Alison McWhirter
‘Summer Palette’
Exhibition opens Saturday 2nd September at 10am
Sales enquiries welcome on receipt of this catalogue.
This catalogue features a small selection of the works available. The full exhibition of works will be able to view online at: www.annanart.com
Please note: We expect this to be a busy and popular exhibition so if you are interested in any pieces, we recommend contacting us early to reserve or buy.
Exhibition runs from Saturday 2nd September to Sunday 24th September 2023
The Annan Gallery w 164 Woodlands Road w Glasgow w G3 6LL
email: gallery@annanart.com w phone: 0141 332 0028
Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 12-4pm, closed Mondays
Front Cover: ‘After Gauguin’s Palette’ Oil on Linen, Canvas Size 100 x 100cm
Front Cover: ‘After Gauguin’s Palette’ Oil on Linen, Canvas Size 100 x 100cm
Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 12-4pm, closed Mondays Please
‘Peony, ‘Peony,
‘Peony, Sunflower and Yarrow against Oyster Pink’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Peony, Sunflower and Yarrow against Oyster Pink’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘After the Deluge Sunflowers and Roses,’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘After the Deluge Sunflowers and Roses,’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘After ‘After
‘After Degas’ Palette’ Oil, Canvas Size 100 x 100cm
‘After Degas’ Palette’ Oil, Canvas Size 100 x 100cm
‘After ‘After
‘Sunflowers against Yellow Grey’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Sunflowers against Yellow Grey’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Sunflowers ‘Sunflowers
‘Fuchsia Pink Peonies against Indian Yellow’ Oil, Canvas Size 60 x 60cm
‘Fuchsia Pink Peonies against Indian Yellow’ Oil, Canvas Size 60 x 60cm
‘Fuchsia ‘Fuchsia
‘After Kandinsky’s Palette’ Oil, Canvas Size 100 x 100cm
‘After Kandinsky’s Palette’ Oil, Canvas Size 100 x 100cm
‘Summer Palette’
Alison here during Executed groups: latter the abstracts composite from strolls technically 1984 Study’ Cambridge.
Alison McWhirter’s two spellbinding series of paintings here on show in the Annan Gallery were all produced during the past ten months expressly for this exhibition.
Executed in her Glasgow studio, they comprise discrete groups: abstracts and still lifes of flowers, of which the latter constitute by far the greater part. Unique among the abstracts is ‘Covent Garden’, which represents a composite of Alison’s “flashbacks,” memories ranging from visits to London’s most famous flower market to strolls along Las Ramblas in Barcelona. Both formally and technically it is indebted to a much admired painting of 1984 by Helen Frankenthaler entitled ‘Covent Garden Study’ in the reserve collection of Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge.
Frankenthaler’s an extent nineteenth discovery Dublin. palettes year Frida
Frankenthaler’s soak-stain technique, which she pioneered in the 1950s, intrigued Alison to such an extent that she emulated it in a group of exquisite abstracts inspired by the palettes of famous nineteenth and twentieth-century artists. Her interest in the subject was spiked in 2015 by the discovery of one of Francis Bacon’s heavily encrusted palettes on display in the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. Her enthusiasm was reinforced in 2016 when she came across the collection of Whistler’s palettes on view in the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow. This prolonged fascination culminated this year in the creation of five paintings based on the palettes of Degas, Renoir, Gauguin, Kandinsky, and Frida Kahlo, which together form a cohesive and harmonious quintet.
Alison’s increasing consists nearby the gardens of Richard and other
Alison’s series of flower pieces, in which she was continually challenging herself to achieve an ever increasing abstraction of the painted surface, showcases a rich array of floral motifs. Her repertoire consists of a range of wild flowers gathered on summer walks along the local canal paths and in the nearby parks; flowers grown in her own garden and her mother’s; and others brought as gifts from the gardens of friends in Glasgow and Dumfriesshire. She identified the wild varieties with the help of Richard Mabey’s indispensable ‘Flora Britannica’ and carefully arranged them with cultivated roses and other blooms.
and other
and other blooms.
of Richard Mabey’s indispensable ‘Flora Britannica’ and carefully arranged them with cultivated roses
‘Summer
of Richard
Some have luminous she has Peace was originally are the her death bunches These the exploration depictions In an special conclude These and ‘September picked the deep appear each Coralroot’; Deep forges is already Dr Colin Dr Colin
Some of Alison’s favourite roses, including Conrad Pyle’s Peace Rose, Flaming June, and Super Star, have featured in her paintings in the past. She is particularly attracted to the Super Star rose by the luminous vermilion of its petals, which are tinged with seductive coral orange, a chromatic combination she has found very difficult to mix on the palette.
Peace Rose occupies a very special place in her affections. The one now growing next to her house was originally planted in her father’s garden just a year before he died. Of great significance to Alison are the dozen or so intimate flower paintings produced by Joan Eardley when - in the months before her death in 1963 - she was prevented by illness from working outdoors and devoted friends brought bunches of flowers to her studio for her to paint.
These very late works are characterised by the same bold experimentation with thick impasto and the exploration of textures, colours, movement, and abstraction that are the hallmarks of Alison’s own depictions of plant forms.
In an exhibition of such consistently phenomenal quality it might seem invidious to single out for special mention only a small selection of Alison’s enchanting flower pieces but I am compelled to conclude by highlighting a sample that reflect their astonishing diversity.
These include two of the earliest in the series: the vibrant, lusciously painted ‘September Sunflowers’ and ‘September Sweet Peas’, the epitome of restraint and delicacy, depicting in pastel hues a freshly picked posy from her mother’s garden in Dumfries; the delectable ‘Cirsium and Wild Daisy’, in which the deep purple flower heads of the thistles jostle with those of the white and yellow daisies and even appear to sway in unison; the spectacular ‘Superstar Rose, Sunflower, Moon Daisy and Harebell’, where each of their scintillating blooms competes for our attention; the sumptuous ‘Sunflower, Chicory and Coralroot’; the modest, quietly contemplative ‘Dad’s Peace Roses’; the exuberant ‘Garden Peonies Deep Fuchsia’; and finally ‘Akasha’s Flowers’, whose colour range is redolent of early Renoir and thus forges a perfect link with Alison’s smaller series of paintings inspired by artists’ palettes, a theme she is already intending to develop.
Dr Colin J. Bailey, June 2023
Dr Colin J. Bailey, June 2023
‘After Frida Kahlo’s Palette’ Oil, Canvas Size 100 x 100cm
‘After Frida Kahlo’s Palette’ Oil, Canvas Size 100 x 100cm
‘After ‘After
‘Peonies against Yellow Lake’ Oil, Canvas Size 60 x 60cm
‘Peonies against Yellow Lake’ Oil, Canvas Size 60 x 60cm
‘Peonies ‘Peonies
‘Poppies ‘Poppies
‘Poppies and Superstar Roses against Jamur Pink,’ Oil, Canvas SIze 40 x 40cm
‘Poppies and Superstar Roses against Jamur Pink,’ Oil, Canvas SIze 40 x 40cm
‘Covent Garden’ Oil, Canvas Size 100 x 100cm ‘Covent ‘Covent ‘Covent Garden’ Oil, Canvas Size 100 x 100cm
‘Superstar Roses, Sunflowers, Moon Daisy and Harebell,’ Oil, Canvas Size 50 x 50cm
‘Superstar Roses, Sunflowers, Moon Daisy and Harebell,’ Oil, Canvas Size 50 x 50cm
‘Superstar ‘Superstar
‘Tyrian Orchid against Warm Umber,’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Tyrian Orchid against Warm Umber,’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Tyrian ‘Tyrian
‘Peace Rose, Flush Red Rose and Sunflower against Yellow Grey’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Peace Rose, Flush Red Rose and Sunflower against Yellow Grey’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Peace ‘Peace
‘Iris Setosa against Alice Blue’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Iris Setosa against Alice Blue’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Sunflower,
‘Sunflower, Chicory and Coralroot’ Oil, Canvas Size 50 x 50cm
‘Sunflower, Chicory and Coralroot’ Oil, Canvas Size 50 x 50cm
‘Sunflower,
‘Flaming June Rose, Elecampane and Sunflowers’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Flaming June Rose, Elecampane and Sunflowers’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Flaming ‘Flaming
‘Peonies against Pale Umber’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Peonies against Pale Umber’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Peonies ‘Peonies
‘Cirsium ‘Cirsium
‘Cirsium and Wild Daisy’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Cirsium and Wild Daisy’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Pale ‘Pale
‘Pale
Purple Phalaenopsis Orchid’ Oil, Canvas Size 50 x 50cm
‘Pale
Purple Phalaenopsis Orchid’ Oil, Canvas Size 50 x 50cm
‘September Sweet Peas’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘September Sweet Peas’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘September ‘September
‘Peonies against Indian Yellow,’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Peonies against Indian Yellow,’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Peonies ‘Peonies
Iris’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm ‘Garden ‘Garden
Iris’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Garden
‘Garden
‘Dad’s Peace Roses’ Oil, Canvas Size 50 x 50cm
‘Dad’s Peace Roses’ Oil, Canvas Size 50 x 50cm
‘Dad’s ‘Dad’s
‘Sunflower, Shasta Daisy, Knapweed and Superstar’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm ‘Sunflower,
‘Sunflower, Shasta Daisy, Knapweed and Superstar’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Sunflower,
‘Peony, Sunflower and Wildflowers against Yellow Grey’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Peony, Sunflower and Wildflowers against Yellow Grey’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Peony, ‘Peony,
‘White and Pink Lilies against Warm Umber’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘White and Pink Lilies against Warm Umber’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘White ‘White
‘Peonies against Duck Egg Blue,’ Oil, Canvas Size 60 x 60cm
‘Peonies against Duck Egg Blue,’ Oil, Canvas Size 60 x 60cm
‘Peonies ‘Peonies
‘September Sunflowers with Wildflowers’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘September Sunflowers with Wildflowers’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘September ‘September
‘Akasha’s Flowers’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm ‘Akasha’s
‘Akasha’s Flowers’ Oil, Canvas Size 40 x 40cm
‘Akasha’s
Alison McWhirter b.1975
Born in Dumfries, Alison is a graduate of the prestigious Bath Spa Academy (formerly the Bath Academy of Art) and over the past two decades, since embarking on her painting career, Alison has consolidated her position as arguably the most gifted artist among the younger generation of New Scottish Colourists, producing works of irresistible allure.
Enjoying significant and well-deserved renown at home and abroad for her highly original still life paintings; her range of diverse landscape motifs and her bold, compelling abstracts. Paintings are exuberant in their colouring, technically innovative, and compositionally daring. In them there is a palpable tension between depiction and abstraction; between what is observed and what is imagined; what is seen and what is felt. Emphasising that her paintings are concerned with “pure feeling,” Alison wrote that she was “striving to get at the beauty in the things that surround us, to that which elevates us beyond reason.” Her deceptively modest compositions – in inverse proportion to the profundity of their message – express an array of personal emotions while simultaneously exploring universal human truths.
Alison’s paintings are underpinned by her unquestionable sincerity and characterised by such freshness and enthusiasm that they appear to have been painted spontaneously. In fact, although there are occasional acts of last-minute spontaneity, they are fundamentally the product of long periods of reflection and introspection. Alison is remarkable for her willingness to acknowledge the struggles entailed in making a painting; in her own words “to embrace the mysterious nature of the creative process.” Her style continues to evolve as a result of her constant, restless, unquenchable urge for experimentation, and an inexorable quest for ever greater abstraction. To this end, she has recently resorted increasingly frequently to the use of her own fingers and the palette knife, wielded at times with breath-taking bravura. The dominant colours are often transferred directly from the tube to the canvas, then smeared or swirled at will across the surface, culminating in a sensuous, thick, buttery impasto.
Acknowledgments
“I would like to extend my thanks to Scott and Susan for the opportunity of a second solo exhibition at Annan Gallery. I would also like to thank Dr Colin Bailey for his patience, honesty, and integrity, and for writing a discerning introduction that completes this exhibition.” Alison McWhirter, August 2023
Back Cover: ‘Peonies against Permanent Orange’ Oil, Canvas Size 60 x 60cm
Born the innovative, what “pure beyond “ unquenchable resorted bravura. Back
