LACHLAN GOUDIE
A YEAR AT THE EASEL
LACHLAN GOUDIE A YEAR AT THE EASEL 31 October – 27 November 2018
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FOREWORD
Scottish art has seen its fair share of dynasties: the Faeds, Nasmyths, Redpaths and Peploes. With the quiet emergence of Lachlan Goudie, son of Alexander (1933-2004) we have another. I say quiet because he was never the latest wunderkind graduate of a Scottish Art College, creating a feeding frenzy at a degree show, as was the case with several generations of Glasgow graduating students from Peter Howson, to Stephen Conroy, Alison Watt and Jenny Saville in the Eighties. Like these estimable artists Lachlan Goudie is a painter; if he had attended the School of Art in the early Nineties rather than taking up a place to study English at Christ’s Cambridge, he might never have painted because the emphasis had shifted from easel to computer screen, from belle peinture to the conceptual. The seeds were surely sewn growing up within a flamboyant but close family where art, opera, dance and literature meant something. His father’s early death in 2004 was a shocking blow and all the family worked hard to catalogue and memorialise Goudie, work and man. Only after this perhaps was Lachlan able to emerge from his father’s shadow and pursue a dual career as writer, broadcaster and professional painter. The son is
happy however to share many characteristics with the father: an enjoyment of the plastic possibilities of paint; strong colour construction, free drawing with the brush and significantly engagement with monumental, ambitious subject matter as well as the domestic and studio fare. For Lachlan Goudie a project to ‘paint the shipyards’ provided the professional impetus to launch him as a painter. The cranes and derricks, the hulks of the giant ships, the shipbuilders as portraits or as ant-like workers in the towering complexity of the yards proved an inspiration. The ambition of this project also earned Goudie the right to look at the traditional subject matter of landscape, still life, the figure and interior. The paintings included in this exhibition were completed across the course of a year during which Lachlan’s different projects enabled him to travel widely. After recently becoming a father for the first time, he retreated with his family to Dorset for the summer. Here he found time to contemplate the immediate environment: a garden of flowers and a sun drenched landscape. GUY PEPLOE September 2018
Lachlan painting in Giverny, France. Photo by David Bickerstaff 3
ROSYTH SHIPYARD
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I have been painting in the shipyards of Govan and Rosyth for almost ten years now. They represent an awe-inspiring studio, places where vast subjects rise up before you: slowly evolving compartments and bulkheads that eventually combine to form the hull of a ship - dwarfing the workers that are engaged in its creation. It has been an exhilarating experience for me, making art in industrial locations that are sometimes thought to be an unlikely source of inspiration.
Lachlan on the banks of the Clyde. Photo by Marc Turner 5
1/ At the Bow gouache on paper, 51 x 64 cm 6
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2/ Dry-dock gouache on paper, 51 x 68 cm 8
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3/ Beneath the Hull pastel and chalk on paper, 120 x 70 cm 10
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4/ The Stern pastel and chalk on paper, 100 x 50 cm 12
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CÔTE D’AZUR, FRANCE
Lachlan painting in Antibes. Photo by Alistair McCormick 14
Like generations of Scottish artists before me, I have always been attracted to the strong sunshine and colours of the Côte d’Azur. Around Antibes the golden battlements of the fort are a distinctive landmark. They absorb the light and reflect the changing colours and hues throughout the day. Beneath them the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean chop and sparkle, offering an ever evolving challenge for the painter’s palette.
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5/ Villa by the Med gouache on board, 28 x 40 cm 16
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6/ Little Paradise gouache on board, 33 x 25 cm 18
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7/ The Fort, Antibes gouache on board, 25 x 33 cm 20
8/ Rocky Shoreline on the Mediterranean gouache on board, 33 x 25 cm 21
9/ In the South gouache on board, 25 x 33 cm 22
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10/ Sur la Côte oil on board, 76 x 102 cm 24
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11/ Côte d’Azur gouache on board, 25 x 33 cm 26
12/ Afternoon by the Med oil on board, 33 x 25 cm 27
13/ Giverny watercolour on paper, 30 x 42 cm 28
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DORSET
I spend a lot of time amidst the rolling hills of Dorset. It’s a landscape where proximity to the sea means that, rather like the West coast of Scotland, the light is ever changing. Although the environment is peaceful and bucolic, the geography is often characterised by increasingly steep inclines; mighty hills (occasionally topped with the remains of Neolithic forts) and valleys carved by streams into the chalky ground. The property where I stay and paint, near the village of Askerswell, has an extraordinary garden. During this long hot summer I worked there for several weeks, catching the last blooms of the irises and roses and the swallows skimming the ponds. 30
Lachlan painting in Dorset. Photo by Alistair McCormick
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14/ Dorset gouache on board, 25 x 33 cm 32
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15/ Eggardon oil on board, 36 x 51 cm 34
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16/ The Pines oil on board, 40 x 40 cm 36
17/ Summer Evening oil on board, 25 x 33 cm 37
18/ Out of the Sun oil on board, 36 x 51 cm 38
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19/ An English Summer oil on board, 50 x 75.5 cm 40
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20/ Harvest Time oil on board, 50 x 75.5cm 42
21/ Pasture oil on board, 36 x 51 cm 43
22/ Into the Woods oil on board, 76 x 102 cm 44
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23/ Swallows at Eggardon oil on board, 81.5 x 98 cm 46
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24/ The Brook oil on board, 50 x 75.5 cm 48
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25/ The Quiet Pool oil on board, 81.5 x 98 cm 50
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26/ Quiet Rose oil on board, 20 x 20 cm 52
27/ Buff Beauty oil on board, 40 x 40 cm 53
28/ Iris in Bloom oil on board, 20 x 20 cm 54
29/ Splendour oil on board, 40 x 40 cm 55
CALIFORNIA Along the West coast, between Big Sur and Monterey, the Pacific Ocean collides with cliffs and outcrops of ochre rock. In the evening haze the sun bathes this landscape in a wash of crimson that is unlike anything I have experienced painting in Europe.
30/ Laguna Beach watercolour on paper, 14.5 x 42 cm 56
31/ Big Sur oil on board, 76 x 102 cm 57
MOROCCO AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Lachlan in the Kidron Valley, the Occupied Palestinian territories. Photo by Andrew Muggleton 58
This year I travelled widely through the Middle East and Morocco for the first time. The dusty colours of the desert landscapes were in extreme contrast to the lush vegetation of the oasis and gardens where I painted, South of Marrakesh. In the Atlas Mountains, an oppressive heat gave way to cool air and the clear contours of the peaks set against a high altitude sky. 59
32/ Afternoon Storm in the Atlas watercolour on paper, 21 x 59 cm 60
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33/ The Oasis watercolour on paper, 30 x 42 cm 62
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34/ Garden Palace watercolour on paper, 21 x 30 cm 64
35/ Mar Saba watercolour on paper, 21 x 59 cm 65
36/ Mountain Village, Morocco watercolour on paper, 21 x 59 cm 66
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37/ The Kasbah, High Atlas gouache on board, 36 x 51 cm 68
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STILL LIFE After returning to the studio from my travels, I often begin my time at the easel by painting still lifes. I find that the process of considering a series of static objects and describing their relationship in paint, focusses the mind. After weeks of rapid sketching in the open air, life in the studio proceeds at a much slower pace. The challenges of evoking form and tone, of capturing the effects of texture and light become, for me, an intense and immersive creative experience.
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Lachlan in his London studio. Photo by Paul Stuart 71
38/ L’heure Espagnole oil on board, 59 x 42 cm 72
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39/ Cocktail Hour oil on board, 102 x 76 cm 74
40/ Simple Pleasures oil on board, 117 x 96 cm 76
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41/ Lune de Miele oil on canvas, 103 x 128 cm 78
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42/ Le CafĂŠ oil on board, 76 x 102 cm 80
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43/ The Silver Tray oil on board, 76 x 102 cm 82
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44/ Spring Onions oil on board, 40 x 40 cm 84
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45/ Bouquet oil on canvas, 66 x 64 cm 86
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SEARCH FOR COLOUR
The Scottish Gallery has been a part of my life since I was a child. I remember regularly accompanying my father to the premises on George Street when he used to drop off his own paintings. It is an honour to be exhibiting with the gallery that not only played such an important role in my father’s career but also helped shape the creative DNA of Scottish art over the last 176 years. One of the defining characteristics of Scottish art, during that period, has been the impetus felt by many painters to travel beyond the nation’s borders. In journeying across the European continent and beyond, far from the grey skies of Scotland, they encountered new colours, new techniques, new ideas - and discovered themselves as artists in the process. Over the last year various projects have afforded me the opportunity of travelling widely. In every place I visited, however, ghosts of those Scottish artists who had preceded me were hard to avoid. In Antibes I thought I saw the shadow of JD Fergusson flit between the pine trees: in California the presence of Leslie Hunter, whose youth was spent in an orange grove outside Los Angeles, 88
was hard to dispel: the minarets and azure skies of Morocco looked as if they had materialised out of a watercolour by Arthur Melville and Jerusalem remained the same timeless and bewitching place that David Wilkie had experienced, 177 years earlier. Even the shipyards of Scotland proved to have been thoroughly reconnoitred by Muirhead Bone. I am fortunate to have had such brilliant pathfinders. In each location the sketches and paintings of my predecessors proved to be an inspiration. The world today is a challenging place. My journeys this year, from the shipyards of Govan and Rosyth to North Africa, from the West Bank to the sorry ruins of The Glasgow School of Art have confronted me with many hard truths. As an artist, however, I have always been motivated to search for colour wherever it may be found, to celebrate the things that I feel make life worth living. I hope that in these paintings I can share a few of the moments, the places and the people that have brought me a sense of exhilaration and fulfilment over the last twelve months. LACHLAN GOUDIE
Lachlan painting in Jerusalem. Photo by Andrew Muggleton 89
LACHLAN GOUDIE
Lachlan Goudie is an artist who exhibits regularly in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London and New York. The scope of Lachlan’s work is broad, incorporating portraiture, still life and landscape painting. His canvasses have won numerous awards and in 2013 he was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Oil painters, in London. Lachlan is the son of the Scottish artist Alexander Goudie. He was born and grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, before studying English at Christ’s College, Cambridge and Fine Art at Camberwell College of Art in London. In addition to painting, Lachlan is also a writer and arts broadcaster. He has written and presented numerous documentaries for BBC television including a landmark four-part series entitled ‘The story of Scottish art’ (2015). Other programmes include ‘Art and Industry’ (2017), ‘Painting the Holy Land’ (2018) and ‘Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Glasgow’s neglected genius’ (2018). Lachlan is also a judge on the BBC One painting competition series, ‘The Big Painting Challenge’. Lachlan writes regularly for The Times newspaper and in 2019 Thames and Hudson will publish his first book, ‘The stories of Scottish art’. Lachlan’s writing is informed by his experience of working as an artist. Schooled in painting by his father from an early age, Lachlan is a keen proselytiser for the value of technique, craft and tradition in contemporary art. Frequent painting trips abroad, during which he sketches in the open air whilst on the road, allow him to observe, document and celebrate the world around us. EDUCATION 2001-04 Camberwell College of Arts, The London Institute 1995-98 Christ’s College, University of Cambridge SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2018
A Year at the Easel, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2015
New Paintings, Lachlan Goudie and Tim Benson, Mall Galleries, London
2014
These precious things, The Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York
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2013
The Royal Society of Painters in Oil Colour. Elected a full member ROI
2012
Still Life and the Opera, Glyndebourne, Lewes
Lands of Streams and Timber, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
2011
A True Wilderness Heart, The Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York
Sketch drawing prize, The Rabley Drawing Centre, Marlborough
The River Runs through it, Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow
2010
Of the Moment, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
2009
Dreaming Places, The Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York
AWARDS The Royal Society of Painters in Oil Colour: W&N Award for Young Artists Royal Scottish Academy: The Norman MacFarlane Charitable Trust Award The Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts: Royal College of Physicians Award University of Cambridge: The Levy-Plumb scholarship in the Visual Arts
RECENT PRESS ‘Capturing the landscape in Gouache’, The Artist, March 2017 ‘Growing up Goudie’, Artists and Illustrators, April 2016 ‘Ten moments that changed Scottish art’, The Times, January 2016 ‘Different Strokes’, The Herald, February 2015 ‘The Big Painting Challenge’, BBC TV, February 2015 ‘The colours of the Clyde’, BBC TV, May 2014 ‘From our own Correspondent’, BBC Radio, January 2013 ‘The Art of Witchcraft’, BBC TV, September 2013 Lachlan featured alongside five young ‘Creatives to watch’ in The Times newspaper’s Luxx magazine ‘Best of British’ edition, July 2012 ‘From our own Correspondent’, BBC Radio, July 2012 ‘Michael Portillo – Art of my Family’, The Scotsman, July 2012 ‘Emigrants’ Tales’, The Scottish Field Magazine Online, July 2012 ‘Home on the Range’, The Herald, January 2012 ‘A vision of Andalucia’, Diario de Jerez, November 2011
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Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition LACHLAN GOUDIE A YEAR AT THE EASEL 31 October - 27 November 2018 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/lachlangoudie ISBN: 978 1 910267 91 2 Designed by www.kennethgray.co.uk Photography by the artist Printed by Barr Printers, Edinburgh 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.
Cover: Swallows at Eggardon (cat. 23) (detail) Inside front cover: Beneath the Hull (cat. 3) (detail) Right: Cocktail Hour (cat. 39) (detail) 92