Gossip

Location

Country: Belgium
City: Brussels
Place: British Embassy, UK representation to the EU & UK delegation to NATO

Gossip presents three figurative images side by side – a ‘triptych’ of snapshots of people in a minimalist setting suggestive of a street. To the left, a man in a black suit with combed-down hair clasps his head with his right hand. His shoeless feet seem at odds with a formal and outdoors situation. In the centre, a woman stands in the foreground wearing smart Spring-season clothing. She clutches a handbag in her right hand, while her left arm, draped with an outerwear, holds an unidentifiable item. A similarly elusive male figure passes behind her, his features absent from the image. In the scene to the right, a man and woman oddly placed on an out of context platform, stare at each other sideways, their bodies facing the viewer. These strange incongruities, typical of Boyd & Evans’ work in print, offer a critical take on the social activity of gossiping alluded to in the title, which by definition, involves details that are not confirmed as true. 

Boyd & Evans have used the aquatint technique in order to create these black and white prints. The aquatint technique produces a grainy surface which enables a heightened sense of tone, similar to pencil drawing. The artists also make paintings and photographs. Speaking about their way of working with images, which they refer to as ‘narrative’, Boyd & Evans have stated: 

We do not like being referred to as realists, whether hyper-, super-, photo-, or just plain. Reality is so different from a picture. There is never any confusion. 'Pictorial' would be better, 'representational' quite good enough.

Places

Subjects

conversation, genre, man, woman, 20th century costume, suit, coat, handbag

Materials & Techniques

aquatint

Artist

Boyd and Evans (1944; 1945 - )

Title

Gossip

Edition

2/25

Date

1971

Medium

Aquatint

Dimensions

height: 20.00 cm, width: 20.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Christie's, 26 October 1976

Inscription

below image: 2/25 / Fiannula Boyd Leslie Evans 71

Provenance

Sold through Christie's, London, on 26 October 1976 (Lot 243); from which sale purchased by the Department of the Environment

GAC number

12518