| Margot
Noyes - On Reflection
Her mother's interest
in painting and the encouragement of Oriel Scott,
an inspired art teacher at Fulham County Grammar
School, combined to convince Margot Noyes that
her future lay In the sphere of art. This conviction
was reinforced when she attended portrait classes
tutored by the distinguished painter Dennis
Gilbert.
Heroes at this stage were J M W Turner - a lasting
passion - and Corot. In view of these enthusiasms
it was fortunate that the art school she attended
was Camberwell. Here, her principal mentor at
foundation level (then called Intermediate)
was Joe Dixon, whose Instinctive awareness of
the strengths and potential of his students
was legendary.
The progression to Camberwell's painting school
in 1958 exposed Noyes to a wide range of teaching
influence, but her main sources of guidance
were Anthony Eytonlater to be a Royal Academician
- and Dick Lee. Many decades later, echoes of
both remain discernible.
During the 1950s the work of the Impressionists,
then little known outside artistic circles,
was being rediscovered and hungrily explored
by art students. Thus Noyes' enthusiasms were
extended from Corot's verdant landscapes to
embrace those of Allred Sisley, and the drawings
of Degas. Other artists avidly studied included
Pierre Bonnard, Dora Carrington and Gwen John,
whose influence can be sensed in her work with
a feeling of assimilation rather than imitation.
Noyes combined a substantial output of painting
with part-time teaching following her marriage
to fellow student Leo Austin In 1960, the programme
soon having to be balanced against the demands
of motherhood. She nonetheless took part in
several mixed exhibitions featuring Hammersmith
and Fulham artists and mounted her first solo
exhibition in 1970.
Profound change came In 1974 when Noyes and
Leo Austin moved to an idyllic but isolated
cottage next to Wenhaston marsh in Suffolk.
Life at Marsh Cottage provided enduring visual
elements - clear light, water, reflections,
reedbeds, trees and fields and Noyes remained
there for more than twenty years, despite the
early departure of Austin.
The Wenhaston years saw several distinct phases
of Noyes' painting: the 'cyclists' series -
evolved during a period when she and Austin
lubricated their lean cash-flow with a cycle
hire business - and a series of portraits produced
for 1V productions (one of Sir Alec Guinness
was shown at the RA). Additionally there were
some intensely personal double-image paintings,
not shown in this exhibition, in which familiar
landscapes are inhabited by hall-seen spectral
presences. During this period Noyes had three
solo exhibitions in London and several in East
Anglia. In 1990 she was a founder member of
The Suffolk Group, with whom she has been a
regular exhibitor.
In 1995 Noyes abandoned the haunting isolation
of Wenhaston for the practicalities (including
a larger studio) of nearby Halesworth, where
work has continued with new impetus provided
by the urban environment.
This exhibition celebrates the work of a serious
and focused artist almost mystically in tune
with her surroundings, with an ability to present
observations and emotional response firmly underpinned
by rigorous early training.
September 2004
Richard Scott |
