COLOUR AND LIGHT : SCOTTISH COLOURISTS FROM THE FLEMING COLLECTION
Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield. Until 9th December, 2023
Reviewed by Jim Burns
I’ve previously written about the Scottish Colourists (S.J, Peploe, J.D.
Fergusson, F.C.B. Cadell and Leslie Hunter) when I reviewed an exhibition in
Kendal in late-2019 and early-2020 (see
Northern Review of Books,
November 2019). What I said then bears repeating now. Their work is still,
to my mind, not seen often enough, either in terms of individual selections
or as a group. To quote James Knox, who wrote a useful small book about the
four artists, they were “one of the most talented, experimental and
distinctive groups in 20th century British art”.
What is significant about the four painters is that, although sharing
interests and some experiences, especially with regard to studying and
working on the Continent, with Paris as a key focus, they each had
individually-identifiable styles. Peploe and Fergusson had both studied in
Paris and were initially influenced by Manet and Whistler but quickly fell
under the influence of the Fauves, noted for their use of bright colours.
Cadell and Hunter came along a little later. The latter had lived for a time
in San Francisco where he produced illustrations for books and magazines.
When he returned to Edinburgh he combined studying old masters and new
French artists to produce paintings which showed the influence of Matisse.
As for Cadell, he had gone to Paris at the age of sixteen to study at the
Académie Julian and had also spent a year in Munich. His first major
influences were the Impressionists, but he moved towards a looser technique
and “boldness of colour”.
The Colourists did attract some attention before the First World War and in
the 1920s, but the 1930s found their fortunes at a low ebb. Hunter died in
1931 after suffering from “nerve attacks” which resulted in a “creative
block and problem with this dealers”. Peploe died in 1935, possibly during a
flu epidemic, and Cadell died in poverty in 1937. He had never been very
business-like and the collapse of the art market during the Great Depression
meant that his paintings didn’t sell. It may have also been true that the
work of the Colourists, which was often about cafés, restaurants, night
life, sunny days and pleasure, did not fit easily into the darker political
mood of the Thirties. Only Fergusson seems to have survived both as man and
artist. He returned to Scotland with his partner, Margaret Morris, and
became an active member of the Scottish art scene, “writing, editing and
founding groups and clubs”. His years on the Continent had given him a taste
for café culture.
The reference to Margaret Morris reminds me that there is a small painting
by her in the exhibition. She was primarily a dancer and teacher, as well as
Fergusson’s muse and companion in his various ventures. And I was
particularly impressed by the work from the Graves’ own collection of John
McLauchlan Milne, an artist I knew little about but who was sometimes
referred to as the “Fifth Colourist”. It’s easy to see the link with the
others in his colourful canvases.
Visitors to the Scottish Colourist’s exhibition ought to wander into the
adjoining rooms to see what’s on display. Sheffield has a decent collection
of “Modern European” with works by Cezanne, Renoir, a very fine Alfred
Sisley and much more. In another room a range of portraits from across the
years has its attractions. For me these included a typically large and
bright John Bratby portrait of Antonia Fraser, a small but striking Ben
Nicolson, Percy Horton’s 1929
Unemployed Man, and Kees Van Dongen’s eye-catching
Kiki of Montparnasse which
captures some of the outrageous flamboyancy of this entertainer of bohemian
Paris.
I referred to a book by James Knox,
The Scottish Colourists, published by the Fleming Collection in 2019.
It’s on sale in the gallery and is a good short introduction to their work.
.