Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ambrose-mcevoy-1605" aria-label="More by Ambrose McEvoy" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Ambrose McEvoy</a>
EarRing
Presented by C.L. Rutherston 1917
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
chair
clothing and personal items
domestic
dressing / undressing
earring
fine arts and music
furnishings
interior - non-specific
interiors
mirror
objects
painting
people
sitting
woman
<p>McEvoy presents a moment of quiet and intense self-scrutiny. Lost in contemplation of her image, the model’s assessment of her ear ring also suggests a narcissistic appraisal of her own beauty. McEvoy heightens the mood of intimacy by contrasting deep shadows behind the figure with a stronger light falling on the mirror’s reflection, thus heightening attention on the woman’s face. A pupil of artist James Abott McNeill Whistler, McEvoy also painted scenes which replaced narrative with atmosphere and suggestion.</p><p><em>Gallery label, May 2007</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
7 April 2014 – 12 October 2014
2014-10-12
7 April 2014 – 12 October 2014
2014-10-12
2014-04-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-04-07
Forgotten Faces
Collection based display
26 October 2017 – 5 February 2018
2018-02-05
26 October 2017 – 5 February 2018
2018-02-05
2017-10-26
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon, Portugal)
http://www.museu.gulbenkian.pt/
2017-10-26
William Blake: The Artist
Loan-out
26 November 2019 – 24 January 2020
2020-01-24
26 November 2019 – 24 January 2020
2020-01-24
2019-11-26
Philip Mould & Company (London, UK)
2019-11-26
Ambrose McEvoy: A Retrospective
Loan-out
The Ear-Ring
Support: 762 × 635 mm
Frame: 987 × 865 × 112 mm
Presented by C.L. Rutherston 1917
<p>McEvoy presents a moment of quiet and intense self-scrutiny. Lost in contemplation of her image, the model’s assessment of her ear ring also suggests a narcissistic appraisal of her own beauty. McEvoy heightens the mood of intimacy by contrasting deep shadows behind the figure with a stronger light falling on the mirror’s reflection, thus heightening attention on the woman’s face. A pupil of artist James Abott McNeill Whistler, McEvoy also painted scenes which replaced narrative with atmosphere and suggestion.</p>

Display caption
2007-05-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N03176</b> THE EAR-RING <i>c.</i> 1911</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘McEvoy’ b.r.
<br/>Canvas, 30×25 (76×63·5).
<br/>Presented by C. L. Rutherston 1917.
<br/><i>Exh:</i>
N.E.A.C., winter 1911 (22), as ‘The ear-ring picture’; R.A., <i>Late Members</i>, winter 1928 (542).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Johnson, 1919, I, p.3, repr. pl.19; ‘Wigs’, 1923, p.63, repr. p.17.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Gleadowe, 1924, pl.8; Sir Joseph Duveen, <i>Thirty Years of British Art</i>, 1930, p.29.</p>
<p>Two studies for this picture were exhibited at the R.A., winter 1928 (423, <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a>, lent by Geoffrey Blackwell, and 448, <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/chalk" title="Glossary definition for 'Chalk'"><span>chalk</span></a>, lent by Mrs Claude Johnson); the first is repr. Johnson, 1919, II, pl.108. See also <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mcevoy-in-a-mirror-n03175" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03175</span></a>.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-05T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults chair clothing and personal items domestic dressing / undressing earring fine arts and music furnishings interior - non-specific interiors mirror objects painting people sitting woman