scottish artists
February 8, 2022 Leave a comment
Scottish artists
John and I watched a TV programme recently called In the Eye of the Storm which we had recorded thinking it was about hurricanes and bad weather, but in fact it was about a recently deceased Scottish landscape painter, James Morrison. He was born near Montrose in Angus and had lived all his life there.
He painted in oils and watercolours, outside, on large canvases and he was so good that I was amazed that I had never heard of him.
John and I, fortunately, have the same taste in paintings and we never have difficulty in deciding when to buy one or which one to choose (although there is no question of our being able to afford one of these; perhaps we might find a print.)
There is a mystery about how certain types of art appeals to individuals which you do not entirely understand even in your own case. I was in the Wallace collection once and was walking idly past a portrait of an Italian child when it called out to me, and I stopped to examine it. I discovered it was by Bronzino (Agnolo Bronzino (1503 – 1572) portrait painter to the Medici). It is a beautiful painting of what turned out to be Bia de Medici, painted shortly before her death at the age of five.) He is described as being unemotional but stylish which must be what appeals to me. Then later we were in the Uffizi when the same thing happened and there was another Bronzino. (I cannot find any reference to a lending of a Bronzino to the Wallace collection.) But they are all very beautiful and you can look into their portrait and see what the Artist saw.
I also find it surprising that I am so drawn to his work when it is so decorative. Our two most prominent artists, John Constable and J M W Turner are a case in point. Of course I can see that Constable is a talented artist and he paints idealized scenes of country life well decorated with humans and animals. But for me they are too pretty. Whereas anywhere that Turner and I have both visited, I find his artistic summing up of the place completely tallies with my own impressions of it. The nation’s favourite painting by Turner is apparently The Fighting Temeraire; and I appreciate this painting but my preferred one of all by Turner is Burial at Sea, which I find extremely moving.
My knowledge of Scottish artists is moderately good, but it is the equivalent of the impression of British culture you would get on a London bus tour. I begin with Alan Ramsey, portrait painter to the Royal Court in Stewart times. He was famous for his skill in outlining the delights of a woman’s complexion. Next in my line of history is Henry Raeburn whose extremely well known work includes a dancing clergyman weaving his virtuous way through crowds of I presume sinners. Also there is a very amusing portrait of ‘The MacNab’ posing in all his Highland regalia which just shouts out that his principal quality is vanity. I like Ramsey and Raeburn but I wouldn’t write a blog about them.
Then I would include Charles Renee Macintosh who was really an architect but who painted in France in his later life. His work reminds me of Cezanne but without his power.
There’s S T Peploe, who outlined feature in his paintings with black lines and was one of a group of four known as The Colourists.
John M Lorimer of the famous Lorimer artistic family (it produced a notable architect) did rather predicable Scottish landscapes but occasionally produced one of luminous beauty; and Horatio McCulloch produced emotional paintings of people and landscapes that supported Victorian fantasies about Scotland and the Highlands.
Jack Vetriano is a popular still living artist whose paintings appeal to ordinary people and are sometimes regarded rather sniffily by the art critics, but I like them. They translate well into postcards, and why not?
Returning to MORRISON, his landscapes are empty of people which is a virtual necessity in a landscape for me. They are often denuded of colour, or painted in tones of one colour only. He spent seven winters painting in the arctic. They are beautiful and the kind of painting where you could look at them for a long time and still see something new in them. I must see whether Montrose or Dundee has a permanent exhibition of his work and go and see them.
It’s lovely to discover a new to me artist with a whole body of work to look at and think about.
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adhocannie 