GEORGE DEVLIN
GEORGE DEVLIN 6 MAY – 1 JUNE 2013
16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Tel 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk www.scottish-gallery.co.uk
Front cover: Receding Storm, The Minch, oil on canvas, 81.5 x 86.5 cms Left: The Australian’s Barge, oil on canvas, 66 x 71 cms
foreword
I would draw attention to Motion S4M-05614 lodged on the 8th february this year at the Scottish parliament by Patricia ferguson, MSP for Maryhill and supported across the political divide to the effect that George devlin is marvellous! The motion made note of his recent retrospective at the Glasgow Arts Club, his deserved reputation, the variety of his achievements and awards and his significant contribution to Scottish art, celebrated at home and internationally on the 50th anniversary of his club membership. I am pleased to add a post script: he is not finished yet. A studio visit is always a pleasure: the walls are hung three deep with canvasses still wet, drier works are stacked against the wall, a forest of easels show paintings both sides, and George works off a little of his nervous energy with a palette knife as I go around with a sheet of stickers, struggling to find anything to leave out. George is a consummate professional and as generous a spirit as one could wish to meet. His long association with The Scottish Gallery goes back to his first one-person show in 1969 (a landmark for George: somehow accepted into the establishment: robin Philipson nominated him for rSw membership and Anne redpath took him for tea) marks him out as one of our treasured six-decade exhibitors. for May 2013 we have works from all over france, paintings from the inner Hebrides, fife, the high-tops in winter and Venice. Included are a few still lifes often the result of his wife’s shopping in france. All of these paintings have the balance of intuition and consideration, the energetic mark making and assured drawing with the brush which are his trademarks. each is a window onto a different experience made permanent by a painter and philosopher we are privileged to know. Guy Peploe, 2013
Contre Jour, Aros Bay pastel, 21.5 x 29 cms
On Anchor, Tobermory pastel, 21.5 x 29 cms
Towards Staffa pastel, 21.5 x 29 cms
Moorings, Eigg oil on canvas, 51 x 56 cms
Tacking Off, Iona oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 cms
Immersions at Iona oil on canvas, 91.5 x 101.5 cms
Field after the Rain oil on canvas, 66 x 71 cms
Fife Farm oil on canvas, 66 x 71 cms
Entrance to the Village oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 cms
Minervois Village oil on canvas, 66 x 71 cms
Vers Saint Nazaire D’Aude oil on canvas, 66 x 71 cms
La Guinguette oil on canvas, 101.5 x 106.5 cms
Escales oil on canvas, 81.5 x 86.5 cms
Poppy Field in the Minervois oil on canvas, 81.5 x 86.5 cms
Azillanet oil on canvas, 66 x 71 cms
George Devlin painting at Marseillan, September 2012
Noon, Marseillan oil on canvas, 81.5 x 86.5 cms
A Wee Sweetie oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 cms
Breezy Day, Marseillan oil on canvas, 81.5 x 86.5 cms
Moorings near Marseillan oil on canvas, 81.5 x 86.5 cms
Afternoon Indulgence oil on canvas, 35.5 x 40.5 cms
Argens Minervois oil on canvas, 66 x 71 cms
Barges, Canal du Midi oil on canvas, 35.5 x 40.5 cms
Moorings, Le Somail oil on canvas, 66 x 71 cms
Night on the Grand Canal oil on canvas, 101.5 x 106.5 cms
Grand Canal pastel, 21.5 x 29 cms
Reflections, Grand Canal oil on canvas, 66 x 71 cms
Crepuscolo, Bacino San Marco pastel, 21.5 x 29 cms
Fondamenta Nuove oil on canvas, 66 x 71 cms
The Lido Ferry oil on canvas, 51 x 56 cms
Towards Ben Lomond oil on canvas, 51 x 56 cms
Walking the Dog oil on canvas, 51 x 56 cms
Winter in the Mearns oil on canvas, 127 x 142 cms
Receding Storm, The Minch oil on canvas, 81.5 x 86.5 cms
GEORGE DEVLIN RSW, RWS, RGI, FRSA, RBA, ROI
George Devlin studied at Glasgow School of Art 1955-60 where he won the Robert Hart Bursary, Post Diploma, and the Haldane Scholarship. Also won the Chalmers Prize, the Carnegie Travelling Scholarship and Maclaine Watters Medal (R.S.A.). Studied and painted in Greece and Italy, later crossing the Sahara and lived and worked in West Africa. He won a major Arts Council award in 1968 and established his own painting school in 1969, which later relocated to France. In 1972 presented a series of arts programmes for Scottish television and the following year designed set and costumes for the ballet Embers presented by Scottish Ballet. In 1992 he worked in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan leading to later exhibitions in Hong Kong and in Japan. Recent awards include the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (2004); Scott Moore Prize (RWS 2007); Solsgirth Prize, Lauder Award, Sir Arnold Clark Award and finalist Lynn Painter Stainers 2012. He works regularly in France and Italy and in recent years has worked in North Africa, India and South Africa. 1964 1972 1973 1977 1989 1991
Elected member of Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour Presented series on Art for Scottish Television Designed set and costumes for Embers, presented by Scottish Ballet Elected Chairman of Glasgow League of Artists Elected member of Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Artist in Residence, Dinan, France
George Devlin painting in St Abbs, 1979 1997 1999 2004 2004 2010
Elected President of Glasgow Art Club Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts Elected member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) Elected full member of Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) Elected member of Royal Watercolour Society (RWS)
Selected Solo exhibitionS 1969 the Scottish Gallery, edinburgh 1972 the Scottish Gallery, edinburgh 1984 Galerie Mondragore, Paris 1988 one Man Show, the hague 1991 Portland Gallery, london 1992 Macaulay Gallery, Stenton 1992 Robinsons, Singapore 1993 Fosse Gallery, Stow on the Wold 1994 Portland Gallery, london 1995 the Scottish Gallery, edinburgh 1996 Portland Gallery, london 1997 the Scottish Gallery, edinburgh 1997 Portland Gallery, hong Kong 1997 Gallery holly Snapp, Venice 1997 billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow 1997 Retrospective, Vrijthof, Maastricht 1998 Portland Gallery, london 1999 everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 2000 Portland Gallery, london 2000 everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 2001 Fosse Gallery, Stow on the Wold 2002 the Scottish Gallery, edinburgh 2002 Portland Gallery, london 2003 billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow 2003 everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 2004 Portland Gallery, london 2005 the Scottish Gallery, edinburgh 2008 billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow 2009 the Scottish Gallery, edinburgh 2010 Fraser Gallery, St Andrews 2011 billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow 2012 Portland Gallery, london 2013 the Scottish Gallery, edinburgh
Selected GRouP exhibitionS 1977 G.l.A. exhibition, calgary 1983 centre d’Art contemporaine, Paris 1989 Works on Paper, holland & belgium 1989 Four Scottish Artists, new York 1991 Scottish Painting, hong Kong 1994 european Painting, tokyo & Kawasaki 1995 international Watercolour, bilbao 1996 Scottish Painting, hong Kong 1998 Galerie nestlÊ, Paris 1998 holland Art Fair, the hague 1998 everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 1999 everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 1997/98 organised and participated in contemporary Art from Scotland which toured the netherlands, Germany, belgium and France. 2001 devlin & Scouller, everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg WoRK iS RePReSented in the FolloWinG collectionS Scottish national Gallery of Modern Art, edinburgh national Portrait Gallery, edinburgh Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums lillie Art Gallery, Glasgow Glasgow university Strathclyde university. Glasgow city Art centre, edinburgh the Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, london
Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition GEORGE DEVLIN 6 May – 1 June 2013 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/georgedevlin ISBN: 978-1-905146-75-8 Designed by www.kennethgray.co.uk Printed by J Thomson Colour Printers All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.
16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Tel 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk www.scottish-gallery.co.uk
Right: Levata del Sole, Giudecca, oil on canvas, 86.5 x 101.5 cms Back cover: Roses, oil on canvas, 40.5 x 35.5 cms