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Artist or Maker: EDWARD MIDDLEDITCH 1923 - 1987
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Dimensions: 99 by 238cm.; 39 by 93 3/4 in.
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Provenance: Corporate Collection, UK
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Notes:
The present painting may date from 1953 and form part of the group of paintings and drawings related to the important Sheffield Weir I and Sheffield Weir II (Manchester City Art Gallery and Tate Collection respectively). Middleditch's connection to the city must have come through his friends Jack Smith and Derrick Greaves, both Sheffield men, and sees the introduction of a theme of turbulent water that has been connected by commentators as reflecting an interest in death. This may be supported by the fact that one of the drawings in this group, Ladybridge Weir (Private Collection), shows the viewpoint from the first bridge in the city to survive the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864, a well-known local historical event which swept down the Rivers Loxley and Don and cost at least 270 lives.
