The Huntington-Macdonald Collection

The Huntington-Macdonald Collection

Married in 1925, the artists Beatrice L. Huntington (1889-1988) and William Macdonald (1883-1960) established a strong artistic partnership that was to last the entirety of their lives. Within their joint collection featured in our December 2020 auction, both artists were represented with a selection of works alongside pieces by other artists, both friends and contemporaries of the couple. 

The artists Beatrice L. Huntington (1889-1988) and William Macdonald (1883-1960) were married in 1925, establishing a strong artistic partnership that was to last the entirety of their lives. Both came into the marriage with established artistic visions, William having already trained in Paris and visited Spain, a country that was to become key to his artistic output, and earned him the moniker William ‘Spanish’ Macdonald, as recognition of his personal passion for the country and the success of his views of its landscapes. Meanwhile, Beatrice had undertaken artistic training with periods of study in London, Munich and Paris and gained some success as a portrait painter. Following their marriage, the pair travelled in Spain and then exhibited the resulting works in a joint exhibition in Dundee in 1928.

 

WILLIAM MACDONALD (SCOTTISH 1883-1960) LAKE SUPERIOR, QUEBEC, WINTER
LOT 185| § WILLIAM MACDONALD (SCOTTISH 1883-1960) | LAKE SUPERIOR, QUEBEC, WINTER
Signed, inscribed verso, oil on board | 30.5cm x 38cm (12in x 15in) | Sold for £812 incl premium

 

View Lot 185 ⇒

 

Within their joint collection, both artists are represented with a selection of work that reveals their key artistic preoccupations; particularly portraiture and the range of locations that they both lived in and enjoyed travelling to: Edinburgh, Spain, Kirkcudbright, Canada. Throughout their lives, Beatrice and William moved in artistic circles; on their marriage William was already well-established in the Edinburgh arts scene, with a particular friendship with Scottish Colourist, F.C.B. Cadell, and it is his stylish portrait of William that anchors the whole collection.

 

FRANCIS CAMPBELL BOILEAU CADELL R.S.A., R.S.W. (SCOTTISH 1883-1937) JACK AND TOMMY. TWENTY DRAWINGS BY F.C.B. CADELL
LOT 190 | FRANCIS CAMPBELL BOILEAU CADELL R.S.A., R.S.W. (SCOTTISH 1883-1937) | JACK AND TOMMY. TWENTY DRAWINGS BY F.C.B. CADELL
London: Grant Richards Ltd., 1916. 4to, 20 tipped-in plates, inscribed on the front-free andpaper: "From H.B. Cadell - Xmas - 1930. With best wishes to you both.", original quarter cloth with pictorial boards | Sold for £2,250 incl premium

 

View Lot 190 ⇒

 

Their marriage also cemented Beatrice’s involvement in these Edinburgh artistic circles. The copy of Cadell’s ‘Tommy and Jack’ offered here is an indication of the depth of the friendship; the book was a gift with a personal inscription to the couple in the artist’s hand. However, the pair knew many artists, spending time in locations with specific creative connections, particularly Cassis in the South of France, favoured by the Scottish Colourists, and Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, known as an artist’s colony, where they were friendly with the artist E.A. Taylor and his wife, the designer Jessie M. King. Meanwhile their home base was in the New Town of Edinburgh, Hanover Street, within walking distance of both the Royal Scottish Academy and the commercial gallery quarter, where both exhibited and sold their work. On that basis, the collection also contains works by other artists, both friends and contemporaries of the couple.

 

BEATRICE M. L. HUNTINGTON (SCOTTISH 1889-1988) PORTRAIT OF MY MOTHER
LOT 183 | § BEATRICE M. L. HUNTINGTON (SCOTTISH 1889-1988) | PORTRAIT OF MY MOTHER
Signed and dated 1915, oil on canvas | 95cm x 79cm (37.5in x 31in) | Sold for £2,250 incl premium

 

View Lot 183 ⇒

 

In this auction, we are delighted to be offering two works by Beatrice. The first is an early work, a portrait of her mother, dating to 1915. Impressionistic in approach, she develops a lovely sense of balance across the composition with the gentle folds of her mother’s voluminous black costume contrasted with the colourful patterning of the trellis and flower behind her. There are nods to Bonnard, as well as Whistler’s iconic view of his own mother. The painting was probably painted at the family home in St. Andrews and was exhibited at both the Grosvenor Gallery and the R.S.A.

 

BEATRICE M L HUNTINGTON (SCOTTISH 1889-1988) STILL LIFE
LOT 187 | § BEATRICE M L HUNTINGTON (SCOTTISH 1889-1988) | STILL LIFE
Oil on board | 46cm x 48cm (18in x 18.75in) | Sold for £1,375 incl premium

 

View Lot 187 ⇒

 

By the 1920s Beatrice was significantly engaged with avant-garde developments in Europe, keeping in touch with Paris, and developing a new approach, away from this softness towards something starker and more stylised, with elements of cubism. However, she also engaged with contemporaries closer to home, such as in ‘Still-Life,’ where we can see elements of the still-life work of Anne Redpath in the chosen perspective, and a possible nod to her friends the Scottish Colourists, in the bold colour choice. Beatrice remained committed to her art throughout her life, still refining her approach and ideas into her late eighties.

 

WILLIAM MACDONALD (SCOTTISH 1883-1960) ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH
LOT 182 | § WILLIAM MACDONALD (SCOTTISH 1883-1960) | ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH
Indistinctly signed, oil on canvas | 61cm x 46cm (24in x 18in) | Sold for £1,500 incl premium

 

View Lot 182 ⇒

 

The works by William offered here to take a journey through much of his and Beatrice’s life together, and it’s significant locations; they show the range of his artistic interests, a commitment to portraiture but largely a compulsion to capture his surrounding landscape; at home in Edinburgh, out his New Town studio window, and further afield, the locales of Kirkcudbright, Spain and Canada. In general, as an artist he had an individual perspective with a restrained palette and compositions founded on his strong draughtsmanship. The works offered are all in oil, but he was always committed to drawing, and had trained in printmaking while in Paris.

 

Spain was his greatest inspiration, and the subject of many of his most successful compositions; it inspired him to be ambitious, as in ‘Spanish Hill Town’ where human architecture meets monumental nature. William also seemed to have found great artistic joy in the landscapes of Canada, where the couple spent much of the Second World War, enjoying the challenge of capturing a different monumental landscape and responding to its weather conditions; the amazing light-reflecting qualities of serious winter snow.

 

WILLIAM MACDONALD (SCOTTISH 1883-1960) GIRL IN BLACK HAT
LOT 189 | § WILLIAM MACDONALD (SCOTTISH 1883-1960) | GIRL IN BLACK HAT
Signed, oil on canvas | 76cm x 63.5cm (30in x 25in) | Sold for £4,500 incl premium

 

View Lot 189 ⇒

 

Meanwhile, the portrait example offered here, ‘Girl in Black Hat,’ could indicate an element of inspiration from his friend Cadell, who loved to depict elegant women dressed in black. Here, William uses the chair to create a strong diagonal and livens the monochromatic palette with the patterning of the sitters checked coat and his own expressive brushwork.

We were delighted to include a fine selection of works from The Huntington/ Macdonald Collection in our December 2020 auction of Scottish Paintings & Sculpture which took place live online.

 


 

Auction Information

 

SCOTTISH PAINTINGS & SCULPTURE 

Friday 4th December 2020 | Live Online 

 

VIEW THE AUCTION RESULTS ⇒

 


 

 

Scottish Paintings & Sculpture 

 

Lyon & Turnbull’s Scottish Paintings & Sculpture specialists host two auctions per year from our Scottish auction house based in Edinburgh. Successfully selling around 90% of Scottish Colourist works handled in the last eight years, a record unmatched by our competitors – selling Scottish art in Scotland has always been a Lyon & Turnbull lynchpin. Our specialists are experts not only on the works of Scottish artists, but also on the workings of the art market, and it is this combination that fuels our on-going success in the field.

 

Learn More About the Department ⇒

 

 

 

Recent Articles