A GREAT Harwood artist whose caricature of the town’s womanfolk, The Three Gossips, got tongues wagging has now turned his hand to that traditional male preserve, pie-munching football fans.
Three Pies Men by Edward Foster depicts three Accrington Stanley fans in mid-match feast completely oblivious to the game.
The oil painting will be going on display at Accrington’s Haworth Art Gallery as part of its centenary exhibition, which starts tomorrow (Saturday).
Reds fan Edward, of Lowerfold, is producing a series of 12 pieces of work, together entitled Northern Folk, which he wants to make into a book.
Last September, Edward’s controversial take on cigarette-puffing women in the town – loosely based on Botticelli’s sensuous painting Primevera – provoked a mixed reaction among the town’s fairer sex with some seeing it as an insult but others believing it to be both accurate and amusing.
Edward used to go to every Stanley match in their non-league days and, although he now only gets to a couple of games a season, he hopes it is an accurate and affectionate portrayal of the club’s faithful fans.
"If you go to a Stanley match you see a lot of characters," he said.
"It’s such a little club and it’s fantastic that they’re back in the League. There’s a romance about them but there’s that comic side as well. There’s always banter in the crowd. Even if Stanley are getting beat 5-0 they will be having a laugh and busily eating their pies or having a chat.
"The painting could easily have been any time in the last 20 years."
To view more of Edward’s artwork visit www.edwardfosterart.co.uk
