Scottish Colourists

Scottish Colourists:
Radical Perspectives
at the Arc, Winchester
until 16 September
Monday 31 August at 6pm 

I am always surprised that the Scottish Colourists are not better known – in England, at least, as I know they are highly regarded in Scotland. 

The four artists, Samuel Peploe, John Duncan Fergusson, George Hunter and Francis Cadell did not start out as a homogenous group with the same artistic goals, but, through common interests they gradually became associated, and even exhibited together. In different ways they all adapted the recent developments of French art – from Impressionism through to Fauvism – to create a specifically Scottish movement. 

The exhibition in Winchester is a version of the display organised by the Fleming Collection at the Dovecote Studios in Edinburgh earlier this year. As the name of the group suggests, their work is bursting with colour, and in this respect their work runs parallel to that of their English contemporaries, the Bloomsbury Group. It is in this context that the Fleming Collection has chosen to display the Scottish artists. As well as work by the four named above, we will, therefore, also see paintings by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, not to mention French contemporaries Lucien Pissarro and André Derain, who were some of the group’s formative influences. Seen alongside one another in this way, it will become clear that the four Scottish artists should be as well-known as their international colleagues… if not more! 

Meanwhile, the Perth Art Gallery in Scotland has an exhibition The Scottish Colourists Revealed – although sadly I won’t have a chance to see this before the talk. However, in case any of you live nearby, or will be passing through, it will be on until 26 October. 2026 appears to be their year – so let’s celebrate them while we can. 

Please remember, I do not record my talks.