ELAINE HAXTON

Christie's, Melbourne, 4 April 1995, lot 77
Private collection, Sydney; purchased from the above 

Good condition. Slight paint losses upper centre and top centre edge, lower centre. Shrinkage crackle on left hand jug. Some surface dirt.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Elaine Haxton's Still Life - "Two Jugs" has the look and feel of a set design, with a touch of the surreal to enliven a subject said to be without movement. It presents a visual dialogue between placement within the fictive stage setting and the flatness of a backdrop, a happy interchange between illusion and the limitations imposed by the picture plane. To say it looks staged is a complementary invitation to the audience to join the artist in some of the mysteries of the theatre. Like a canvas, the stage is the base or board on which actor/artists perform in the creation of their imitations of life. To find such associations in Haxton's work is not unexpected given her training and interests. At one time she worked as a theatre designer and stage manager, and in 1945 studied at the New York School of Theatre Design. She was also a muralist, again a quality strongly felt in the handling of the background wall, surfaces worked and textured, a sense of the flat and solid as a foil to the roundness of the jugs. The brushes with their bristles of varied colours declare her craft, to be manipulated in the conjuring up of images of decorative delectation. The same feeling of the theatre set permeates Haxton's diptych East Side, West Side, New York (1946, National Gallery of Victoria). When she was awarded the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery's 1946 Crouch Prize with her painting Mother and Child (1945), judge Louis McCubbin described it as 'a most beautiful arrangement with something of the feeling of the early Italian masters together with a charming conception of form and colour.' ¹ Much the same could be said of this painting. Haxton was not without her own charm and beauty, as seen in her 1941 portrait by William Dobell.

1. Gael Ramsay & Gordon Morrison, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery: Highlights, Ballarat, 2006, p. 102