Francis Campbell Boileu Cadell was an Edinburgh based artist known for his striking use of colour and exploration into light, working during the first half of the Twentieth century. Along with JD Fergusson, GL Hunter, and SJ Peploe, Cadell was known as one of the Scottish Colourists. They combined Impressionist techniques with traditional Scottish subjects.
Cadell grew up in the Scottish capital amongst wealth and privilege; at 16, he was able to travel to Paris to study at the Académie Julian and immerse himself in French art practices. It is here that Cadell encountered the works of renowned Impressionists and the early Fauves, it is through the artists use of gestural brushstrokes, vivid hues and thick black linework we can see influences of Édouard Manet and Henri Matisse. Upon Cadell’s return to Scotland, he applied these newly acquired skills to the unique and beautiful Scottish environment.
Edinburgh and the Hebridean Isle of Iona are the focus of Cadell’s oeuvre. He would spend his summers on Iona, and autumn through to spring in his Edinburgh studio, often using winter as a period of rest; largely due to his belief that anyone with a real sense of colour could not paint during the Scottish winter. When viewing Cadell’s Edinburgh-based works we are met with lavish interiors of Georgian upper-class homes, often including an equally opulent sitter. Interior – The Orange Blind c.1927 is one of my favourite paintings. Housed in the Kelvingrove in Glasgow, this painting presents an elegant woman sporting a black hat and a fur coat, sitting on a mint chaise lounge. She appears to be cocooned within her high-ceiling paradise, taking tea whilst listening to a pianist. Yet, the most striking element of this painting is the shocking orange blind that dominates the background. The sunlight behind shines through the tangerine fabric, casting a warm glow onto the highly varnished piano in front. Cadell’s treatment of light and his use of colour vitalise this painting, allowing us a glimpse into Scottish high society of early 1900’s.
The Orange Blind is in stark contrast to the artist’s paintings of Iona; a place Cadell adored due to its proximity to sea level which cast the island into bright light as the sun reflected on the island’s watery surrounds during the summer months. These paintings are much more impressionistic in their style, using thick brushstrokes to capture the dynamism of crashing of waves onto white sand beaches and the verdant machair that sways with the Atlantic winds. Cadell often painted Iona en plein air on the island, providing reason for the more fluid and gestural appearance of his island paintings. Cadell’s thoughtful attention to colour and light, inspired by new European painterly techniques, highlighted the beauty of several varied environs of Scottish life. Cadell and his fellow colourists captured the beauty of life in Scotland during this period, placing the country within the wider realm of European modernist art.
Photo by Garvit Nama on Unsplash
