Art Sunday (29.06.08), Drinking
The Orange Blind
by Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883–1937)
THE PAINTING
The
painting I have chosen for the theme ‘Drinking’ is ‘The Orange Blind’,
by Francis Cadell. This shows a well dressed fashionable lady sat
drinking tea in an Edinburgh interior.
The whole scene typifies fashionable Edinburgh of early 20th
Century. The tea service is silver, the black and gold screens have a
Japanese, exotic look to them, there is a sedate and discreet piano
player and the furniture exudes quality and style (probably French). It
is interesting to note that while Cadell was heavily influenced by the
work of contemporary French artists; Cadells subject drinks tea from a
silver tea set but the subjects of French paintings were much more
likely to be depicted with a glass of wine. This is possibly a
reflection of the influence of the ‘Kirk’ (church) in
Scottish society of the time. The painting gets its name from the huge
bright orange blind covering the high window in this interior. This
blind sets the tone of the painting. If you can imagine this painting
without that blind, or with the blind toned down, dulled or diluted you
can see the importance of colour in this painting. Without this block of
solid orange the painting loses every thing. It becomes a rather ordinary record of middle class Edinburgh
society, but WITH the blind; it’s a vibrant piece of art. Which is
another reason for choosing this particular painting, it does
demonstrate exactly why this small group of painters were known
collectively as the Scottish Colourists.
THE ARTIST
Cadell was born in Edinburgh but from the age of 16, he studied in Paris
at the Académie Julian. While there he was in close contact with the
French avant-garde painters of the day and his exposure to work by the
early Fauvists, and in particular Matisse, became his most important
influence. Once returned to Scotland, he exhibited in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London
on a regular basis. He painted landscapes, interiors, still life and
figures in both oil and watercolour. He is most noted for his use
vibrant waves and solid blocks of colour. He enjoyed the landscape of
Iona (Scottish Island)
enormously, which he first visited in 1912 and features prominently in
his work. During the 1920s he spent several summers with Samuel Peploe,
another Scottish Colourist, on painting trips to Iona.
THE SCOTTISH COLOURISTS
At the turn of the centaury a small group of Scottish painters collectively known as ‘The Colourists’ were
among the first to introduce the intense colour of the French Fauve
movement into Britain. This Group of four Scottish artists, Francis
Cadell, Leslie Hunter, Samuel Peploe and the leading figure John Duncan
Fergusson were greatly influenced by work of contemporary French
artists.Their
work was not highly regarded when it was first exhibited in the early
years of the twentieth Century, but by the late 20th Century it had
become popular both at home and abroad. Their distinctive style had a
formative influence on contemporary Scottish art. The Colourists visited and trained in France, the influence of the French Impressionists such as Monet, Matisse, and Cezanne is easily seen in their work. This
French influence is mixed with elements of traditional Scottish
painting to give the unique style that The Colourists became renowned
for. They worked with the vivid colours of French painting to produce a
distinctive Scottish style. The Scottish Colourists continued the work
of their predecessors, the Glasgow Boys.
There seems to be a direct link between the art of the ‘Glasgow Boys’
and the art of the ‘Scottish Colourists’. The Glasgow Boys were
revolutionary in their approach to art in late 19th century/ early 20th century and the Colourists took the movement forward into the middle/late 20th century.
I
have searched for a decent sized photograph of this painting but
unfortunately I could only find this rather small reproduction of it.
This is such a shame because I have seen this painting in the
Kelvingrove Gallery, Glasgow
and it really is a wonderful piece of art when seen hanging in the
gallery. I have found some pictures of other pieces of his work but
unfortunately none of these pictures is very big. You will just have to
use your imagination and think big.
aimlessjoys wrote on Sep 15, '08
A
great painting & gret commentary, too! So now I know about the
orange blind, lol, thanks! I was worried it might be something awful.
Enjoyed!
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wickedlyinnocent wrote on Jul 1, '08
This is a lovely work and yes, the influence of Japanese prints is easy to see, the colour orange gives an exquisite touch.
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forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 1, '08
wow................just
let me know when you are comeing..... any excuse for me to go to
Glasgow and re-visit the Kelvingrove.....
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brendainmad wrote on Jul 1, '08
Orange
happens to be my favourite colour or one of them, The only thing I did
was to click on the button next to edit in Firefox (the view button I
think it's called in English) and increased the text size. Luckily for
people with vision problems, they still can use a computer. Probably,
there is another way to do it though.
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forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 1, '08
Don't
you just love the way you get all that orange reflected light spilling
out over the corner. It's all over the piano, the picture, the chair and
the floor..mmmmmmmmm wonderful piece of art
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forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 1, '08
Thanks
for that but I did try to resize this picture and it distorted, I lost
all clarity. Not sure what I did wrong but if you have managed it maybe
you could post the bigger version here for every one to see, It would be
really nice if you could do that, thank you
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brendainmad wrote on Jul 1, '08
You
can always increase the size of your texts and photos in your browser. I
use Firefox and I made the painting bigger. These are fantastic
paintings, and I can see the French influence.
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starfishred wrote on Jun 30, '08
oh how wonderful and a new artist so nice-I love to learn about new artists ty
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lauritasita wrote on Jun 30, '08
What
a beautiful painting ! I love it, too ! Thank you for visiting my Art
Sunday post. I actually have another one which I did for the drinking
theme if you have time to see it:
http://lauritasita.multiply.com/journal/item/754 |
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