SCOTTISH COLOURISTS
Cadell. The flamboyant young Scot thought
Whistler was the “most exquisite of the
moderns” and possessed the quality he
thought all artists should have – namely,
“a certain amateurishness which I... always
feel in Gainsborough”. Cadell developed a
palette based around creams, white and black,
punctuated with sharp blasts of primary
colours, a clever balance that many
contemporary artists could enjoy experimenting
with. He even painted the highly-polished floor
of his studio black to better reflect the light on
his portrait or still life subjects. He was also a
regular visitor to the Hebrides, particularly the
island of Iona, returning most summers from
1912 onwards and crafting an ongoing series of
intimate landscapes there.
The final member of the Colourists was
Leslie Hunter who was born on the Isle of Bute
in 1877 and emigrated to California at the age
of 15 following the death of two of his siblings.
He made a living as an illustrator before
tragedy struck again. His first major body of
paintings were destroyed in the San Francisco
earthquake of 1906, prior to his debut
exhibition. A brief return to Scotland marked
the beginning of an itinerant lifestyle, often
painting with Fergusson as he went. His still
life paintings are most prized, showing a debt
to Cezanne coupled with a palette that was
closer to a Mondrian abstract, all reds, yellows
and monochrome.
As the work of all four artists comes to
Woking’s The Lightbox this autumn, it is a
chance for a new audience to discover their
talents anew. Pay close attention to their
daringly simplified still life compositions, thick
impasto paint marks, and clever balances of
colour within a single work, and you will find
much to love and learn from the work of this
dazzling quartet.
Burning Bright: The Scottish Colourists runs from
7 September to 12 January 2020 at The Lightbox,
Woking. http://www.thelightbox.org.uk