Art, Samuel Poploe

This is the guy whose exhibition I went to see at St Andrews on Friday. Normally still life is not my favourite subject matter, but his are truly amazing. He is what I would call a ‘painterly’ painter, more than anything else he is into ‘paint’. When you see his work in the flesh it’s alive, vibrant and above all, he loves paint. The actual medium is as important as any thing else. I think he is a paint worshiper.

Samuel John Peploe

(27 January 1871 – 11 October 1935) was a Scottish Post-Impressionist painter, noted for his still life works and for being one of the group of four painters that became known as the Scottish Colourists. The other colourists were John Duncan Fergusson, Francis Cadell and Leslie Hunter.

More of this  here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Peploe

The Scottish Colourists

The artists, Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935); John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961); George Leslie Hunter (1877-1931) and Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937) have achieved international acclaim in recent years following major retrospective exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London and the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh. Despite the diversity of their work and their relatively independent careers, they are now recognised as an identifiable movement within the history of art and their influence is still apparent in painting today.

The four painters became known as the Scottish Colourists because they grafted their knowledge of contemporary French Art – Monet, Matisse, and Cezanne - onto the painterly traditions of Scotland, redefining the qualities of light and colour in their still life, landscapes, figurative paintings and drawings into their own singular styles.

More of this here

http://www.exploreart.co.uk/artistic_styles_details.asp?artistid=62&artisticstyleid=4

A Biography

For those who want it, A more in depth biography:

Peploe was a passionate and serious artist who devoted himself to work but also had powerful influence on a surprisingly wide circle of people, including many artists of the next generation. Born in Edinburgh and educated at the Collegate School in Charlotte Square, he had good academic ability but no interest in the professions, preferring to walk, sail or sketch.
By 1893 he was enrolled for classes at the Trustees Academy (the forerunner to Edinburgh School of Art) and the following year was in Paris at the Académie Julian under the neo classicist, William Bourgereau and later at the Académie Colarossi. A long period of study nurtured his natural ability and helped him perfect an early style based on Dutch masters, particularly Franz Hals, and Edouard Manet. He began a lifelong habit of taking painting trips to northern France and the Western Isles, accompanied by J D Fergusson whom he had met in Paris. He was successful in exhibiting his work and regularly submitted paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Glasgow Institute and the Society of Scottish Artists.
His first one-man show was held at the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh in 1903. By 1906 his earlier still life and figure paintings, characterised by dark backgrounds, gave way to paler colours, greys and pinks. This was in part due to a move to a new lighter studio in the East end of Edinburgh at York Place, from his previous west-end base at Shandwick Place. His second exhibition in 1909 was successful but his eyes were turning to Paris and the next year, he moved there with his new wife, Margaret MacKay, whom he had met on a painting trip to the Isle of Barra in 1894. France liberated his palette and on his return to Edinburgh in 1912 with dozens of paintings and a young son, Willie, the new work proved to be much too advanced for the city’s audience and his original dealer. Unperturbed, Peploe put on his own show at the New Gallery in Shandwick Place, where the Society of Eight (including Cadell, John Lavery and James Paterson) had their inaugural exhibition in the same year.
For the next fifteen years Peploe retained a brilliant palette, evolving a mature style containing elements of Cezanne and Matisse. By the late 1920s he had reverted to a more sonorous tonal painting, still enlivened by brilliant colour chords, but weightier and cooler. In 1933 he taught two terms at Edinburgh College of Art making quite an impact. Best known for his still life paintings of roses or tulips, Peploe had a wide range of subjects including figure and landscape painting.
From 1914 he was a regular visitor to Dumfries and Galloway, particularly Kirkcudbright and also from 1919 onwards to the isles of Iona. On the recommendation of Cadell he visited Cassis in the South of France in 1924, and returned in 1928 and 1930. His landscapes have a conviction and a passion, which belie the rather diffident, shy public face of the artist. His family and closest friends knew a wickedly funny, compassionate and sincere man.
Text source: Samuel Peploe (Guy Peploe, S J Peploe’s grandson); the Dictionary of Scottish Painters, (Halsby & Harris) and The Scottish Colourists, (Philip Long).

delete reply rabbitfriendhere wrote on Aug 5 the four colourists remind me just a bit of the group of seven as well. :-)

delete reply rabbitfriendhere wrote on Aug 5 this is amazing art and i love the four colourists! Samuel John Poploe was born on my birthday. :-)

delete reply artprevails wrote on Aug 5 So much good background on the way Peploe's art evolved. And I really enjoyed the You Tube video. Thank you! Peploe's art is wonderful.

delete reply aaranaardvark wrote on Aug 5 forgetmenot525 said thanks, glad you like them, if you want to see more of the 'Scottish Colourists', look up my tag 'scottish colouristrs', there are quite a few posts and albums of these of these painters. Thanks I will :-)

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Aug 5 these are great presentations of the medium of paint were the beauty of the work is not just the subject but how the paint is applied and draws one into the work i notice that a lot in your own work :)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 5 nemo4sun said he knows his way with a brush! :) yep.............thats what I thought, except that sometimes he abandons his brush in favour of a pallet knife, and he still knows his way around even without the brush

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Aug 5 he knows his way with a brush! :)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 5 aaranaardvark said Thanks for the info on the Scottish Colourists whom I'd never heard of prior to reading your post. thanks, glad you like them, if you want to see more of the 'Scottish Colourists', look up my tag 'scottish colouristrs', there are quite a few posts and albums of these of these painters.

delete reply aaranaardvark wrote on Aug 5, edited on Aug 5 Thanks for the info on the Scottish Colourists whom I'd never heard of prior to reading your post. The Peploe paintings are wonderful, I especially like those roofscapes and churches. A very interesting bio too, the video was a good contextual aid and the music was just perfect. What more can I say Loretta? Nice one :-)

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Aug 5 Very nice art. I particularly like the second one from the top.

delete reply kathyinozarks wrote on Aug 5 his works are beautiful-I love them-thanks Loretta

delete reply skaviva wrote on Aug 5 That was interesting. Thank you.

delete reply pestep55 wrote on Aug 5 Even here the vibrance and definition comes though, chipper sound on the video /:-)

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Aug 5 It's so nice you can find a video of his paintings.