“What will I wear?” asked Charlotte on the day of the opening.
“Anything you like,” said Cormac. “You’re an artist now, don’t forget, so you can get away with anything, though a few woman painters I know seem to favour floaty, colourful things, probably to match their paintings, if that’s any help to you. I presume that means you should wear black and grey armour.”
“Very funny. I’ll have a look through all the classic stuff in the trunks upstairs and see what I can come up with. Are you sure no one knows?”
“Quite sure. I said to your aunt it was a group show the same as always and tried to make it sound as boring as possible. I didn’t tell a lie – just an omission of fact. I didn’t say ‘Charlotte won’t be hanging’ or anything like that.”
She was losing track of the conversation as she was becoming jittery.
“It would have been safer not to give any invitations,” he went on, “but then by Murphy’s Law they’d surely find out from someone in this small city, and then I’d be in strife. Better this way. If they –”
“I’ll run up and change,” she cut across him, even though it was only four o’clock.
By half past five she was ready. Her outfit was black, white and grey. Purely coincidental, she said.
“You look great. Really great. You did ask if you could come with me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I asked Aunt Verity and she said she couldn’t see any harm in it at this hour and it being only three streets away, though she did look at me in an odd fashion.”
“No change there, then. Come on, what are we waiting for?”
“I’m so nervous.” She kept dropping the hem of her cloak and tripping on it. “What if everyone’s paintings except mine are sold?”
“That won’t happen, but even if it does, no one knows who you are, so just look unconcerned.”
“What if people are standing around them and laughing?” She looked up at him. “What’s the big grin for? Do you know something?”
“Just nerves,” he said. “It never gets easier, you know. It might be my seventh showing, but I’m on tenterhooks, just as you are. Wait until you have a solo show and then you’ll know what nerves are all about.”
They arrived and looked through the front Georgian window.
“There aren’t many there,” said Charlotte, finding it difficult to speak as her mouth had gone dry.
“Give it time. It’s only a quarter past six, and it’s on until eight. Some people like to miss the opening speech in case it’s too long-winded. Come on, now. Deep breath.” He pushed open the door.
There were bright lights and a din of voices, even though there were only about twenty people there.
“Where are yours?” asked Charlotte, looking for her own.
“Upstairs – I have a whole wall to myself. I was in this afternoon to check. But let’s look around here first.”
Charlotte pretended to look at the other paintings but they merged into a blur. She couldn’t scan the whole room at once because of alcoves, partitions and people, up to forty in number by now.
“There you are, Cormac,” said a voice behind them.
It was David Slane, the elected President of the Society for the year and, as such, curator and arbiter of this exhibition. “Did you get a glass of wine yet?”
“No, not yet. We thought we’d have a look around first. David, this is Charlotte Blackshaw of the grey urban landscapes. Charlotte, David Slane, President of the Society.”
David’s face lit up. “An honour to meet you. You’re causing quite a stir. All sold. Come and see for yourself.”
“Does he really mean me?” Charlotte whispered to Cormac.
“Of course he means you,” Cormac smiled. “Don’t look so surprised.”
David led them to the right-hand wall where Charlotte’s four submissions were grouped in a square with red dots on the white cards beside each one.
“I had a buyer in this afternoon who threatened my life if I didn’t let him buy all four before the opening, he was so afraid of missing them, and since then there have been three disappointed clients who’ve made me promise to let them know as soon as you show any more of your work. Congratulations and well done. Hard to credit you’re only sixteen – people don’t believe me when I tell them. You’re in good company, you know. Think of the amazing Turner for one, exhibiting at the Royal Academy when he was only fifteen.”
“Damn!” said Cormac. “If I’d known that I would have entered you earlier.”
“Not to mention Velázquez, painting ‘Old Woman Cooking Eggs’ when he was nineteen. Can you think of any other early bloomers, Cormac?”
“Not off the top of my head,” said Cormac. “I didn’t study art history. I had to pick up bits as I went along.”
“You did well with the bits you picked up, then, judging by your pupil here, and your own work, too, of course.” David turned back to Charlotte. “Think what you’ll be able to achieve in a lifetime, following in their footsteps. Now I must leave you to meet our guest speaker. Congratulations again to both of you. Enjoy the night.” He disappeared into the crowd that was now up to sixty.
Charlotte couldn’t stop smiling and stayed facing her paintings until her smile contracted to a normal width.
“Did you hear that? Turner and Velázquez, no less,” Cormac beamed. “Now do you believe you’re talented?”
“He was talking about age, not skill, so let’s not get any inflated ideas. You knew about the sale, didn’t you?”
“I did. I happened to be here this afternoon when the deal was done. Your purchaser is a famous collector, apparently, who used an agent to do the negotiations so he couldn’t be identified. Even David Slane doesn’t know who it is, or if he does he’s not saying.”
“Imagine. I’ll be spending the rest of my life wondering who it could possibly be. And what about yours?” Charlotte really did care about Cormac’s, now that her own were accounted for. “I suppose you know already?”
“He didn’t buy any of mine if that’s what you’re asking. Come and see.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier and put me out of my misery?” asked Charlotte, as they made their way up to the next floor, while other people were coming down to hear the speech.
“And spoil that moment? Would you really have wanted that?”
Charlotte was wondering why she had been so worried in the first place. “Probably not.”
Cormac’s eight works, much larger than hers, had the gable wall to themselves.
“Only seven sold,” teased Charlotte. “Oh, dear.” She noticed one of his commanded the same price as four of hers.
While they were watching, a Society member excused himself when he walked in front of them to place a red dot on the eighth one. “Well done, Cormac,” he said when he turned around. “Full house.”
Cormac grinned at Charlotte. “That makes two of us.”
The crowd was being shushed to listen to the speech. Most stood with their heads bowed as if in prayer until it was over. After polite applause, the noise level rose again.
“Let’s go down and get a glass of wine,” said Cormac.
It took them a while to negotiate the stairs, as so many were ascending. On the second last step Charlotte’s heel caught in the hem of her skirt and Cormac grabbed her arm to steady her. She was pushed against him by the force of the crowd that now filled the room.
There was some kind of movement attracting attention at the door.
“Can you believe it?” said Charlotte, disappearing behind a screen and pulling Cormac after her. “What are we going to do?”
Aunt Verity had seen them, she was sure. Waldron was busy negotiating the wheelchair and hadn’t looked up yet. Edwina couldn’t be seen through the crowd. With difficulty, space was being made for her and her wheelchair.
“Is there a back door out of here?” asked Charlotte.
Cormac was saddened to see Charlotte so unnerved. “They know we’re here, Charlotte, so there’s no point in hiding. Your Aunt Verity must have had her bloodhounds out. Come on. What have you got to feel guilty about?” Cormac made his way through the crowd and Charlotte followed with reluctance.
“Oh, there you are, Cormac!” said Lord Waldron. “We wondered if we’d find you in this crush. Evening, Charlotte. Are you enjoying the show?”
There were comments and greetings all round.
“Where have all these people come from? Who would have thought art could be so popular?”
“It will thin out any minute, Your Lordship, now that all the business has been done.”
“Mr Delaney’s are upstairs,” said Charlotte, staying on the side of the group to cut off their view of the right-hand wall where her pictures were hanging. “All sold, too. A wall to himself. You simply must view them.”
“Clear the way then, Cormac.”
“That means I won’t be able to see them,” said Edwina.
“Nonsense,” said Waldron. “Cormac, get another pair of hands.”
Cormac caught the eye of one of the helpers, called him over and mimed what he wanted him to do.
“Hold on there, old thing,” said Waldron, who held the handles of the wheelchair so there’d be no tipping backwards or forwards while Cormac took one wheel with his good hand and the helper took hold of the other. People reversed back up the stairs to make room.
“There!” the three of them said together when they reached the upper floor and placed her down in a smooth movement.
“Love the Blackshaws . . .”
Waldron and Verity turned towards the speaker whom they couldn’t locate in the moving groups.
“Was someone talking about us?” asked Verity.
“That’s what I thought but there’s no one I recognise,” said Waldron.
“I didn’t hear anything,” said Edwina.
“One’s own name always stands out, so it’s a wonder you didn’t hear it,” said Waldron. “Now, let’s take a look at yours, Cormac.”
Cormac’s paintings were now facing them: all nudes, five female and three male, in undiluted colours of purple, orange, green, red, yellow and blue, toned down only when they overlapped or seeped into one another. He had avoided the averted heads and anonymity of the bodies being favoured by his contemporaries. Each subject looked straight out from the canvas with an expression of intense engagement with the viewer. A minimum of brushstrokes had been used, forcing the viewer to interpret the artist’s suggestions rather than merely absorbing his statements.
“These Delaneys deliver a punch,” said a man beside them in evening dress to his companion. “All sold. Pity. I was hoping to add another one to my collection.”
Waldron wondered if the man was joking. For his own part, he didn’t know what to say. He liked anatomically correct paintings of horses, and landscapes that looked like photographs, and not much else. His subordinates praised his drawings of battle scenes so effusively that he secretly considered himself a real artist, and should have felt the confidence to denounce Cormac’s work as untidy, unrealistic and unfinished, but he was held back by a fear of appearing uninformed in a world in which he wasn’t the master. To fill in time until he could think of something quotable he said “Interesting. Very interesting,” half-closing his eyes and nodding.
Cormac caught Charlotte’s eye and winked.
The little group around the wheelchair heard the Blackshaw name mentioned again and gave themselves up to unashamed eavesdropping.
“First time showing, so I heard. One to watch, definitely.”
“I wonder who he is?”
“No idea. Never heard of him.”
“Come on, let’s have another look at them on the way out.” The party of about ten moved off.
“A bit of serious competition there, Cormac,” said Waldron, “judging from all those comments.”
“All to the good. The higher the general standard, the better for the reputation of the Society and its members, though I have to say I haven’t seen such a response to a newcomer before.”
“Well, let’s finish looking at yours first. Charlotte, you’re very jumpy. Control yourself and stand still. Verity, what do you think of the nudes?”
“You call that art?” she scoffed, rising to the bait. “If it wasn’t for the disgusting subject, a child could do that. Look at the length of that face. Have you ever seen a face shaped like that?”
Charlotte gave her a poke in the ribs and, when she caught her eye, put a finger to her lips.
“And don’t think you’re going to silence me, young lady! If this is what you’ve been exposed to all these years, I dread to think of the consequences.”
Cormac and Charlotte exchanged looks behind Verity’s back.
A new wave of people arrived and the name ‘Blackshaw’ was mentioned again.
Cormac looked over at Charlotte and made a thumbs-up gesture. She put her hand on her heart in response. Verity noted the exchange.
“Let’s hope this person everyone’s talking about is a relative,” said Waldron. “We’ll claim him anyway.”
He was in high good humour and even Edwina seemed to be affected, looking around with interest and studying every face in the room.
“I hope to get some private lessons from you, Cormac, now that your stint with Charlotte is up. I have time on my hands,” said Waldron, who privately thought he could teach Cormac a thing or two. “Drawn all my life but would love to attack the nuts and bolts of painting. Come and see me tomorrow and we’ll arrange a time.”
“I’ll look forward to that,” said Cormac.
“Where’s Charlotte gone?” asked Verity.
“I think she’s gone to the . . . outside. She’s gone out for some fresh air, I think.” He’d noticed how Charlotte had become paler and more agitated each time the name ‘Blackshaw’ was mentioned, and had seen her slip away. He expected her to be missing for some time.
“Verity, go off and look for those paintings everyone’s talking about. We’ll wait here for a bit until the crowd thins out.”
“Shouldn’t be long,” said Cormac.
“So you show your work here all the time?” asked Waldron.
“For the last six years. Lucky to join the Society. Had my first one-man show two years ago.”
“You should have told us. I’d like to have seen it.”
“You were away, sir.”
“Did you do well?”
“Very well, thank you.”
“Really?” asked Waldron, surprised. “I’m not surprised.”
Verity arrived back, puffing. “Nearly everyone’s gone,” she said.
“We can hear that,” said Edwina.
The painting beside him caught Waldron’s eye. It was a still life painted in a naïve fashion in gaudy colours. “No wonder that didn’t sell. If I can’t do better than that after a week I’ll shoot myself. Now, Cormac, fetch that assistant again and we’ll see these Blackshaw paintings for ourselves. Where’s Charlotte? She shouldn’t miss out on this.”
They all dutifully looked around but she hadn’t returned to the room.
“No point in waiting any longer,” said Waldron.
The stairs were negotiated again by the three men, and Edwina ended up facing the grey paintings, though from her chair she could only see the top two above the heads of the people viewing them.
“They’re lovely,” she said spontaneously.
David Slane waved over at Cormac and indicated he would join them shortly.
Cormac had never before been in the predicament of having to introduce his employers. What on earth was the correct procedure? And what was Aunt Verity’s title? Did one follow the gender and age rule only or were there added refinements to confound the uninitiated? Or did one simply not introduce them and let them make themselves known if that’s what they wanted?
As David approached he turned to face him and, shaking his head slightly as he pointed to Charlotte’s paintings, hoped that David was quick-witted enough to heed the warning to proceed cautiously.
“Lady Blackshaw, Lady Verity, Lord Waldron,” Cormac said, taking a chance. It didn’t sound right, but it would have to do, “I’d like you to meet David Slane, President of the Society.”
“How do you do?” said Waldron and Edwina.
Verity registered her disapproval at not being given her correct title by remaining silent.
“You’re very welcome,” said David. “I hope you’re enjoying the exhibition.” Because of Cormac’s warning, he was careful not to ask any questions. “Opening night always creates a flurry among the buyers. Anyone with money can buy an established name,” he went on to explain, “but what excites a serious collector is identifying a new talent before anyone else does. It shows he has an eye. Taste. Discernment. That’s why there’s so much chagrin here tonight about missing out on a Blackshaw.”
“By a strange coincidence,” said Waldron, “that’s our family name and we’re curious to know who he is and if by chance he could be a relative of ours. It’s not as if it’s a very common name.”
Puzzled, David looked across at Cormac for guidance and was silenced with a look.
“Well, let’s have look,” said Waldron. He left the chair at the back of a group of people and went in front of them to check the signature on the paintings they were studying.
“It’s signed ‘C. Blackshaw’,” he said to the group when he returned. “I’m still none the wiser. I’ll look up the family tree when I get home.”
David’s expression now said ‘Help me’. Cormac had mentioned there might be some family animosity to Charlotte’s showing publicly, but he didn’t know they didn’t know. “Just excuse me for a minute,” he said with a meaningful glance at Cormac. “There’s something urgent I’ve forgotten to attend to.” He hurried across the wooden floor through a door marked ‘Private’ at the far end of the room.
We won’t be seeing him for a while, thought Cormac.
There was no one now between the Blackshaws and the paintings so Waldron promptly moved the wheelchair forward, Verity following. They quietly absorbed the twenty shades of luscious greys made from complementary colours and not black and white, but accented by black and white and containing subtle hints of colour.
“This one’s called ‘The Fish Market’,” said Waldron at last, reading the card beside it. “‘Oil on canvas, 24 inches by 24 inches’.”
“Oh yes, I see it,” said Verity, as the abstract shapes became fish, boxes, shelves and stacks receding into a distant window.
“I don’t see it,” said Edwina.
Waldron couldn’t either but he wasn’t going to have anything pointed out to him by Verity. “Stand back, now. It will be easier to interpret from a distance,” he said as he wheeled Edwina back into the middle of the room. “There!”
The paintings’ stillness subdued them again.
“They’re wonderful,” whispered Edwina.
“That sense of design and composition,” said Cormac. “Perfect. What an eye! And the depth. It’s as if there’s another world under the one we’re seeing.” His speaking first without being spoken to by his employers would normally be unthinkable but in this room on this night his natural ascendancy went unremarked.
“Quite ambiguous and restrained,” said Verity, who’d been waiting to use those words since they arrived. “Not like some of the others we’ve seen tonight,” she added, looking meaningfully at Cormac.
“It’s the textures and tonal values I love,” said Cormac, trying to make sure he gave Charlotte as much praise as he could while he had the chance.
He saw her standing at the far end of the room. She raised her eyebrows. He made a circle with his thumb and forefinger to signify a good reception, and shook his head, to indicate they didn’t know. She advanced slowly.
“Charlotte, there you are,” said Waldron. “You took long enough. Come here and take a look at these.”
“I think ‘The Lock’ is my favourite of the four of them,” said Verity.
“What about you, Mother? What do you think of them?” Charlotte asked hesitantly.
“I like them all equally and would love to have the set hanging in our study. They have a strange power. I feel as if I could move in and out of all those shapes.”
The four stared at her, as they’d never known her to have any interest in the visual arts, and the use of the word ‘move’ touched them all with its double meaning.
Waldron wished he could say something original, but couldn’t think of any phrases. There was nothing in the work he could identify – not a person or an animal in sight – but, in the presence of all those red dots, he thought it prudent to look wise and say nothing.
Charlotte looked helplessly at Cormac. “Will I say anything?” she whispered.
“It’s bad manners to whisper in company,” said Verity.
“We’ll certainly be claiming C. Blackshaw as one of ours,” said Waldron, smiling. “I wonder what the ‘C’ stands for. Cameron? Christian? Don’t remember any of those as family names.”
Cormac was given a sign by Charlotte.
“How about Charlotte?” he said.