ANNE REDPATH O.B.E., R.S.A., A.R.A., A.R.W.S., L.L.D., R.O.I., R.B.A. (SCOTTISH 1895-1965) §
JUG OF MIXED FLOWERS
Estimate: £15,000 - £20,000
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale | Lots 112- 206 | Thursday 05 June from 6pm
Description
Oil on board
Dimensions
51cm x 66cm (20in x 26in)
Provenance
The Artist's family
The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh (GOOW 2193)
Footnote
With a note verso from David Michie, the Artist's son, certifying its authenticity.
Of all the genres of fine art, Anne Redpath is most closely associated with that of the still life. Indeed, the first work that she exhibited in public was titled ‘Still life’ and was displayed at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1919, the same year that she completed her post-graduate studies at Edinburgh College of Art.
Following marriage and fourteen years spent in France where her three sons were born, Redpath returned to Scotland where she emerged as an artist of importance. This was recognised by the first purchase of her work for a public collection, when the still life The Lace Cloth was acquired by the Royal Scottish Academy in 1944.
Five years later, Redpath moved from Hawick in the Scottish Borders to Edinburgh, where she lived for the rest of her life. She took great care over the decoration and furnishing of her home, including the display of objects that she loved to collect and which often featured in her paintings. Mixed Flowers in a Jug is an attractive example of her late still lifes, in which the loosely arranged flowers and the patterned vessel in which they are gathered are presented on a tilted table-top that gives way to a gloriously abstract background. Redpath is seen as the marvellous colourist and painter on which her reputation is based, in her use of a palette based on tones of pink and grey interspersed with spots of brighter colour; the blue flowerhead is key to the composition as a whole. The thick and gestural application of paint points to a freedom during the creative process which adds to an overall feeling of joy.
Redpath’s professional success culminated in election to the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, as well as the award of an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh and the OBE. Her death in 1965 was marked by a touring Memorial Exhibition organised by the Arts Council of Great Britian.