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Two Fishermen Heads

Artist: Bellany, John, CBE RA HRSA · 1942-2013

Two Fishermen Heads

Bellany was born in Port Seton and was descended from a long line of East Lothian fishermen. The fishing communities of Port Seton and Eyemouth in…

Bellany was born in Port Seton and was descended from a long line of East Lothian fishermen.

The fishing communities of Port Seton and Eyemouth in particular, where he had family, and the lore associated with the fishing industry provided much early inspiration for Bellany's artworks.

Many of these hark back to a way of life already under pressure from bureacracy and the modernisation of the fishing fleet and its methods. Many are also imbued with a sense of the heroic worker.

The present work has all the indications that it may be a double portrait of two dark haired, unshaven fishermen known personally to Bellany. If so they are sadly not identified and it is possible that they simply represent a "type."

Regardless, it is a powerful work which displays Bellany's ability as a powerful draughtsman. it is executed in conte pencil which was a favoured medium for Bellany at this time according to his long-term friend Alexander Moffat RSA.

© The Artist's Estate