Lot 148
SIR WILLIAM GEORGE GILLIES C.B.E., L.L.D., R.S.A., P.P.R.S.W., R.A. (SCOTTISH 1898-1973) §
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST'S SISTER, EMMA GILLIES
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale ft. A Century of Scottish Colourists | Lots 88 to 168 | Thursday 04 June 2026 from 6pm
Description
Signed, oil on canvas
Dimensions
63.5cm x 51cm (25in x 20in)
Provenance
Professor Bruce and Mrs Molly Dickins
Aitken Dott & Son, Edinburgh, no.4811
The Fine Art Society Ltd., Edinburgh, no.9823
Private Collection, Switzerland
Exhibited:
The Society of Eight, Twenty-Second Exhibition, The New Gallery, Edinburgh, 11 -31 January 1934, no.64 (£18)
Aitken Dott & Son, Edinburgh, Ground Floor Gallery Opening Exhibition October 1981
The Fine Art Society Limited, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Festival Exhibition, 21 August - 11 September 1982
Literature:
The Listener, ‘The Society of Eight’, 17 January 1934, p.95, reproduced in black and white, p.107
Joanna Soden and Victoria Keller, William Gillies, Canongate, Edinburgh, 1998, reproduced in black and white, p.58, p.61
Andrew McPherson, The Life, Times and Work of William Gillies 1898-1973, Edinburgh University Press, 2024, p.205, reproduced in black and white, fig.48, pp.206-207, 602 n.40, 700 and 741
Footnote
The emergence of this key painting, a portrait of the artist’s sister Emma by William Gillies, into the public realm after some forty years, is an important moment in the understanding of Gillies’s legacy. Mistakenly thought to have been painted in 1922 and exhibited in the 1922 Group exhibition of the following year, it actually dates to 1932 or 1933 and was shown, alongside a portrait of Gillies’s other sister, Janet, as part of his ‘wall’ at the Society of Eight’s exhibition of 1934. It is believed to have been acquired around that time by Mary (Molly) Dickins, née Grierson and a photograph of the work in the William Gillies Archive at the Royal Scottish Academy is annotated in Janet’s handwriting ‘Original sold to Miss Grierson (Mrs Dickson) [sic] Leeds’. Mrs Dickins moved from Edinburgh to Leeds with her husband, Professor Bruce Dickins, in 1931.
The powerful application of paint, vivid colouring and expressive moulding of form in the present painting shows Gillies at his most avant-garde and indeed as a leader of progressive art in Scotland of the inter-war period. It has been argued by the artist’s biographers that it refers to a multitude of artistic predecessors from Giotto di Bondone, to Edvard Munch (whose exhibition in Edinburgh in 1931 had a tremendous impact on Gillies), André Derain, Henri Matisse and Alexej von Jawlensky. Emma Gillies (1900-1936) was a talented potter who trained at Edinburgh College of Art and at the Royal College of Art in London. She was Gillies’s younger sister and, along with their older sister, Janet, often sat for her brother.
In 1931, Gillies was elected a member of the prestigious Society of Eight exhibiting society, which had been founded in Edinburgh in 1912 by artists including David Alison, F. C. B. Cadell and John Lavery. By 1934, his colleagues also included John Duncan, H. J. Lintott and S. J. Peploe. It was in this prestigious company that his work and this portrait in particular, was singled out for praise in the reviews of the Society’s exhibition of that year, such as that in the Aberdeen Press and Journal of 10 January 1934 – headlined ‘Society of Eight Exhibition: W. G. Gillies’ Work Astonishes’ – in which the critic exclaimed ‘Mr Gillies, the youngest of the Eight, has already, in his two years’ membership, set a new and comparatively exotic note in the Society’s exhibitions. This year he goes even further on his chosen way and his wall hits one straight between the eyes on entering, with stunning effect … in ‘Cramond’ and ‘Portrait’ (64), Mr Gillies has shown once again that study of his work repays.’ The review in The Listener of 17 January 1934 reproduced the portrait and declared ‘His ’Portrait' has the dignity and impressiveness of early Florentine painting.’
Gillies’s biographer, Andrew McPherson, has written about the present painting: ‘Portrait of Jenny is a major work and was offered for sale in the 1934 exhibition of the Society of Eight … A second and contrasting Fauvist Portrait of Emma … was also exhibited … With these two works, Gillies achieved his fullest realisation of the contrasting individuals his sisters had become. Emma was now revelling in the London galleries and museums and was teasing her mother and Janet about them. Gillies knew what this new freedom meant to Emma …. And it is easy to imagine Gillies wanting to reflect her enthusiasms back to her … It would affirm their shared joy in discovery, the mutual enrichment of their bond and Emma’s growing independence.’ (Andrew McPherson, The Life, Times and Work of William Gillies 1898-1973, Edinburgh University Press, 2024, p.206)
Portraits of Emma by Gillies can be found in the collections of the Royal Scottish Academy and the City Art Centre, Edinburgh.
Our thanks are due to Andrew McPherson for his help with our research into this painting.