Edward Irvine Halliday, PRBA, PRP, ARCA (English)
1902 – 1984
Mrs. Lindsey Walker*, oil on canvas, signed u/l, dated 1955, 24.5″ x 29.5″ sight, 32.5″ x 38.5″ frame
Estimate: $750. NFS.
Please email an offer to purchase or a request for more information to thistlefineart.info@gmail.com.
Very good condition; a few dimples in the canvas and minor crazing in the lower left corner. Presented in a museum quality frame.
Edward Halliday was a “painter in oil and watercolour mainly of portraits. Born in Liverpool, Halliday studied at the City School of Art there, in Paris at the Atelier Colarossi and at the Royal College of Art. He was awearded the Prix de Rome and worked at the British School there. Exhibited at RA, RBA, Paris Salon and RP, of which for a time he was president. His work is in the collections of HM The Queen, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, the Athenaeum Club, Wolverhampton Royal Hospital and Bootle Dyeworks. His work was reproduced in The Studio, Illustrated London News and The Times and he was interviewed by Stanley Casson for his book Artists at Work, published in 1933. In 1997, the University of Liverpool held an exhibition which concentrated on Halliday’s efforts to popularise art between the wars. Halliday’s daughter Charlotte was also an artist. He lived in London.” – from Artists in Britain Since 1945 by David Buckman.
Note: The artist was a BBC commentator, for many years, and was recognized for his coverage of Royal occasions. A self portait, “Alter Ego,” is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. The painting depicts Halliday in his role as a radio commentator.
*A small handwritten sticker was attached to the frame, verso, with the name Mrs. Lindsey Walker. That name was attributed to the sitter of this portrait but is more likely the name of the person from whom it was acquired.. While maybe a little “fanciful”, there is a resemblance to Mamie Eisenhower. Thomas E. Stephens executed a painting of the President (in uniform) in 1948. A copy is in the Eisenhower Room of Culzean Castle, Scotland. Stephens also painted Mrs. Eisenhower in 1948 (see below).
Whether or not the sitter can be identified, this is a portrait that should be enjoyed for the quality of the painting and frame. It has hung in my home for over twenty years and while I’ve considered it could be a very important painting, and deserves further research, I never got around to it.
For comparison:
Thomas E. Stephens1948
Source: Eisenhower National Historic Site
Also by this artist:
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