Lot 147
GEORGE LESLIE HUNTER (SCOTTISH 1877-1931)
A FIFESHIRE LANDSCAPE
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale ft. A Century of Scottish Colourists Part II | Lots 90 to 169 | Thursday 03 December 2026 from 6pm
Description
Signed, oil on panel
Dimensions
22.5cm x 30.5cm (9in x 12in)
Provenance
Alexander Reid, Glasgow
Duncan R. Miller Fine Arts, London where acquired by the present owner
Footnote
The charming A Fifeshire Landscape by the Scottish Colourist George Leslie Hunter epitomises his enjoyment of painting en plein air in the picturesque county on the east coast of Scotland. Between 1919 and 1925 Hunter spent the spring and summer in Fife. He praised its ‘beautiful valleys and villages’ and wrote of the ‘marvellous charm in the Fife coast especially in the long twilight evenings’. (see Alice Strang, The Scottish Colourists: Art and Life, Edinburgh, 2026, p.79).
Having become adept at working outdoors, first in San Francisco and later in France in the lead up to the First World War, Hunter was receptive to the natural and architectural features of the ‘kingdom’ of Fife which has played a long and significant role in Scotland’s history. He may well have been introduced to the area by his Dundonian patrons, the businessman John Tattersall and Matthew Justice. As Alice Strang has explained: ‘he worked on paper, board and canvas, from vibrant watercolours to intimate set pieces in oil and imposing large-scale paintings. Subjects included fishing villages, coast scenes and inland vistas’ such as that seen in the present work. (see Strang, op.cit., p.79)
On a panel measuring 9 x 12 inches – and thus being easily portable – Hunter presents a double image of cottage cable-ends, at least one roofed with the distinctive red tiles seen throughout Fife. The cottages are set low within the surrounding landscape, which gives way to a distant view. It is an idyllic vision of rural life, painted directly, swiftly and with gusto in a high-keyed palette.
Such was the importance of Fife as a source of subject matter, that at least seven of the works included in Hunter’s Memorial Exhibition, staged at Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd, in Glasgow in 1932 were of the region; at least fourteen were selected for the exhibition of his work which opened at Glasgow Art Gallery in 1942 before touring to the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. Fife scenes are held in numerous UK public collections including those of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, the National Galleries of Scotland, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, The Fleming Collection and Aberdeen Art Gallery.
