Description
Indistinctly signed, oil on canvas
Dimensions
63.5cm x 107cm (30in x 42in)
Footnote
Note:There is a 'Munchener Secession' exhibition label on the frame verso. There is also a handwritten label verso stating 'Amsterdam, D.Y.Cameron, 134 Bath Street, Glasgow.'
It is easy to focus on the local when thinking about Scottish art, but it is always worth remembering that at the turn of the century, as now, Scottish artists were exhibiting, experiencing success and garnering recognition in art centres across the world. Despite his strong commitment to the depiction of the Scottish landscape and the Scottish art establishment, David Young Cameron was one such artist.
D.Y. experienced a level of success that allowed him to travel regularly, locating subjects for his paintings and etchings across Europe and North Africa, while his work was celebrated on the Continent with medals and honourable mentions in Paris. He particularly involved himself with the growing avant-garde art movement in Germany, through the Berlin and Munich Secessions, groups that had developed out of a desire to break away from nineteenth-century conventions in art and display. These new groups were committed to excellence in the arts, and were particularly interested in an international and multidisciplinary approach. D.Y. exhibited at the Berlin Secession in 1900 and Munich's International Kunstausstellung in 1905, being elected an Extraordinary Corresponding Member of each secession in the meantime.
Amsterdam Harbour bears a Munich Secession label verso, demonstrating that this painting was acknowledged and celebrated in its day as the work of a modern, forward-looking artist.