Elizabeth Blackadder’s exhibition reveals a cool Tuscan and minimalist still life | Drawing

They may be familiar with the familiar pictures of flowers and cats but the new display of Elizabeth Blackadder work focuses on the coldest places and live music of the past.

The exhibition in Hampshire, far from Blackadder’s Scottish home, offers a less familiar side of the artist, with many pieces being shown for the first time.

Earlier works include several Italian landscapes done in gouache and watercolor in the 1950s shortly after Blackadder left art college. Still life oil paintings from the 1960s and 1970s.

Art writer and editor Anna Brady said Blackadder, who died in 2021 aged 89, painted the Italian landscape after winning a traveling scholarship.

Writing in the book of the exhibition, he said: “From Florence, Blackadder takes a bus to the countryside to paint.” Although we may have fond memories of painting trips to Tuscany, the reality of being a young woman, painting outdoors and alone, in the bitter winter of post-war Italy would have been very difficult.

In later paintings, personal objects such as a coffee pot appear repeatedly. Brady said: “Blackadder seems to be confident in doing more with less, his music is becoming more refined and going back to basics.”

The museum’s director, Jenna Burlingham, said: “What makes this exhibition so exciting is that it highlights the work of the first two decades of Elizabeth Blackadder’s career.

“Blackadder graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1954 and the exhibition presents a selection of quiet landscapes and interiors painted between 1955 and 1975. These works show a more familiar side of the artist – a stark contrast to his favorite flowers and cats.”

Blackadder was the first woman elected to the Royal Scottish Academy and and the Royal Academy of Arts.

Burlingham said the building was very pleased with the original appearance. “This is translated softly into the landscape, with simple shapes that are almost indistinct spaces.