Lot 172
JOHN MACLAUCHLAN MILNE R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1885-1957) §
IONA
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale: Lots 100 to 191 | 06 June 2024 at 6pm
Description
Signed, oil on canvas
Dimensions
51cm x 61cm (20in x 24in)
Provenance
Purchased from the Artist by the father of the present owner
Footnote
Exhibited: Dundee Art Galleries & Museums, John Maclauchlan Milne RSA 1885-1957: A Centenary Exhibition, 14 September-19 October 1985, no.15 (titled ‘Iona’ and dated to the late 1920s)
Roseangle Gallery, Dundee, An Exhibition of the Work of John Maclauchlan Milne 1885-1957, 25 June-23 July 2022, no.41 (titled ‘Iona Beach’ and dated to the late 1930s)
The Scottish Island of Iona, off the west coast of Mull, continues to attract landscape artists, as it has done for over 200 years. John Maclauchlan Milne was part of this pilgrimage in 1937, 1938 and 1939. His visits were recorded in the Guest Register of the St Columba Hotel. He had achieved his sought-after membership of the Royal Scottish Academy in February 1937 and perhaps felt that it was time for him to follow the example of those earlier artists. His fellow Colourists, Samuel Peploe and Francis Cadell had been frequent visitors to Iona: Cadell since 1912 and Peploe since 1920.
Iona is a small island, only 6.5km long. The white sand beaches of the North end (Tràigh Bhan and Tràigh an t-Suidhe) contrast with the stony beach at the South end. Whilst the precise location of this painting is not known, the North end was a favourite location and Milne painted and exhibited several pictures of those white sand beaches. Very few of his Iona pictures are dated.
Milne’s studio exhibition in Dundee in October 1937 was reviewed in The Courier. Under the heading ‘Sojourn in Iona’ the reviewer wrote:
“He has painted chiefly on the north and west of the little island, brilliantly capturing the glowing colours of sky and wine-dark ocean when the wind blows from the Treshnish Isles and Staffa.”
Milne’s Iona paintings began appearing as part of his solo exhibition in Glasgow in September/October 1937 at the Pearson & Westergaard Gallery; at his studio exhibition in October and at the Royal Glasgow Institute that same year; and then at The Empire Exhibition in Glasgow the following year (May 1938). His Iona painting from the 1938 Royal Scottish Academy exhibition was purchased by IBM to represent Scotland in their Contemporary Art of 79 Countries display at The World’s Fair, New York, July/August 1939.
We are grateful to Maurice Millar, author of The Missing Colourist: The Search for John Maclauchlan Milne RSA (privately published in 2022 and available via The Missing Colourist website) for writing this catalogue note.
