Art Sunday; My favourite figure paintnigs.

This is an idea I formed after saying I liked one of the paintings on Nemos site so much that I would happily hang it on my wall. I started thinking about which, of the hundreds of paintings we have all shown and seen here, would I be happy to hang on my wall and look at every day. I started out wanting ten, but the list grew and grew and now I’ve divided them into subject matter, and these are the figure paintings I would have on my wall. Next week I’ll show the seascapes I would love to hang on my wall. Not surprisingly, most of these are from Scottish painters, but that’s probably because these are the paintings and artists I am most familiar with and the ones I automatically think of as my favourites. I have shown most of these before and I’m sorry there is so little ‘new’ here, but I think its nice to sort out the ‘favourites’ and put them all together. In chronological order, oldest first, they are;  

1. From the collection at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery; Princess Elizabeth 1635-1650 and Princess Anne 1637-1640, by Sir Anthony van Dyck.  
This is an oil study for the painting ‘The Five Eldest children of Charles 1’, and shows two year old Elizabeth and baby Anne. Neither child survived into adulthood, they both suffered tuberculosis and Anne died as an infant. Elizabeth survived until her teens when she died, partly as a result of being imprisoned during the civil war and partly as a result of ill health. The painting for which the study was made showed the children of Charles 1 and Henrietta Maria and is still held by the Royal family. I find this one of the most sensitively drawn child portraits ever produced. These children lived and died in the seventeenth century but they could be any child living today.


2. Now held in The Beit Collection, Russborough, Co. Wicklow, Sir Henry  Raeburn 1792; Portrait of Sir John and Lady Clerk of Penicuik. I’ve already written a blog on this man here
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/158/Art_Sunday_henry_Raeburn
This was Raeburn's first picture to be exhibited in London, being shown at Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery in 1792. The background is the estate at Penicuik, and the landscape that inspired Ramsay's The Gentle Shepherd. I’ve loved this painting from the first time I set eyes on it. I’ve not seen the original and if I ever visit Ireland, this is something I would make a point of seeing. This man was one of the greatest Scottish portrait painters who ever lived and to me, this painting could not be any where other than Scotland, Scotland has a light all of its own, a quality of light not experienced any where else, and he captures it perfectly here.
Sir John was a patron of the arts and the old mansion house became a meeting place for others including Allan Ramsay. Sadly, the new mansion house built by Sir James during the 1760s was gutted by fire in 1899 and is now a ruin. Sir Robert Clerk is continuing the tradition of his forebears by pursuing a programme of improvements to the estate. More of that here

http://www.eskvalleytrust.org/penestate.html

Work is being carried out at present to make the outward structure of the building secure, offering the opportunity to create work experience and training in the use of traditional building methods. After the fire, the stables and courtyard were converted into the family home and garden and remain so today. I think the loss of this great house is a sad loss to Scotlands architectural heritage.


3. The Hinds Daughter, 1883, by Sir James Guthrie, I’ve written about James Guthrie here
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/613/Art_Sunday_Sir_james_Guthrie
A Hind is an old Scottish word for ‘farm servant’ or agricultural worker and this is a painting of one of the workers daughters cutting cabbages.  
( list of old Scottish occupations here)
http://www.scotsfamily.com/occupations.htm
I’ve always liked this painting because, again, to me this could only be Scotland. If I left my house and travelled a couple of miles into the country I would see vegetable gardens and/or fields  full of cabbages that looked just like this.The tawny light would be the same, the old white outbuildings would be the same, the wooden fences, rickety and broken are still there, the earth is the same rich reddy brown and the sky the same pale grey. James Guthrie was one of the original ‘Glasgow Boys’ who changed the face of painting, design and architecture in the northern hemisphere.


4. "Child With A Dove" 1901. (also known as "Child Holding a Dove") is one of Pablo Picasso's most easily recognizable paintings and one of my few favourites from a non Scottish artist.  Standing next to her ball, a child holds a white dove to her chest. I included this in my recent blog on Picassos ‘blue period’
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/744/Art_Sunday_Picassos_Blue_paintings._
Although she is in white and her ball is full of colour there is an overall feeling of ‘blue’ to the image. This was the very first of what became known as his ‘blue period’ paintings. He uses the innocence of child a with the universal symbol of hope, in the form of the dove and creates a painting that crosses language and culture boundaries to portray an universal image of innocence and hope for the world.  
All of Picasso's paintings are described in terms of a series of overlapping periods. In this his "blue period" (1901-4), he depicted the world of the poor. Predominantly in tones of blue, these melancholy paintings (such as The Old Guitarist, 1903; Art Inst. of Chicago) are among the most popular art works of the century. I first came across this image on a card when I was a child. I knew nothing of art but I think the symbolism of innocence and hope touched me even at that young age. I kept the card for years, I had it pinned to my wall. I think this image is maybe one of the first to initiate my lifelong love or art. Maybe without this image, I would never have become so interested in the art world. Oh how sad that would have been.



5. Anna Pavlova, 1910,  by Sir John Lavery, on permanent exhibition at Kelvingrove Gallery Glasgow. This is one I am fortunate enough to have stood in front of and admired.  I wrote about it here.
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/188/Art_Sunday_John_Lavery_and_Anna_Pavlova
If you are ever fortunate enough to stand in front of this apinting you will see why I have chosen it. The scarlet shouts at you across the room and as you approach the painting, it’s almost as if she is there and about to leap from the wall, a truly remarkable painting.


6. The Orange Blind, 1928, by Frances Cadell, one of a group of Scottish artists known as ‘The Colourists’. I wrote quite a long blog about this painting here.
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/55/Art_Sunday_Drinking

This is more of an ‘interior’ painting than a figure painting, but this is another of my favourites that I’ve been fortunate enough to actually stand in front of at the Kelvingrove gallery in Glasgow. To stand in front of this is truly mesmerizing. The composition is perfect, the blast of orange is wonderful, the whole scene glows with reflected light and I just love the way the side of the piano is lit up by the light coming through the blind. It’s a painting of social commentary, showing a particular class of person and a particular type of interior.

Next week; ...........my favourite seascapes.

Art Sunday; Sir james Guthrie

(above; schoosdays)

Sir James Guthrie (June 10, 1859 – September 6, 1930) was a Scottish painter.
He was best known in his own lifetime as a portrait painter, although today he is more generally known as a painter of Scottish Realism.
He was born in Greenock, the son of a clergyman, he originally enrolled at Glasgow University to study law, but abandoned this in favour of painting in 1877.

(below; Pastures new)

Unlike many contemporary painters he did not study in Paris, he was mostly self-taught, although he was mentored for a short time by James Drummond in Glasgow and then John Pettie in London.

(below; the highland funeral)

He lived most of his life in the Scottish Borders, most notably in Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, where he painted some of his most important works, including A Hind's Daughter 1883 (my personal favourite, just love that little girl in the cabbage patch), and Schoolmates. He was strongly influenced by the French Realists, but is remembered as one of the painters in the Glasgow movement.

(below; The Hinds daughter, my personal favourite)

Guthrie embraced the establishment, being the first of the 'Glasgow Boys' to be elected to the Royal Scottish Academy (1888). He was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1888, and a full member in 1892. In 1902 he succeeded Sir George Reid as RSA president in 1902, and he was knighted the following year.

(below; reading the morning paper)

Guthrie became one of the most progressive of Scottish 19th century painters. He chose his subjects from everyday life; A Highland Funeral (1881) was widely regarded as a master-piece and is today held by Glasgow Art Gallery. This is a wonderfully atmospheric painting and showers his remarkable skills, but as I said, my own particular favourite is the Hinds Daughter.

(below; The summerhouse)

 

Art Sunday, the Scottish Winter.

Joseph Farquharson
Born Edinburgh, May 4, 1846;
died  at Finzean, Aberdeenshire, April 15, 1935


Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1846, Joseph Farquharson was a Scottish painter; He painted in oils and water colors and usually used the Scottish countryside as his subject. His father, Francis, was a doctor and laird of Finzean in Aberdeenshire. Joseph was educated in Edinburgh and as a child only permitted (by his father) to paint on Saturdays, and using his father’s paint box until he was given his own. His first exhibit at the Royal Academy, ' Day's Dying Glow ', was in 1873. Much like other leading Aberdeen artists of his day he bypassed the Edinburgh and Glasgow exhibitions in favor of London because he believed it would gain him wider recognition.

Joseph inherited the title of Laird in 1918 after the death of his elder brother Robert, an MP. Joseph Farquharson trained at the Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh during the 1860s. "The Painting Laird" as he was called, studied under Peter Graham R.A. and then at the Life School at the Royal Scottish Academy. Farquharson exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1873 and was elected an Associate in 1900.  Farquharson is most famous for his works portraying sheep and snow, both remain a common sight in Aberdeenshire.   

Nearly all the early works were inspired by his rural surroundings and he went on to make snow scenes his trademark.  Other subjects he often painted include small local burns and people fly fishing.

This mans work is very ‘pretty’ and indeed the wintery landscapes of Scotland  ARE very pretty, but as a contrast to Farquharsons work here is a very famous painting.

This was painted in 1882     by Scottish artist James Guthrie (Sir James Guthrie June 10, 1859 – September 6, 1930 ) and is called the Highland Funeral. Guthrie was born in Greenock, the son of a  humble clergyman, who originally enrolled at Glasgow University to study law, but  abandoned this in favour of painting in 1877. Unlike many of his contemporaries Guthrie did not study in Paris, instead he was mostly self-taught. This painting shows the harsh realities that often lay behind the pretty Christmas card scenes painted by Farquharson. Prehaps the difference in interpretation of the Scottish winter originates in the difference in life experience of the two artists, one the son of a Scottish Laird, one the son of a humble clergyman.