271. Harriet Porter - The Interval

2025
Oil on canvas
16 x 16 cm (unframed) 16.8 x 16.8 cm (framed)
Signed on Verso

Harriet’s still life paintings are rooted in slow observation and a close attention to tonality. Using the reflective qualities of silverware, glass, and surface, she seeks a delicate balance of light and shadow within the composition rather than a faithful depiction of the scene itself. The result is a sparse, dreamlike world filled with stillness and a tranquil glow.

Her work is informed as much by the black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s, with their elegant, idealised interiors, as by the understated interiors of Vilhelm Hammershøi and the still life paintings of William Nicholson. A former art director and interior stylist in film and photography, Harriet found that the camera became insufficient to describe what her eye perceived. Painting allows her to move beyond sharp photographic detail in favour of something quieter and more subtle.

Harriet studied Graphic Design at Central School of Art and Design (now Central Saint Martins), graduating in 1982.

Recent exhibitions include the New York Affordable Art Fair (2026); the Scottish Royal Academy Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh (2025); Small Paintings at The Stratford Gallery, Broadway (2025); the Discerning Eye at Mall Galleries, London (2024 & 2025); the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London (2022–2024); London Art Fair (2023 & 2024); Affordable Art Fair Battersea (2022 & 2023); a solo exhibition at Beaux Arts, Bath (2022); and 155a Gallery as part of the Dulwich Festival (2024). She has also exhibited with The Hepatitis C Trust through Art on a Postcard charity auctions.

In 2025, she received the Chair’s Purchase Prize at the Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London. Her work is held in private collections across the UK, Europe, the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand.