Celebrated in Dovecot’s newest exhibition are “The Scottish Colourists,” the epithet for the group of highly influential early 20th century artists, comprising Samuel John Peploe, John Duncan Fergusson, George Leslie Hunter and Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell.
Viewers are met with an extensive array of work, predominantly oil on canvas and watercolour paintings, from all four members of the group. The exhibition also features other leading figures, such as Charles Ginner, and Bloomsbury Group’s Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, to provide context of the art world at the time.
The characteristic thick brushstrokes depart from the high detail, stylistic approach of late 19th Century artists. The Scottish Colourists introduce their experimental mark making technique, and although the paint has now cracked with age, the defining feature of freedom can still be felt in the movement of their brushstrokes.
The framed collection of seascapes, landscapes, portraits and still life paintings demonstrate the influence of Impressionism on the artists, who are closely aligned with the Fauvists in their avant-garde focus. The exhibition highlights that whilst France is often seen as the hub of artistic innovation at the beginning of the 20th Century, Scotland too was host to radical artists, whose work has a unique flair that has hitherto been overlooked.
I love seeing vibrant half-peeled oranges and verdant swishing trees in the distance just as much as the next person, but the understated beauty and pastel stillness of Cadell’s Carnations grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let go. Caddell’s brushstrokes are just as explorative, lively and expressive as the other artists, but it is the calmness of colour which swirls his brushstrokes around the canvas with a more muted, natural energy that makes his work stand out.
It’s safe to say that I immediately bought the postcard of it at the gift shop.
The exhibition is on at Dovecot Studios until 28 June.
FCB Cadell, Carnations, 1913. Image courtesy of the Fleming Collection