Description
Signed and dated 19.vi.2001, oil on board
Dimensions
101.5cm x 152.5cm (40in x 60in)
Footnote
Note:
James Morrison is one of the country's leading and most popular landscape artists. He was born in Glasgow in 1932 and completed his studies there at the Glasgow School of Art in the early 1950s. Morrison then took up a teaching post in Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee, before turning to painting full time in Montrose. He has since been settled there for many years and his work has become synonymous with the area. The artist's handling of oil paint - reducing it to fluid, almost liquid washes of colour - is both instantly recognisable and beautifully distinctive.
His faithful depictions of Angus and the Western Highlands are suspended somewhere between realism and impressionism. Eloquent brushstrokes are used to create a sense of texture and movement; be it rolling clouds on the horizon or blusters of wind through grass. His mark-making has a deceptive simplicity that can only accompany a sophisticated level of technical skill. From a distance, the overall effect is almost photographic in accuracy. In proximity, however, his technique cleverly disassembles into wisps and mere suggestions of form.