting in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Furthermore, the inclusion and exploration of the idea of the sea at this point in Middleton’s work, interestingly correlates with his temporary residence at Ardglass, where his proximity to the sea clearly appears to have been influential. Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, painted in 1948, shares similar characteristics to An Enigma, but with Jacob there appears to be a redemption from the intensity of the gaze of the hollowed out face of the figure, found in the butterfly placed on Jacob’s thumb; in An Enigma the direct confrontation with the head doesn’t allow for anything but a direct engagement with the paintings core subject matter. Yet despite this, the painting’s vivid palette of blues and reds suggests a sense of unreality, and the figure and the seascape blend into an almost dream-scape where time is suspended; the painting manages to find neutral space rather than be completely consumed by the overwhelming focus on the figure’s head. Colin Middleton was born in Belfast in 1910, and his work first appeared at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1938, with his first solo exhibition taking place in 1944 at the Grafton Gallery. He initially worked as a damask-designer, like his father before him, but after studying at the Belfast Royal Academy, Middleton focused exclusively on painting. He was awarded an MBE in 1969, and in the same year, appointed an associate at the Royal Hibernian Academy, before becoming a full member in 1970. Middleton’s works are held in numerous international museums, institutions, and private collections, including Ulster Museum, Cambridge and Oxford University, amongst many others. [1] John Hewitt Colin Middleton published by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 1976, p. 12 Condition report disclaimer