SOLD


Fyffe Christie:
The Lady of Shalott, 1957
Unframed (ref: 5560)
Draught screen on four panels,
each 122 x 61 cm (48 x 24 in.),
overall 122 x 244 cm (48 x 96 in.)
Oil on hardboard

Tags: Fyffe Christie oil panel big pictures murals Murals catalogue

Provenance: in the artist’s possession until 1979; thence with
his wife Eleanor Christie-Chatterley until 2012.
Literature: Buckman, David, Nature and Humanity, The Work
of Fyffe Christie, 1918:1979, Sansom & Co, 2004, p 11.

The model for the Lady Shalott was Christie’s wife Eleanor (née Munro), whom he met in 1950 when teaching evening classes at the Glasgow School of Art. She recalls that ‘Moving from Glasgow to London in 1956 Fyffe found himself at first without a mural commission and hit on the notion of a free standing screen/ wall hanging.
The rhythms and movement of Tennyson’s romantic verse inspired this
strongly structured composition of curve and vertical, rich colour and intricate detail.’ Fyffe Christie produced over 20 large murals during his life time, amongst the earliest of which was Christ Feeding the People, for Iona Community House, was produced during his 1950/51 post-diploma year.