Bidding for a still life by Scottish Colourist George Leslie Hunter, ‘Still Life with Fruit and Anenomes’, saw fierce competition in our Fine Paintings Sale on the 10th June 2010 to reach a well above estimate final price of £78,000. 

The painting was one of a group of four Hunters discovered and acquired by the family’s father, a Glasgow auctioneer, in London in the late 1960's. He was himself a talented artist and friend of another famous colourist painter; J D Fergusson. He bought the paintings at a time before the importance of Scottish Colourists was being widely recognised. One painting from the group was later gifted to the City of Glasgow in his memory following his death in 1969 and is now held in the city's Kelvingrove Collection. The ‘Anenomes’ painting is was sold by his family following the death of his widow.

Nick Curnow, Head of Pictures at Lyon & Turnbull, said “This is a very special painting, so typical of Hunter; I am particularly pleased to have sold it in light of its past links with the auctioneering world. Its history shows what the discerning eye can discover by paying close attention to auctions!”.

George Leslie Hunter (7 August 1877 – 6 December 1931), was born in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. His family emigrated to California when he was thirteen and by the turn of the century he was making a living there as a painter and illustrator. His early work was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and he returned to Scotland shortly afterwards, settling in Glasgow.

During the 1920s, Hunter came to prominence with Fergusson, Cadell and Peploe as one of the group of artists who came to be known as the Scottish Colourists. He died in Glasgow in 1931.

For more information please contact Nick Curnow

nick.curnow@lyonandturnbull.com