William gillies Works on Paper
William gillies Works on Paper 5 – 30 January 2013
16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Tel 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk Web www.scottish-gallery.co.uk
Foreword
Gillies divided his energy between oil and watercolour; painting in oils was his studio practice while he was happiest working in front of the landscape on his watercolour block.The originality and perceived spontaneity (genius comes only from spontaneity borne out of hard work) of his landscapes on paper: pencil, pen and ink, washes and pure watercolour, dry or wet on wet, form the core of his reputation and their highly personal quality still speak to us as individuals. He was eloquent when filmed in 1970: “My landscape painting began with watercolour and a great part of my work has continued in this medium and I feel the peculiar qualities of the medium have had a strong influence on my conception of landscape.” And again: “I would plead that… in landscape I have perhaps opened many people’s eyes to some unexpected, some subtle beauties in our daily surroundings. This has been I hope a byproduct of my own enjoyment of what I perceive and my great delight in the very act of handling the paint.” There is still work to be done on the chronology of his oeuvre: he seldom dated work and often exhibited works many years after they were made and we have to thank Joanna Soden and also Andrew Macpherson, who is now preparing a manuscript for a new book, for their help and insights. Around half the works we have gathered together for this show belonged to a friend and client of The Scottish Gallery, Jennifer Braithwaite who sadly died last year. Guy Peploe December 2012
Left: William Gillies camping in the Highlands c.1933
1 From the Clovenfords Road, 1959 Watercolour, 25.5 x 35.5 cms Signed & dated lower left Exhibited: The Scottish Gallery, 1960. Provenance: Private Collection, Germany. Gillies found innumerable subjects off the A7, travelling south from Gorebridge, at Fountainhall, Stow and down by the Cadden Water beyond Clovenfords. The view is up towards Meigle Hill, a patchwork of fields, perfectly typical of Gillies: a high horizon above a complex of fields and trees springing from the ribbon of the burn at the bottom. In Clovenfords (cat. no. 6) in a similar view the bright strip of sky is repeated in the bright water at the foot of the composition.
2 Crichton, 1958 Ink & watercolour, 38.5 x 56 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: Exhibition of Paintings, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1970, (cat. no. 82). Provenance: Dr Robert Lillie, until 1968; Private Collection, Edinburgh.
3 Lyne, 1957 Watercolour & pencil, 25.5 x 35.5 cms Signed & dated lower right Exhibited: The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1960; SirWilliam Gillies, Paintings,Watercolours & Drawings, The Scottish Gallery, March, 1989 (cat. no. 20). Provenance: The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1955; Dr Robert A. Lillie Collection (cat. no. 129); Private Collection, Germany Gillies was very familiar with the A72 east and west of Peebles and painted several watercolours around Lyne and Lyne Station. The time of year is autumn, with high stacks in the foreground and dark trees marching across the shadowed hillside while the eye is relieved by a bright, further horizon at upper right.
4 Rosebery, near Temple, c.1960 Watercolour, 47 x 62 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: William Gillies, Landscapes and Still Lifes, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2012, (illus. p.15). The Earls of Rosebery have extensive estates in the Pentland hills and the eponymous reservoir is two miles south of Gillies’s home in Temple.
5 Shiphorn Farm, 1950 Watercolour, 35.5 x 55.8 cms Signed and dated lower left Exhibited: A Selection of Works by SirWilliam Gillies, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2001; WG Gillies, Retrospective Exhibition, Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh, 1970 (cat. no. 181). Provenance: H. Wylie, Edinburgh. We can imagine Gillies parking his Ford Granada (someone described his lifelong love affair with the internal combustion engine) on the A73 before Eddleston and walking up for a look at Shiphorn Farm, perhaps engaging the farmer in friendly conversation before making his painting. The charm which comes from a particularity of place, apparent in the detail of the crooked gate, ramshackle arrangement of out-buildings, miden and chickens and ducks is Gillies forte. His subjects would never appeal to the romantic landscapist but something persuaded Gillies and it is his genius to share the attraction with us.
6 Clovenfords, 1960 Watercolour, 22 x 35.5 cms Signed and dated lower right Exhibited: William Gillies, Landscapes and Still Lifes, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2012, (illus. p.31).
7 Path by a Pond Pen & watercolour, 48 x 64 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: SirWilliam Gillies, Paintings,Watercolours & Drawings, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1989 (cat. no. 10). Provenance: Purchased from The Scottish Gallery by Royal Edinburgh Hospital in 1972; Private Collection, Edinburgh.
8 Farm Near Stow, 1951 Ink & watercolour, 39.5 x 58.5 cms Signed & dated lower right Exhibited: Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour. Provenance: Private Collection, Germany. Stow sits bestride the A7 above the Gala Water and Gillies made frequent stops here. He has organized a complex composition quite brilliantly to make a successful watercolour; the rise and fall of the land, whitewashed farm buildings, walls, fences, stooks and late summer trees are orchestrated into a wholly satisfactory ensemble.
9 Spring Landscape Watercolour, 25 x 35 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: Christmas Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1968 (cat. no. 41a); William Gillies, Landscapes and Still Lifes, The Scottish Gallery, 2012 (illus. p.22).
10 Garden at Auchindoir, c.1939 Watercolour, 56 x 77 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1973; William Gillies, Landscapes and Still Lifes, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2012, (illus. p.21). Provenance: Mary McIver, Edinburgh. In July 1939 Gillies travelled to Spinningdale on the Dornoch Firth, then to Auchindoir in Aberdeenshire. This was the last of Gillies’s extended summer trips for several years for a number of reasons. The outbreak of war restricted his ability to travel, his family’s move back to Temple also meant that Gillies did not need to travel far to find his favourite subject matter.
11 The Gate Watercolour, 55.5 x 71 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: William Gillies, Landscapes and Still Lifes, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2012.
12 Arniston Garden from the Mushroom Field, 1944 Sepia ink & wash, 28 x 38.5 cms Signed lower right Exhibited: William Gillies, Landscapes and Still Lifes, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2012, (illus. p.20).
13 Crofts in a Landscape Watercolour, 52.5 x 70 cms Signed lower right Exhibited: William Gillies, Landscapes and Still Lifes, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2012 (illus. p.35). The location is likely to be the North West of Scotland, and we would welcome suggestions! What is certain is that this is a significant work combining rich colour, simplified form and originality of composition. The central appeal of the subject is the walled garden next to the croft on the headland, its produce protected from the salt winds; lush rows of vegetables, the crofter’s pride, seen from above by the artist who looks across to bay, beach and more croft houses.
14 Highland Shore, c.1934 Watercolour, 51 x 63 cms Signed lower right Exhibited: Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour;The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1971. Provenance: Dr Robert A. Lillie Collection (cat. no. 510).
OUT OF FOCUS
15 West Highland Gate Pencil, 11 x 20 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: William Gillies, Landscapes and Still Lifes, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2012 (illus. p.34). Provenance: Collection of Hilary and Keith McCallum. There is always interest in the foreground of Gillies’s pictures and a favourite motif is a farm gate which is both an interesting formal shape or pattern and an invitation to ‘enter’ and walk into his landscape.
16 Kippford, c.1950 Ink drawing, 43 x 55.9 cms Signed lower right Provenance: Dr Robert A. Lillie Collection (cat. no. 593); British Linen Bank, Edinburgh. Gillies made several pen studies of sailing boats at Kippford on the Solway and at least one oil painting. As ever his spare, informative drawing renders a full understanding of the subject, here drawn at low tide with a view across the water to the village and hill beyond.
17 Harbour, Anstruther, 1937-8 Pen & ink on paper, 53.5 x 68.5 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: 20th Century Scottish Paintings & Drawings Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1976. Provenance: Private Collection, Edinburgh. Andrew Macpherson dates this sparkling watercolour drawing to 1937-38. The spare, energetic drawing, wet watercolour technique and substantial use of the neutral of the paper sheet is brilliantly combined to create atmosphere. It demonstrates well Gillies’s powers of suggestion in drawing: it is what is left out that is significant.
18 Rockcliffe Watercolour, 28 x 38 cms Exhibited: William Gillies, Landscapes and Still Lifes, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2012. Provenance: Dr Robert A. Lillie Collection (cat. no. 246).
19 Nude Study, 1938 Pencil drawing, 28 x 20.5 cms Provenance: Jack Firth RSW, Edinburgh. Although not known for his figure drawing, Gillies’s first important role at Edinburgh College of Art was teaching Life Painting class. The class had meant to have been taught by SJ Peploe but due to his failing health, Gillies stepped up to the mark. Gillies looked up to Peploe, especially after he and Cadell had sponsored his membership to the hallowed Society of Eight in 1932, which he saw as a ‘special compliment’.
William Gillies teaching at Edinburgh College of Art
Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite
Jennifer Braithwaite (1948-2012) was an enthusiastic, loving, generous but ever practical supporter of family, friends, colleagues and church and is greatly missed. For Jennifer an emotional connection added to her appreciation of art – whether music or paintings linked to family, friends or church, or the joy of owning and giving beautiful, sometimes quirky things. So it was with her passion for Willie Gilles watercolours and pen drawings which started with a watercolour from a family friend and tales of family links to the artist and his family. Familiarity and fondness for the subjects informed her choice as her collection grew, decorating her walls, part of her daily life Lesley Stenhouse November 2012
20 The Harbour, Pittenweem Watercolour, 25 x 18 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: The Scottish Gallery at Cork Street, London, June 2009. Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh.
21 Anstruther Pencil, 25.5 x 36.5 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: Ancrum Gallery, Roxburghshire, (cat. no. 23); The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1971. Provenance: Dr Robert A. Lillie Collection, (cat. no. 550); Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh.
22 Harbour, Pennan, 1951 Watercolour & pencil, 23 x 33.5 cms Signed & dated lower right Exhibited: SirWilliam Gillies, Paintings,Watercolours & Drawings, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1989 (cat. no. 26); SirWilliam Gillies, Paintings,Watercolours & Drawings, The Scottish Gallery, 2003 (ex cat). Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh. The Pennan harbour life belt is still there (one hopes that it has been ‘serviced’ since Gillies painted it in 1951!) He made this trip to the North West of Scotland in the company of Robert Henderson Blyth and both painted at Gardenstown and around Pennan and Gamrie. Harbour, Pennan is a rather Henderson Blyth picture focusing both on a quirky foreground detail and a view to distance.
23 Pittenweem, 1949 Watercolour & pencil, 16 x 34 cms Signed & dated lower right Exhibited: William Gillies Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1949, (cat. no. 26). Provenance: Collection of Dr Robert A. Lillie, (cat no. 285); Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh.
24 St Abbs, 1949 Watercolour, 29 x 35 cms Signed & dated lower left Exhibited: William Gillies Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1949; Sir William Gillies, Paintings,Watercolours and Drawings, The Scottish Gallery, 1989, (cat. no. 16). Provenance: Dr Robert A. Lillie Collection; Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh. St Abbs is a fishing village on the Berwickshire coast north of Eyemouth. Gillies’s watercolour depicts the harbour with its bright boats and the rocks outside. Today the waters are a marine reserve, a playground for divers. Gillies eschews a horizon and playfully makes his rocks and waves like clouds.
25 Balmacara, Sgur Mor, 1949 Watercolour, 24 x 31 cms Signed lower right Exhibited: William Gillies Retrospective Exhibition, The Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh, 1949 (cat. no. 178); Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh. Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh.
26 Arniston Pond, c.1960 Pen, 21 x 35 cms Signed & titled lower right Exhibited: The Scottish Gallery, 1980; William Gillies, Festival Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, 1991 (cat. no. 58). Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh. Unlike the old masters, Gillies’s drawings were rarely studies for future oil paintings. Instead most of them were completed as a first response to the scene in front of him and in this sense they offer a far more intimate and personal view than many of his paintings. His line varies from a languorous grace to breathless fury, every mark, scribble and dot offers an image of something observed by a passionately aware and purposeful mind. Unlike his watercolours which can be contemplative, his drawings are lighthearted, energetic and spirited.
27 BrightWater, Gladhouse, 1972 Watercolour, 25 x 35 cms Signed lower right Exhibited: SirWilliam Gillies, Paintings,Watercolours & Drawings, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh,1989, (cat. no. 21). Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh.
28 Woodlands in Sunshine Watercolour, 27 x 38 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: Sir William Gillies Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1968; Sir William Gillies Centenary Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, 1998 (cat. no. 38). Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh.
29 Gala Water, 1972 Watercolour & pencil, 40 x 34.5 cms Signed lower right Exhibited: Summer Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2002. Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh. Gillies went by car or motorbike from his cottage in Temple and explored again and again the landscape of the area, stopping whenever something caught his eye. One of his favourite views is one taken from the side of the road, looking down and then up towards the hillside on the opposite side of the valley. Here we see Gala Water, which runs through Galashiels before entering the River Tweed. This was painted just one year before Gillies’s death in 1973.
30 Back Garden,Temple Pen & watercolour, 27.5 x 36 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: SirWilliam Gillies Centenary Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1998. Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh.
31 Street in Temple, c.1945 Watercolour, 27.5 x 51 cms Signed lower right Exhibited: SirWilliam Gillies and The Edinburgh School, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2006 (cat. no. 7); SirWilliam Gillies, Painting Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2009. Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh. “We made the shift to Temple just after on the outbreak of war in 1939 and that was another important landmark for me as an artist. I needed to live in the landscape I was painting and Temple, situated within a mile or two of the fine, bare Moorfoot Hills and within a rich agricultural countryside of Midlothian within easy reach in the other direction it was just what I wanted. I had the whole Border countryside full of subject matter open to me.�
32 AVillage Church Watercolour, 24.5 x 45 cms Signed lower right Exhibited: 20th Century & Contemporary Scottish Paintings, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2000. Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh.
33 Muir of Ord Watercolour & pencil, 10.5 x 15 cms Signed lower right Exhibited: Ancrum Gallery, Roxburghshire, (cat. no. 25); Sir William Gillies Exhibition, Compass Gallery, Glasgow, 1970. Provenance: Dr Robert A. Lillie Collection, (cat. no. 532); Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh.
34 Cottage near Balmacara, Ross-shire, 1949 Watercolour & pencil, 17.5 x 24 cms Signed & dated lower middle Exhibited: William Gillies Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1949, (cat. no. 52); The Edinburgh School, Festival Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, 1993, (cat. no. 30). Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh. Balmacara is a small village on the north shore of Loch Alsh where he and John Maxwell stayed on a tour of the West Coast in 1949. During his holidays from the College Gillies travelled extensively around Scotland. These trips were a chance to unwind and focus wholly on his landscape drawing and painting. During term time the pressures of College meant he was only really able to concentrate on his still life practice.
35 Kelso Watercolour, 23.5 x 32 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: Ancrum Gallery, Roxburghshire, (cat. no.13). Provenance: Dr Robert A. Lillie Collection, (cat. no. 416); Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh. Gillies’s watercolours of the twenties and early thirties are generally in watercolour alone painted ‘wet on wet’. These have a spontaneous and gestural quality and often portray a particular moment or some fleeting atmospheric effect, in this instance Gillies captures a weather front approaching Kelso Abbey.
36 Willowbrae Road, Edinburgh, c.1935 Watercolour, 16 x 23 cms Signed lower left Exhibited: The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1994. Provenance: Collection of Jennifer Braithwaite, Edinburgh. The view is down Willowbrae Road towards Jocks Lodge and the church is the New Restalrig. Gillies lived with his mother and sisters at no. 162, a substantial detached bungalow further up the road, backing onto Queen’s Park, from July 1929 until they moved out to Temple ten years later. It is one of only a few entirely urban images and seems to depict dusk, with gas lamps lit.
Sir William Gillies CBE RSA RSW RA
1898
Born 21 September, Haddington, East Lothian, son of John (born 1856) and Emma Gillies (née Smith, born 1864) and brother of Janet (born 1896) and Emma (born 1900). 1909-1916 Educated at Knox Academy, Haddington (awarded Dux Medal in 1916). 1916 Enrolled at Edinburgh College of Art, studied for two terms. 1917 Called for National Service. Drafted with the Scottish Rifles to France where he saw service around Arras. Wounded and gassed and returned to Scotland in 1918. 1919 Resumed studies at Edinburgh College of Art. 1920 First solo exhibition in Haddington watchmakers, owned by local art enthusiast Alexander Wright. 1921 Death of Gillies’s father. 1922 Awarded Diploma in Drawing and Painting and post-Diploma Scholarship providing studio facilities for a further year’s study. Became a founder member of the exhibiting society the 1922 Group. The group’s exhibitions were held in Edinburgh from 1923-29. 1923 Awarded Travelling Scholarship and, with fellow recipient William Geissler, went to Paris to study under André Lhote, and travelled to Italy. 1924 Returned to Scotland. Appointed Assistant Art Master at the Royal Academy, Inverness. 1925 Appointed part-time lecturer in School of Drawing and Painting, Edinburgh College of Art. 1928 Joint exhibition with Frances Hodgkins, St George’s Gallery, London. Work first exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy.
1929 1931 1932 1934 1936 1937 1939 1940 1942 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950
Moved with sisters and mother to house on Willowbrae Road, Edinburgh. John Maxwell joined the staff of Edinburgh College of Art, and became a lifelong friend. Scottish Society of Artists Annual Exhibition included 12 works by Edvard Munch (1863-1944). Shared a studio with William MacTaggart at 45 Frederick Street. Invited to become member of the exhibiting society, the Society of Eight. The Society’s exhibitions were held in Edinburgh from 1912-1938. Appointed full-time lecturer, Edinburgh College of Art. Work first exhibited at the Society of Scottish Artists. Death of Gillies’s sister, Emma. Elected professional member of the Society of Scottish Artists. Gillies moves to cottage in Temple, Midlothian, with mother and sister Janet. Elected Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy. Work included in the exhibition Six Scottish Painters, Reid and Lefevre, London. Appointed Head of the School of Drawing and Painting, Edinburgh College of Art. Elected Royal Scottish Academician. Solo exhibition at the French Institute, Edinburgh (drawn from collection of Dr. R. A. Lillie) Became member of the Educational Institute of Scotland. Solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery (The first of seven during Gillies’s lifetime). Elected member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour.
1951 1953 1954 1957 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1966
1969 1970 1971 1973
Work included in the exhibition 60 Paintings for ’51, Festival of Britain, South Bank, London. Solo exhibition, The Scottish Scene, The National Trust for Scotland, Edinburgh, (drawn from collection of Dr. R. A. Lillie). Arts Council exhibition, Paintings, watercolours and drawings byW. G. Gillies and John Maxwell, New Burlington Galleries, London. Awarded CBE. Appointed Principal of Edinburgh College of Art. Death of Gillies’s sister Janet, Temple. Work included in the exhibition Modern Scottish Paintings from the Collection of Dr. Lillie, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. Elected President of Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour. Death of Gillies’s mother. Elected Associate of the Royal Academy. Retired as Principal of Edinburgh College of Art. Received Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from Edinburgh University. Elected Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland. Retired as President of Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour. Knighted in recognition of his services to art in Scotland. Retrospective exhibition, W.G. Gillies, Royal Scottish Academy and Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh. Elected Royal Academician. Died 15 April, Temple.
Artist in his Edinburgh School of Art studio c.1960
Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition William Gillies, works on paper 5 – 30 January 2013 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/williamgillies ISBN 978-1-905146-72-7 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. image credits William Gillies teaching at Edinburgh College of Art courtesy of Royal Scottish Academy Archives (Gillies Bequest) Artist in his Edinburgh School of Art studio c.1960, courtesy of Scotsman Publications Ltd. Acknowledgments Designed by Kenneth Gray Photography by John McKenzie Printed by Barr Printers
16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Tel 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk Web www.scottish-gallery.co.uk