The following is based on two statements (2004 / 2014) from my Father and some comments from my Mother prior to the ‘Retrospective and celebratory exhibition’ at Peter Pears gallery in 2017. As my Father was entering his penultimate year, Dementia having already taken so much from him, he was able to look back with contentment on a life well – lived, based on determination, integrity and love.
Edwin described himself as ‘An East Anglian, born in Essex in 1938.’ He read Geography at St. John’s College Cambridge and was the County planner of Suffolk for many years where his work featured a focus on the protection of the local environment and heritage before such foci were so fashionable.
Retiring in 1995, Edwin chose to complete an Art degree that was the catalyst for the great creative legacy of his life (my brother and I and our children / grandchildren excepted!) He was prolific in watercolours at first and later in oils. The following is inspired by Dad’s artist’s statement from 2014 before one of his last exhibitions in Kesgrave.
‘Art can help to clarify, articulate and reinforce belief about oneself in our world where the future is always uncertain and changing. Art may offer the consolation of a shared life and experience. It can celebrate vitality, beauty, delight, love and sexuality. It can also show and reconcile one to the inevitability of death, destruction and oblivion.’
‘My work seeks to illustrate in the works of nature and man the inevitable process of life, death, decay and recycling.’
Ultimately, art played such an important role in making Dad’s last 20 years so creative, energetic and rewarding. My hope in looking to share and extend his legacy is that his work will encourage the vitality, beauty and delight that it brought to his Autumn years. The love and sexuality he shared with Mum!
Julian Timothy Barritt.
(Edwin’s youngest son (and one of his biggest fans.)