"What is art? Big question. The Victorian artist James Holland was under no illusions. "It is, or ought to be, the object of all art to produce as near a likeness to nature, in every respect as the instrument or materials employed will admit to." In other words, detail, accuracy, and finish. Constable's buyers demanded this, yet it was his six foot sketches that today spark our interest. In that respect Constable was ahead of his time. But it was Turner who painted works of the heart and mind, dramatising his subjects. Gone was the emphasis on detail, it was the emotional response to a subject that was all important. Turner had bucked the trend.
Elsa Taylor is a colourist; her flower pieces are more celebrations of colour and design than depictions of flowers. Her landscapes of layered earth colours, delicious harmony of umbers and siennas are the artist's emotional responses to landscape, and that is what is important. Any artist beginning a painting embarks on an adventure. Elsa works at the surface of her canvas with saturated colour, exploring the shapes and textures that emerge in an attempt to capture the character of the subject. At times semi- abstract merges with abstract. Nothing much of detail here, but strong imagery and colour." Brian Sinfield
This exhibition will be the seventh held at the gallery and the paintings have lost none of their zest. Undoubtedly Elsa Taylor is one of the finest colourists working in England today.
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