SCOTLAND
at the fine art society in london
02 - 23 DECEMBER
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ALLAN RAMSAY · SIR HENRY RAEBURN · JOHN KNOX · SIR DAVID WILKIE · PATRICK NASMYTH · DAVID ROBERTS · ALEXANDER JOHNSTON · SAM BOUGH · ROBERT HERDMAN · SIR JAMES GUTHRIE · SIR D. Y. CAMERON · JAMES COWIE · JOHN MACLAUCHLIN MILNE · HANNAH FRANK · JOAN EARDLEY · ANNE REDPATH · JACK KNOX · JOHN MCLEAN
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Knox was born in Paisley and subsequently moved to Glasgow; he was the son of a yarn merchant. Early on, his name appears as a portrait painter and a little later as a teacher of drawing. By 1821 the title “Landscape Painter” was added to this entry in the Glasgow Street Directory, and we know that Daniel MacNee, Horatio McCulloch, and William Leighton Leitch came to his Dunlop Street studio as pupils. In 1828 Knox moved to London where he exhibited works at the RA and British Institute. He returned to Glasgow in 1836 but moved to Keswick in 1840. Knox is known for his panoramic landscapes, in particular from the top of Ben Lomond. He also painted some of the earliest views of Glasgow. Although some of his details are scarce, Knox was certainly an important influence in the development of art in Glasgow, both as a teacher and a painter.
Right: John Knox, 'Mountain Landscape with Wooden Bridge over River' , grey wash over pencil on paper
National Galleries of Scotland, purchased with support by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1997
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The figures of the children and dogs playing beneath the window recall Sir David Wilkie’s Blind-Man’s Buff, in which an almost centrifugal force pushes the players to the walls and benches that line the room. The soft winter light that falls through the leaded windows, combined with the children playing, brings an air of normality to an otherwise extraordinary building.
Roberts exhibited his first oil of the interior in 1827 and made numerous studies, including two oils in 1842, one of which was worked up into the current picture, which was admired by Prince Albert, who enquired about its purchase. Although he lived in London for most of his life, Roberts returned often to Scotland and this picture was painted during one such visit from November 1844 to April 1845.
Left: Sir David Wilkie, 'Blind-Man's Buff', 1812, oil on canvas
Royal Collection Trust, Painted for George IV when Prince Regent in 1812-13
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Bough’s coastal scenes depict a way of life that was beginning to change. His meticulously accurate fishing boats are a far cry from the burgeoning industry in Edinburgh and Dundee that would soon make its way along the coast. One of Bough’s great passions, and strengths, was the observation of weather and cloud formation. So excited was he by painting the weather that he would try to obtain reliable forecasts from one of the principal fishmongers in Edinburgh. Multiple scenes of Dysart by Bough were exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy. Their titles, including “sunrise” and “evening effect”, emphasise the importance he placed on light and atmosphere.
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The relationship is obvious: Guthrie’s boy, like Walton’s girl, sits facing the spectator with his legs splayed out, and boots upturned. Yet where Walton perfects his picture for exhibition, Guthrie retains that sense of the temporary unfinished encounter. But in that brief moment of calm in the summer of 1886, when a boy with a straw in his hand marches up a hillside and sits before him, Guthrie’s realisation was complete – and for Glasgow School painters there was now a new visual turn.
With thanks to Professor Kenneth McConkey
Left: E A Walton, A Daydream, 1885, oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland, purchased with the aid of the Art Fund 1999
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It was the versatility of pastel that allowed Guthrie to develop and innovate but his use of the medium is noteworthy in itself. Out of favour since its earlier use in the 18th century, it wasn’t until the late 19th century that pastel became popular again. .
Pastel’s renaissance began in France with artists such as Degas and, as ever, British artists were influenced by continental innovation. Pastel appealed to Guthrie for its portability and the facility with which it could render a scene. The soft, powdery quality of pastel has allowed Guthrie to capture the quickly changing and diffuse light of evening. The horizontal blending emphasises the composition and is put to especially effective use in its suggestion of moving water, alternately blending and drawing with the pastel to indicate the currents, eddies and reflections. Tree trunks and gable ends of buildings catch the last of the day’s light and intersect the emphatically horizontal composition. People are either alighting or boarding the boat and Guthrie’s free handling is indicative of the unsteadiness of the vessel.
In a picture where much is suggestion, the gaslight from a window and reflections of it in the water give a vivid focal point. Twilight’s transitory nature was further reason for Guthrie’s choice of pastel. As stated by Dr Freya Spoor, pastel “utilised pure colour which remained true, regardless of light source” – unlike oil paint which both needed to be mixed in advance and changed in different lights. Pastel gave truth.
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