Online Auction: 10–17 March 2021 • 1:00 PM GMT • London
F ormed from the 1920s to 40s by Major Ion Harrison, an important patron and friend of the artists, the Harrison Collection features some of the finest Scottish Colourist paintings by George Leslie Hunter, Samuel John Peploe, F.C.B. Cadell and John Duncan Fergusson. Inspired by the bold modernist painting of the Post-Impressionists and informed by their travels through France the Colourists were arguably the most avant-garde British artists of their day.
Sale Highlights
Tour the Exhibition
Colourists on the Côte d'Azur
'Without their French contacts and experience, none of the Scottish Colourists would have developed their art as we know it. For all, visiting and living in France invested their ideas with a new vision. For Cadell, it meant developing an empathy with stylish sophistication. For Hunter, visiting the south of France especially, injected a light airiness into his landscapes. For Peploe, two years life in Paris opened a door to the intellectual possibilities within traditional subjects. And for Fergusson, living in France far longer than any of the others, it became the crux of his existence.’
PHILIP LONG AND ELIZABETH CUMMING
The Scottish Colourists 1900-1930, Edinburgh, 2000, pp.54-55
Of all the British artists of the early 20th century none embraced so totally the influence of French modernism than the Scottish Colourists. Their works dazzle with a vivacity and spontaneaity not found elswhere in British painting and it was their connections with France which engendered this thoroughly modern approach. Cadell, Peploe and Fergusson all studied in the ateliers of Paris. They holidayed and painted on the beaches of Normandy, in the fishing towns of the Bay of Biscay and along the glamorous Côte d'Azur. Hunter discovered the South of France later in his career but the impact was absolute and marked a radical shift in his painting. For all of the Colourist artists the direct comparisons with their French counterparts is instantly apparent with the influcence of Manet, Matisse and Cézanne particularly tangible. Represented in this sale are an incredible selection of Colourist views of France painted in their own unique Post-Impressionist style.
