Livin’ in a World of Fools, part 2

Eleanor Moreton (1956 - )

Oil on canvas

2011

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: Other
    City: other locations UK

    Inside an uninhabited room, what appears to be a large tree – perhaps a Christmas tree – stands in front of a door on top of a piece of furniture. Glimpses of ornate decoration on the high ceiling hint at the space’s faded grandeur. There is a strange sense of queasiness created by the narrow range of colours in this painting and the almost ghost-like forms of furniture.

    Livin’ In a World of Fools part 2 by Eleanor Moreton belongs to a body of work in which the artist explored some of the myths surrounding the Habsburg Empire (1867–1918). In particular, she was drawn to the floral and folk paintings by the Viennese artist, Ferdinand Waldmüller (1793–1865) which she read as promoting a fantasy of the ideal home. In her own work, Moreton has described how she wants to disrupt a sense of cosiness in her domestic spaces. With a deliberate nod to the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, she acknowledges the contrasting nature of a ‘home’ which can be both refuge and a place of enclosure:

    There is this ambivalence all the time because I long for the homely and all those kind of things and at the same time struggle to be free...

  • About the artist
    Eleanor Moreton was born in London and studied at Chelsea College of Art and UCE Birmingham. Moreton was the 2007-08 Durham Cathedral Artist in Residence. She was shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize, 2008 and the Threadneedle Prize, Mall Galleries, London, 2009.
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    Subjects
    abstract, domestic interior
    Materials & Techniques
    canvas, oil, oil painting
  • Details
    Artist
    Eleanor Moreton (1956 - )
    Title
    Livin’ in a World of Fools, part 2
    Date
    2011
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    height: 45.00 cm, width: 35.00 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Ceri Hand Gallery, Liverpool, March 2011
    Inscription
    verso on foldback, t: E. Moreton 2011 ; b: LIVIN' IN A WORLD OF FOOLS, PT 2
    Provenance
    Ceri Hand Gallery, Liverpool
    GAC number
    18390