MALCOLM ARBUTHNOT RI EXHIBITION OF WATERCOLOURS
26th October ~ 9th November 2013
Malcolm Arbuthnot RI
We are pleased to be putting on an exhibition of 41 previously unseen watercolours of this artist who in my opinion, has not received the recognition he deserves. Malcolm Arbuthnot (1877 - 1967) began his career as a photographer and opened a successful portrait studio in London’s Bond Street in 1914 and photographed many leading figures of the day. Prior to this in 1907 he joined the “Brotherhood of the Linked Ring” an organisation founded in 1892 by Alfred Maskell and others dissatisfied with the ethos of the Royal Photographic Society exhibitions, with the aim to promote naturalistic and aesthetic photography as an independent art. By the end of the First World war, Arbuthnot had given up his photographic studio and concentrated on painting. Painting gave him more scope to express himself and explore different techniques in a variety of mediums including watercolours, oils and gouaches. He developed a style all of his own making an Arbuthnot easily recognisable. Composition and shapes are a major element in Arbuthnot’s work with arching trees, rolling hills and billowing clouds a feature in many of his landscapes. He also liked to paint men at work and his eye for composition can be seen in these works. He married twice, and had numerous adopted children. His first marriage to Florence Emily Goold ended in divorce. His second wife Florence Annie Davison was the widow of George Davison, a millionaire through investments in Kodak, and her inherited wealth enabled the couple to retire to Jersey in 1946, after paying regular visits from 1931 onwards. A large collection of his early work was lost in the fire at Le Gallais warehouse in 1949 but he kept working until shortly before his death at 90 and produced most of his best work in the last decade of his life. He was elected to the Royal Institute of Watercolour Painters in 1942. This exhibition of watercolours shows what an accomplished artist Arbuthnot was and we are thrilled to be able to show this previously unseen work. In the following pages are a selection of works from the exhibition to give a foretaste of what will be on show. I hope you enjoy!
David Barnett ~ Gallery owner
abandoned
St Helier Harbour
drying sails
street scene
the dairy farm
the village pump
standing stone
the old ruin
the tree
digging up the crops
the bridge
rock formation
two trees
boats on the slipway
haystack & cart
through the arch
preparing to sail
the stream
the house on the hill
the hay cart
mending nets
boats in the bay
Jersey under snow
at the mouth of the harbour
picnic on the beach
along the banks
CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY 23a Beresford Street • St Helier • JE2 4WN • tel: 734920 email: david@studio18.co.uk
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