This was the riddle posed by the Sphinx to Oedipus in an ancient Greek myth.  Oedipus correctly answered that it was people who crawl on all fours in infancy, walk upright on two legs in adulthood, and use a cane as a third leg in old age.

 When you know the answer, the riddle is obvious - the comparison of a lifetime to the daily passage of the sun is a poignant analogy.  The fresh morning light is bright and full of potential for the day ahead.  By mid-day, the sun is strong and powers across the sky, just like an adult in their prime.  As the sun begins to wane, so does the energy and nimbleness of youth.  And with twilight comes a period of quiet repose, a moment of reflection and contemplation before the long evening sets in.

The riddle’s concept of ageing is also the inspiration for this presentation of portraits from The Suter Art Gallery collection.  The portraits are arranged according to the age of the subject beginning with childhood through to the elderly.  The ascending and descending elevation of the paintings emphasises the effects of age on height and stature and reflects the symbolic relationship between light and the stages of a lifetime. 

This approach also demonstrates the artistic devices used to convey attitudes about age.  The use of ‘evening’ as a euphemism for old age is the title for William Strang’s aquatint engraving.  While this is a respectful and technically excellent work, it is an anxious image.  The stooped and elderly gentleman peers sideways as if to look back over history; a refusal to confront his own mortality, symbolised by the foreclosing shadow in the background.  Compare this with the forthright ‘gaze’ of the early subjects – how they confront the viewer with the assured confidence of youth.  These compositional devices are further heightened by the artists’ use of colour, light and line work to emphasise the era of each subject and convey a feeling, not only of their individual character but something more about the phase of their life.   This reflects the unique capacity of art to document the otherwise indescribable aspects of a person’s character and reveals attitudes toward age and ageing within society. 

Anna-Marie White

Curator