.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
'Peploe evolved a vigorous painting stroke, fluid and direct, which he has raised to remarkable achievement. That which he does see he interprets with a power of impressionism to surpass so far as the craft of painting has yet been employed' (H. MacFall, History of painting - the modern genius, volume 8, London, 1911-12). In a contemporary article in 1924 The Studio examines the work of Peploe and concludes that instead of resting on his laurels from his past achievements he continued to retain his gift of creative power 'not merely visionary, but of the kind which leads to life in creative work; as it is in that only joy is to be found' (The Studio, London, Volume 87, 1924, p. 64).
Peploe was the most lauded of the Scottish Colourists and his early career consisted of a loosely structured training at Edinburgh School of Art and classes at l'Academie Julien and l'Academie Colorossi in Paris. This training ended in 1894 after which he returned home to paint landscapes on the Isle of Barra and then throughout Scotland. He was, however, to return intermittently to the continent from around 1900 and after 1904 he undertook a series of summer painting holidays with John Duncan Fergusson on the coast of France.
It was during his association with Fergusson, while in France, that Peploe's art underwent its most dramatic development. His early work, mainly still lifes and landscapes, had been muted in colour and principally concerned with tonal relations. After 1904 the colour in his palette gradually became lighter while the paint was applied with a greater freedom and vigour. Certainly by 1910, when he was briefly living in Paris and subsequently painting with Fergusson at Royan, he had begun to exploit a style which bordered on Fauvism and his work took on a continental expressionism. By 1910 this approach would have been recognised, in Europe, as a reaction against an overly systematized academic style. In this sense Peploe's work took on a kind of celebration, a homage to nature and sensory experience. Peploe's work drifted within the realms of post-Impressionism and his Fauve manner gave way to a concern with structured, indeed mannered design. Roses is a virtuoso performance in a stylized Cézannesque mannerism, the rigour of the design complemented and relieved by the saturated colour and the extensive passages of white.
Roses was painted in the early 1920s when Peploe's still life paintings were at their most vibrant and the colour schemes pared down to a limited number of complimentary colours. In around 1920 Peploe began to paint on an absorbent white gesso ground and ceased to varnish his pictures, allowing the pure colour of the paint to show. According to Peploe's niece, he would often spend painstaking weeks setting up still life compositions in his studio, substituting objects and re-assessing their position in the set-up until the harmony of colour and balance of composition was exactly how he wanted it to be. He would enter his studio in the morning and view the arrayed still life afresh, gently adjusting, adding and subtracting until he was satisfied. Every consideration was made, the contours of the tablecloth, the hues of the fruit and angles of the selected blooms of roses in a favourite vase. Only after he was certain that he had reached the desired effect, would he begin work upon his painting. Roses is among one of the most subtle and beautiful of the artist's studies of the rose he painted during this period.
Roses was owned by Beatrice Proudfoot who formed a notable collection of paintings by the Scottish Colourists. She was the sister to George Proudfoot who was the senior partner of the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh (Messrs Aitken Dott & Co.) and she also worked for the gallery during World War II. The Proudfoot family collection once included The Coffee Pot (fig. 1) of circa 1905 that was recently sold in these Rooms on 26 May 2011 for a world record price for the artist at auction of £937,250.
Peploe was the most lauded of the Scottish Colourists and his early career consisted of a loosely structured training at Edinburgh School of Art and classes at l'Academie Julien and l'Academie Colorossi in Paris. This training ended in 1894 after which he returned home to paint landscapes on the Isle of Barra and then throughout Scotland. He was, however, to return intermittently to the continent from around 1900 and after 1904 he undertook a series of summer painting holidays with John Duncan Fergusson on the coast of France.
It was during his association with Fergusson, while in France, that Peploe's art underwent its most dramatic development. His early work, mainly still lifes and landscapes, had been muted in colour and principally concerned with tonal relations. After 1904 the colour in his palette gradually became lighter while the paint was applied with a greater freedom and vigour. Certainly by 1910, when he was briefly living in Paris and subsequently painting with Fergusson at Royan, he had begun to exploit a style which bordered on Fauvism and his work took on a continental expressionism. By 1910 this approach would have been recognised, in Europe, as a reaction against an overly systematized academic style. In this sense Peploe's work took on a kind of celebration, a homage to nature and sensory experience. Peploe's work drifted within the realms of post-Impressionism and his Fauve manner gave way to a concern with structured, indeed mannered design. Roses is a virtuoso performance in a stylized Cézannesque mannerism, the rigour of the design complemented and relieved by the saturated colour and the extensive passages of white.
Roses was painted in the early 1920s when Peploe's still life paintings were at their most vibrant and the colour schemes pared down to a limited number of complimentary colours. In around 1920 Peploe began to paint on an absorbent white gesso ground and ceased to varnish his pictures, allowing the pure colour of the paint to show. According to Peploe's niece, he would often spend painstaking weeks setting up still life compositions in his studio, substituting objects and re-assessing their position in the set-up until the harmony of colour and balance of composition was exactly how he wanted it to be. He would enter his studio in the morning and view the arrayed still life afresh, gently adjusting, adding and subtracting until he was satisfied. Every consideration was made, the contours of the tablecloth, the hues of the fruit and angles of the selected blooms of roses in a favourite vase. Only after he was certain that he had reached the desired effect, would he begin work upon his painting. Roses is among one of the most subtle and beautiful of the artist's studies of the rose he painted during this period.
Roses was owned by Beatrice Proudfoot who formed a notable collection of paintings by the Scottish Colourists. She was the sister to George Proudfoot who was the senior partner of the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh (Messrs Aitken Dott & Co.) and she also worked for the gallery during World War II. The Proudfoot family collection once included The Coffee Pot (fig. 1) of circa 1905 that was recently sold in these Rooms on 26 May 2011 for a world record price for the artist at auction of £937,250.