Edward Middleditch: The Pencil of Nature

Edward Middleditch RA was an English artist. He was born in Chelmsford, Essex. In the 1930s his family moved to Nottingham, where he attended the Mundella Grammar School from 1934 to 1939. From 1949 to 1952 he attended Royal College of Art, where his teachers were Ruskin Spear, Carel Weight and John Minton.

United Kingdom – James Hyman Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of drawings by Edward Middleditch. Focused on the artist’s meticulous later works, the exhibition: “The Pencil of Nature“, explores his painstaking and obsessive observation of nature. At the heart of the exhibition are meticulous drawings of fields of crops in which each leaf and stem is precisely detailed and delineated. Edward Middleditch established himself in the mid 1950s as one of the most powerful young painters and draughtsmen in Britain. Initially associated with the kitchen sink painters – John Bratby, Derrick Greaves and Jack Smith – he devoted himself chiefly to natural themes. His work over the following decades concentrated principally on the elements, from the weight of a massive hillside to the lightness of sun dancing on water or darting through foliage. It became increasingly abstract and stylised, inspired by kilims and Persian carpets, and even used stencilling to create a patterned, decorative response to nature. The Estate of Edward Middleditch is represented by James Hyman Fine Art, London. The exhibit is open to view till the 31st of January, 2015 at the James Hyman Gallery.