exhibitions
Eric Ritchie - a second look
11th March - 8th April 2017
In the aftermath of his hugely successful first exhibition here 2 years ago (his first since the 1980s), you might think that this lively 82 year old artist had earned the right to sit back, relax and enjoy a quiet life with his wife Rena at home in Coldingham, just a stone’s throw from the picturesque harbour of St Abbs. Not a bit of it. Eric continues to paint and draw and be involved in the community, not least in providing visual and creative campaigning material in the recent successful drive to maintain the lifeboat there. When we visited his studio recently, we were yet again astounded by both the renewed work rate and refreshed archive collection of this remarkable man and had no doubts about presenting a second look – and probably a third, fourth . . . . (artwork photography © Cameron Robertson)
Exhibition Images
(click on thumbnails to view - please check with gallery on availability of work)
Eric Ritchie - A Life In Art
Click on image below to view background images from Eric’s Retrospective in Berwick in 2015
Eric Ritchie
Eric Ritchie graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in the mid 1950s, a prize-winning student who went on to travel and exhibit in Edinburgh and London. He famously collaborated with Leonard Rosoman, the noted war artist and illustrator, on the sell-out Diaghilev exhibition. This landmark exhibition of the life and work of ballet legend Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes was first shown at the Edinburgh Festival and later transferred to London where it drew massive crowds and earned great critical acclaim and led to Eric rubbing shoulders with and gaining a following from many distinguished film and theatrical luminaries.
“During his course, he has won every Scholarship in turn, finishing, in 1956, with an Andrew Grant Major Travelling Scholarship. He studied in France and Italy and the exhibition of his work done on this scholarship was quite outstanding. I regard Eric Ritchie as a very promising painter . . .“ W.G. Gillies, Head, School of Drawing and Painting, Edinburgh College of Art, 1960
Much has been written of this effervescent octogenarian and his influences – Miro, Klee, Ernst, Picasso and indeed Rosoman. His stunning portraiture, murals and representative work. His love of Orkney and of the fishing industry. The wry humour in his caricature work.
“In the end, however, it is the actual arrangement of forms that means most, the balancing of curving, touching, pointing elements, the way he creates a ballet with the bits of pieces of his ideas. “ Edward Gage, The Scotsman, 1981
In 2015, we presented a first solo exhibition of Eric since 1980. A great success and a rejuvenator, there has been no sign of any relaxation in either public interest or in his own energy for his art.
“He is one of those rare ... Read More