Lot 141
GEORGE LESLIE HUNTER (SCOTTISH 1877-1931)
JUAN-LES-PINS
Estimate: £5,000 - £7,000
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale | Lots 103-196 | Thursday 05 December from 6pm
Description
Signed, pen and ink and coloured chalk
Dimensions
30.5cm x 38cm (12in x 15in)
Provenance
Christie's Scotland, The Scottish Sale 30th October 2003, lot 174;
Private Collection, Scotland.
Footnote
Between 1927 and 1929 Hunter spent extensive periods in the south of France, principally from a base in St-Paul-de-Vence. He worked in various locations, including Antibes, Cassis, Nice, Saint Tropez and Juan-les-Pins. He enjoyed the region immensely, writing ‘This is an ideal country to loaf in and I wish I could simply loaf around and enjoy the sunshine and the cooking as most of the people around here do.’ (quoted in Derek Ogston, Leslie Hunter: Paintings and Drawings of France and Italy, Baillieknowe Publishing, Kelso, 2004, p.42).
Seduced by the warmth, food and wine of the region, Hunter found bountiful subject matter for works on paper executed in pen, ink and chalk. Waterside vistas, such as that seen in Juan-les-Pins, were full of incident from trees to boats and buildings climbing up distant hills. In his characteristically fluent line, Hunter captured the sunshine, bright colours and casual human presence of scenes such as that depicted in The Beach, South of France. Even the occasional example of a work executed indoors, namely A Sea View from the Balcony, celebrated the natural beauty of the area, the viewer easily imagining themselves seated in the empty chair and gazing out through shutters to the idyllic outlook framed within them.
Hunter also turned his attention inland, including to the old hill town of Vence. Environs of Vence is a rare example of a south of France oil. In a letter of September 1927 to his dealer, Alexander Reid, Hunter wrote from St-Paul: ‘Of course, my paintings are the main thing. I may stay down here another month or two and thereby take your advice to finish everything before returning…Have worn a straw hat every day since I landed here.’ (quoted in T. J. Honeyman, Introducing Leslie Hunter, Faber and Faber Ltd, London, 1937, pp.121-122)
In this painting, Hunter revelled in the lush vegetation and striking architecture of the town, leading the viewer’s eye into the scene by way of the inviting open road. The suggestion of a man and dog at the lower right provide a sense of scale to the majestic pine trees and distant hill so typical of the area, as Hunter exploited the pull of his textured support at the application of each brushstroke of oil paint. The use of black to provide linear structure in works on paper is also employed here, whilst areas of rich colour from red to yellow and green enliven the towering composition.
Environs de Vence was included in Hunter’s landmark solo exhibition at the Ferargil Galleries in New York in 1929, priced at £500. As Bill Smith and Jill Marriner have explained: ‘His New York show represents a watershed on two levels, first, confirmation of his assured, mature style and second, the positive response his latest work generated in a new audience…The American press were favourably impressed.’ (Bill Smith and Jill Marriner, Hunter Revisited: The Life and Art of Leslie Hunter, Atelier Books, Edinburgh, pp.149-150 & 152)
The painting also bears labels on the reverse referring to Hunter’s great supporter T. J. Honeyman (1891-1971), who looked after his interests both whilst working for the private gallery Reid & Lefèvre in Glasgow and also once he was appointed Director of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in the city; his portrait of about 1930 by Hunter is in the gallery’s collection (acc.no. 3658).
