Peploe exhibition - Portland Gallery, London

14^thNovember 2012

I called up the Portland Gallery in advance to check out opening times, got instructions on how to get there and finding the gallery, was taken to the Peploe pictures which are on show until 29^th November. I was guided and introduced to some of the landscapes from Barra and the Hebrides and could make out the machair-traigh on Barra.

The two Barra paintings are hung together. On top is the Barra beach showing a scene from the Atlantic side of the island. The west coast beaches of the Outer Hebrides are renowned for their shimmering sand. Barra is the southern end of the archipelago. Peploe met his future wife Margaret Mackay, who was from Loch Boisdale (the next main island north in the chain), on one of his trips to the island. The lower painting has some rolling hills. Having been to the beaches of the Outer Hebrides many times, I recognise this scene.

Landscape in the Hebrides
signed (verso)
Oil on panel
6 x 9 ins
Painted circa 1903

 

There are some street scenes from Paris and Brittany and still life paintings. While left to enjoy them I was invited to ask the curator of the exhibition, Emily Johnston, if I had any questions.

After my studying of the pictures I was introduced to Emily who took me round and we discussed some of the pictures. Peploe’s use of colour is something he is obviously famous for, though it was almost the sparing use of colour in some examples which stood out. Certainly the still life pictures stand out clearly with interesting geometries for the fruit and angles of the other objects in these compositions.

Still Life with Wine Decanter, Glass and Apples
Signed (lower left)
Oil on canvas
12.5 x 15.5 ins
Painted circa 1905


 

I discussed the coffee pot picture with Emily, explaining how much I could discern and detect. We then moved on to a picture which had attracted my attention.

While Peploe’s use of colour is outstanding, this picture titled By Firelight stood out for me. It was painted around 1908, is oil on canvas and measures 20 x 16 inches. It shows a woman seated by a fire, although the fire itself is not shown. Instead, a pink tinge on the white can just about be discerned. When I went back to this painting I put on my sunglasses and it is amazing the difference this makes. I noticed this effect with some of the Symbolist Landscapes in Edinburgh in the summer.

Rocks, Iona
Oil on board
15 x 18 ins
Painted circa 1920

Peploe’s picture of Iona shows the rocks and the water in clarity of lines though the colours are almost verging on being suggested. This picture is titled Rocks, Iona and was painted around 1920. It is oil on panel and measures 15 x 18 inches. I went to Iona a lot in the 1970s and have been back once since I lost my sight. The island of Iona is off the coast of Mull and has interesting geology and had a marble quarry, the remains of which can still be visited.

At the end of my visit, I bought the sales catalogue which has some interesting biographical notes as well as the provenance of the pictures. For reference, the paintings which I found attractive are listed below:

There are two small pictures of scenes in the Hebrides, one on a Barra beach. The first is titled Landscape in the Hebrides and was painted around 1903. It is oil on panel and measures 6 x 9 inches. The second, called Barra and painted around the same time, is also oil on panel and measures 6 ½ x 9 ½ inches.

A Street in Paris painted around 1911. It is oil on panel and measures 10 ½ x 14 inches.

The Silver Coffee Pot painted in 1904. It is oil on panel and measures 10 x 16 inches.

Ile de Brehat, Brittany painted around 1911. It is oil on canvas board and measures 13 x 16 ins.

Roses painted around 1920. It is oil on panel and measures 16 x 12 ins.

White Roses and Fruit painted around 1921. It is oil on canvas and measures 20 x 16 ins.

The Portland Gallery has a continuing programme of exhibitions and sales and the catalogues are a mine of information. The gallery has the catalogue for the Peploe sale online and this can be viewed on http://www.portlandgallery.com/exhibition/371/S_J_Peploe/works

There is also an exhibition of paintings by Oliver Akers Douglas who paints landscapes in the field.  (http://www.portlandgallery.com/exhibition/345/Oliver_Akers_Douglas)

Many thanks to the staff of the Portland Gallery and to Emily Johnston for discussing and describing these pictures and also for sending me the three images used in this post.  Pictures credit: Portland Gallery, London.

There is an exhibition on Peploe currently on in Edinburgh. Details are as follows:
 
The Scottish Colourist Series: S.J. Peploe
3rd November 2012 - 23 June 2013
Modern Two (Scottish Gallery of Modern Art)
More information can be found on:
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibitions/the-scottish-colourist-series-sj-peploe/

Fleming Collection: Leslie Hunter - A Life in Colour

9^th November 2012

The Fleming Collection has a wide range of Scottish art and I visited the gallery a few weeks ago to familiarise myself with the permanent collection and the exhibition schedule.  I was guided round by Sophie and Helen and we spent some time on the Scottish Colourists as I had just returned from Edinburgh where a major exhibition on Leslie Hunter was on show in the City Art Centre in the old Fruitmarket. (http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/leslie-hunter-life-in-colour-city-art.html)

This exhibition has now been set up in the Fleming Gallery in London W1. (Green Park Underground nearest station)   (http://www.flemingcollection.co.uk/exhibitions.php)

In Edinburgh, the exhibition was on two floors of the City Arts Centre.  This is a fairly large space and so the exhibition had a wider selection of Leslie Hunter works on show.  The exhibition at the Fleming Gallery is more intimate.  It too is housed over two floors, the ground floor and the lower ground. 

On the ground floor there is some natural light and as we visited at about 4pm it was still light outside.  The colours of Hunter’s work really stand out and the ground floor works are very well presented.  My favourite pictures of Largo, Ceres, Balloch, Juan les Pins, Etaples and some of the still life paintings were even more attractive second time round.  I noticed this with the Picasso exhibition which I had visited once in London and once in Edinburgh. 

The pictures are not large enough to get lost in.  Nancy took some photographs of me with a few of the Hunter works using my friend’s camera and her own.  Nancy also sent me gallery images and picture labels for use on my blog.

Leslie Hunter Ceres, Fife 1923-24, oil on canvas

The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation

 

Leslie Hunter Lower Largo 1919, oil on panel

The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation

 

Leslie Hunter Peonies in a Chinese Vase 1925, oil on board

The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation

For an idea of the sizes, some photographs of me were taken in the gallery with the views of Fife, Ceres and Largo.  In the picture below, I’m standing on the left hand side and next to me is a painting of Ceres Mill, in Fife (c1923), next to this are two smaller paintings: the one on the top shows a beach scene in Largo and the one below Fife cottages; finally, on the far right is a painting of Ceres Church in Fife. 



Prof Whitestick by four paintings by Leslie Hunter

Fleming Gallery

November 2012 

During the summer, I visited Ceres, Largo and Balloch (Loch Lomond) and I posted some pictures of these on the Leslie Hunter post.  Below are a couple more photographs taken during that visit.

Ceres Church, Fife

August 2012 

Lower Largo

August 2012







Nancy also took photographs of the Etaples paintings.  The photographs below shows two of these paintings.  The first is titled The beach party, Etaples, 1914, and shows from left a man dressed in black sitting on a deck chair (straw hat on head!), next to him is a woman on a deck chair and from the centre moving to the right is a group of 4-5 people, all with their backs to us.

 

Leslie Hunter The beach party, Etaples, 1914

 

The second photograph is of a painting titled Apres-midi, Beau Rivage, Etaples, showing from left a group of three women with their backs to us, two are sitting, one is standing and on the far right almost off the picture is a man in a black suit and hat sitting by a window.

 

Leslie Hunter Apres-midi, Beau Rivage, Etaples 

 

On the lower ground floor, the exhibition continues with the Leslie Hunter works including his palette, a copy of his published work and various prints, including prints of San Francisco and illustrations for stories in magazines.  This is artificially lit.  By the time we went upstairs it was dark outside, so we went round the ground floor again!   These pictures do deserve a “look” in both lights.  The colours are outstanding. 

There are postcards and greeting cards on sale and various books on both Leslie Hunter and the other Scottish Colourists.  The recently published biography of Leslie Hunter by Bill Smith and Jill Marriner is also available.   

I had enjoyed my visit before with Helen and Sophie when we discussed the Jock McFadyen exhibition.  This had some stage designs for The Judas Tree ballet as well as some large paintings.  Sophie had taken me round at that time.  A pdf document on Jock McFadyen’s work can be downloaded from this link:

http://www.flemingcollection.co.uk/Past%20exhibitions/Jock%20McFadyen%20release.pdf

The upstairs gallery has the permanent collection, which includes portraits of the Fleming family, including Ian Fleming, the author, and many Scottish paintings.

Many thanks to the Fleming Gallery for passing on tips.  Nancy had told me of an exhibition of the works of Peploe at the Portland Gallery.  

More information on the Fleming Collection can be found on their website: http://www.flemingcollection.co.uk/index.php

Leslie Hunter: A Life in Colour, City Art Centre, Edinburgh

Update: 1/9/2012

A friend has sent me a description of a still life which Leslie Hunter had painted and which is on show in the exhibition.  The painting is titled Still Life with Blue Glazed China Vase:

“The picture is a still life with objects placed on a table. We can only see one corner of the table and it is sitting right in the corner of a room. We are looking into the angled corner of the room. There is a very plain, pale blue almost tubular vase sitting left of centre of the picture. To the right is a shorter, small, indistinct round white vase holding four floppy red tulips, two of which are seen in front of the blue vase. In front of both vases is a blue and white patterned plate which looks like a soup plate. There is an orange and an apple on it. They all sit on the corner of a table covered with a geometric patterned tablecloth coloured in russets and ochres. In the background, the blue vase is seen against a white painted panelled door and the white vase and two remaining tulips are almost lost against a fussy patterned wallpaper with grey, cream, brown and green swirls and splodges.”

This I believe is going on tour and will be included in the Fleming Gallery exhibition in London.

A visit was made to both Ceres and Lower Largo in Fife.  We went in search of trying to match the postcards which I had bought at the City Art Gallery with the church in Ceres and views of Lower Largo.  I think we managed to snap me holding a postcard in front of the church in Ceres from a viewpoint which Leslie Hunter could have used in real life.  In Lower Largo, we managed to take quite a few photographs of Largo Bay from Lower Largo.  It appears that my photograph pointing a camera from a train earlier on may have caught Largo Bay, but also picked up an odd geological feature or two! (see bottom of post)

9^th August

We reached the City Art Centre after going down the stairs of the newly resurfaced Scotsman Steps.  The steps were designed by Martin Creed and on a tour with Artlink-Edinburgh I learned all about the marble used. It is a long way down but the traffic delays means this way of getting to the Fruitmarket is useful, if you’re fit.  Going down from North Bridge, the railing is on the left as you descend in an anticlockwise direction. 

The information desk in the gallery was very helpful.  There is an admission charge for the Leslie Hunter exhibition on floors 1 and 2 reached by lift or escalator.  (http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/lesliehunter)

George Leslie Hunter (1877-1931) was one of the Scottish Colourists and as a group they became quite sought after.  The group consisted of four artists, the other three artists being S.J.Peploe (1871-1935), J.D.Ferguson (1874-1961) and F.C.B. Cadell (1883-1937).  Several years ago I had attended a talk by the Fleming Gallery with illustrations of the pictures of the colourists.  At the time I mentioned that the paintings of Largo in Fife would be a magnet for me to go and view them and I did not get round to doing it there and then.  The Fleming Collection website is on: http://www.flemingcollection.co.uk/index.php

The exhibition illustrates much of Hunter’s work in still life, landscapes, village and town scenes and later on some very lined works.  His views of Largo and Ceres in Fife are an absolute delight.  As a child I would visit a great aunt who took out a chalet house in Largo by the beach as it curves on to Kilconquhar.  I even remember going by train from my aunt’s house in Leven and later on by bus to Lower Largo. This stretch of the Fife Coastline was famous for artists, as is Crail and Pittenweem to this day. 

Lower Largo with Crusoe Hotel on the left and beach stretching round Largo Bay in the distance

Fife, Scotland

28 August 2012

On the other side of the Forth, North Berwick had a reputation of being the Biarritz of the Forth.  Hunter has beautiful pictures of Etaples, Villefranche and Juan les Pins. His later work on Loch Lomond shows his development.  He had been influenced by Matisse and had known Munch’s work.

In the upper floors there is a section of other Scottish painters of the time including the others in The Colourists group. 

The shop has 2 books of interest.

George Leslie Hunter – a history and life

Intimate Friends - Fleming Gallery

My viewing notes:

Fife Cottage

Sunrise over Fife Harbour

Cupboard and Kitchen Utensils

Tate Britain

Paintings from private collections, Tate Britain and Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow

Three Etaples paintings

The Beach Party, Etaples

Could make out the hats, deck-chairs

Fishing Boats, etaples

Could make out boats

Apres-midi, Beau Rivage, Etaples

Chrysanthemums

Still life

Influence of Dutch painting

Boats, Lower Largo

Oil on board, c1926

Private collection

Largo Beach

Oil on canvas, 1925

Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow

Ceres, Fife

Oil on canvas, 1923-4

Flattened perspective

Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation

Summer’s Day, Lower Largo

Oil on board, 1921

Private collection

Lower Largo

Oil on panel

Etchings and sketches of Ceres

Still Life with Bible and scissors

Could make out Bible, scissors and chair

Villefranche

Can make out palm trees, church

Houseboats, Balloch

Loch Lomond, boats reflected

Painting said to be as fine as any Matisse

Moonlight, Loch Lomond

Oil on canvas, 1931

In an attempt to recreate houseboats on Loch Lomond at Balloch, I ran into the very friendly staff at the tourist office in Balloch.  Veronica, Claire and Stewart were very welcoming and though Balloch Pier was no longer connected to the railway, they gave instructions on how to find it - and double checked I was on the right path!  They also took this photograph in their office:

 

In the other floors are examples of others in the group. 

Rocky shore, Iona

Peploe

Paintings by Peploe, Cadell, Ferguson on 2^nd floor

Winter Sea, North Berwick

John Houston

Nice – could make out Bass Rock, waves, surf

The Blue Lamp, 1912

J.D.Ferguson

Postcards

Leslie Hunter (1877-1931)

Fife Cottage

Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour on paper, 1919

Private collection

Summer’s Day, Lower Largo

Oil on board, 1921

Private collection

Lower Largo, Fife, c1924-7

Oil on millboard, 20.3 x 51.4 cm

The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, London

Ceres, Fife, c1924-7

Oil on canvas, 60.9 x 50.8 cm

The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, London

Prof Whitestick holding postcard of Ceres Church

as painted by Leslie Hunter in front of Ceres Church

Fife, Scotland

28 August 2012

The Beach Party, Etaples

Oil on panel, 1914

Private collection

Houseboats, Balloch

Oil on canvas, 1931

Private collection

Pathway, Loch Lomond

Oil on canvas

61.7 x 74.3 cm

Private collection

During my examination of the Hunter pictures one of the staff kindly asked if a magnifier would be useful.  I was soon chatting to Ernie Rossi about many of the Scottish painters.  Some characters from the past emerged, especially the Scottish / Italian mix which influenced many fashions in art.  Some of them may have been looked down upon such as Vettriano, but his work sells and is obviously popular. 

The café is well worth a visit and having twice I can report that the ginger cake and raspberry are worth an indulgence with a coffee.  Very helpful staff when I went back to get more postcards and buy a book. 

Panorama of Largo Bay

(Prof Whitestick took this photograph unaided from a train

after it had left Kirkaldy and aiming the camera backwards)

20 August 2012