Pauline Plummer (b.1933) - Mid 20th Century Oil Restaurant Afloat

Description

Restaurant Afloat presents a lively maritime scene where a moored vessel, brightly festooned with colourful bunting, rests along a quiet waterway, nestled between brick industrial buildings and the fresh spring foliage of overhanging trees. The juxtaposition of the nautical and the urban is rendered with both charm and restraint, as the artist balances gritty riverside textures with the festive spirit of the boat itself. There’s a subtle naïve quality in the simplified architectural forms and slightly exaggerated lines, offset by a confident use of bold, flat colour. A naturalistic palette of soft greens, cool blues, and warm earth tones ties the elements together, creating a harmonious interplay between human industry and seasonal renewal. With its unpretentious style and inviting detail, the painting celebrates everyday beauty, capturing a fleeting, almost whimsical moment where maritime heritage and the rhythms of city life gently converge. Inscribed to the reverse. On board.

Condition

In fine condition overall. With some minor marks and scuffs to the board.

Size

46 x 61cm (18.1" x 24")

Collection Information

Pauline Plummer says of her work, "My style is traditional. I enjoy the challenge of constructing a balanced composition from figures, still life or landscape. However, it is landscape which is my principal theme, usually including some structural feature such as a grand building like a church or mansion, or just a disintegrating hut, a bridge, a beached boat, or a wavering line of fence. I am fascinated by the changing colours and patterns of the agricultural scene, the brilliance of oilseed rape, or the dark shadows of potato furrows. There are also, on a small scale, even in Norfolk, all those areas which have been so carefully controlled, where the weeds grow high, and one can imagine oneself lost among them."

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Artist Biography

Born May 1933, the only daughter of two very artistic parents, Pauline studied Fine Art at the University of Reading 1951-1955, graduating with a BA Hons. After graduating she was awarded a three-year studentship by the Council for the Care of Churches to study conservation of paintings. For two years Pauline attended the Courtauld Institute of Art Technology Department, headed by Professor Stephen Rees Jones. From 1960 Pauline worked freelance. In her long career she has worked extensively all over the country on many notable conservation projects in a wide variety of locations from stately homes, colleges, churches and cathedrals, including projects for the National Trust and English Heritage. During her working life Pauline enjoyed her own art as a hobby. She benefitted from courses by distinguished teachers, for example Robin Child and Roy Freer. It was on her retirement from conservation that she immersed herself in her passion for painting and went on to develop an extensive collection of artistic work.