Stanley Cursiter, C.B.E, P.R.S.W., R.S.A.

In the late Summer of 1919 Cursiter was released from his wartime service and returned to the austerity and uncertainty of post-war Britain. Reeling from his experiences on the Western Front and troubled with asthma and bronchitis Cursiter and his wife Phyllis headed for the warner climes of Southern France.

'I worked and painted my way from Cassis, near Marseilles, to Menton on the other end of the Riviera. This interlude on the Riviera was an immensely valuable experience. The brilliant light and colour were an immediate stimulation. The sunshine and warmth - the day-after-day repetition of conditions that made painting out of doors a pure joy. I worked hard and at complete ease.'

(The Artist, quoted in, Pamela Beasant, Stanley Cursiter, A Life of the Artist, Orkney Museums and Heritage, 2007, illustrated p. 39)

The present work was almost certainly painted whilst travelling along the Riviera and is imbued with the glistening light and warmth of the Provençal sun that so inspired Cursiter. The Bathers also demonstrates Cursiters mastery of watercolour with the colours put down with a lightness and confidence one might expect to see in the work of Cursiter's contemporaries Melville or Cadell.