The Glory of the Garden

( above; painting by contemporary artist George Birrel)

The Glory of the Garden


Today has been spent in the garden. There was no rain, some wind, and not too much heat, perfect for working in the garden. I began thinking about something many of us participated in back on Multiply. 

( above; tea in the garden by James Guthrie, Scottish artist)

Every Wednesday we posted a poem and the post was called (collectively) Poetry Wednesday. One poem that really took my fancy was this one By Kipling, I seem to remember posting it several times and every time I included paintings of gardens by different artists.  
( above, Bessie MacNicol, Scottish artist, 'a girl of the 60's') 

Anyhow…………..today I began thinking of it again, I can’t remember which paintings I originally posted with it but today I’ve chosen a couple of gardens buy different Scottish Artists.

( above; A Hinds daughter, James Githrie, Scottish artist 1859-1930) 

The Poem; The Glory of the garden by Rudyard Kipling

OUR country is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.
For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,
You'll find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of all
The cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dung-pits and the tanks,
The rollers, carts, and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the planks.
( above cottage by Largo by George Lesley Hunter)

And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys
Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise ;
For, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare the birds,
The Glory of the Garden abides not in the words.
And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows ;
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,
For the Glory of the Garden occupies  all who come.
(Above contemporary Scottish painter George Birrel) 

Our country is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:-" Oh, how beautiful," and sitting in the shade
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives.
There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thick,
There's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick
But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glories every one.
Above; contemporary Scottish painter George Birrel)

Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,
If it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.
Oh yes, man  was born a gardener, and thankfully he sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and play
And hopefully this Glory,  may never pass away!

 ( above George Lesley Hunter Scottish colourist) 

and finally; Sweet Blosson by Edward Atkinson Hornel

Sir James Guthrie (10 June 1859 – 6 September 1930) was a Scottish Painter best known in his own lifetime for his portraiture although today more generally regarded as a painter of Scottish Realism.

Tea in the Garden and A Hind's Daughter - Sir James Guthrie painted at Cockburnspath, East Berwickshire (1883)


Bessie MacNicol (1869 – 1907) was a important woman painter in Glasgow at the start of the 20th century. She was an artist respected by her contemporaries and exhibited in Scotland and London, in several European cities and at Pittsburg and St Louis in the USA.

A girl of the 60’s painted 1899
George Lesley Hunter

Hunter was born in Rothesay, a town on the west coast Scottish Isle of Bute, in 1877.

he died in a Glasgow nursing home in December 1931, aged just 54.

Cottage, near Largo by G.L.Hunter (c.1920)

Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864–1933) was a Scottish painter Artist 

Sweet blosson

 George BIRRELL

George Birrell was born in 1950. He trained at the Glasgow School of Art (1967 - 1971) and was involved with the Hospitalfield Summer School in 1970.

http://www.redraggallery.co.uk/print-george-birrell.asp



Ian Hamilton Finlay's Little Sparta: An Artist's Garden

Andrew Dickson visits Little Sparta, for 40 years the home and studio of Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, who was also a poet, writer and gardener. Richard Ingleby, co-owner of the Ingleby Gallery in Edinburgh, takes us on a tour of the garden in the Pentland Hills, which is filled with the artist's work. The exhibition Ian Hamilton Finlay: Twilight Remembers is at the Ingleby Gallery until 27 October 2012

Art, Leslie Hunter Scottish Colourist

  LESLIE HUNTER;  SCOTTISH COLOURIST

Every one seemed to like Cadell and not many people seem to have heard of him so I thought maybe I should briefly introduce another of the scottish Colourists, Leslie Hunter. This painting is called;
'THE PINK TABLECLOTH'
George Leslie Hunter (7 August 1879 - 6 December 1931), known as Leslie Hunter, was a Scottish painter and one of the artists of the Scottish Colourists school of painting.

He was often considered the most natural of the Scottish Colourists, he was primarily a self-taught artist, renowned for this bohemian appearance, eccentric behaviour his unwavering, almost obsessive devotion to art.

Hunter was born in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute but his family emigrated to California when he was 13. He was the son of a dispensing chemist and attended Rothesay Academy untill 1892 when his father decided to emigrate to California. Here Hunter remained until 1906. During this time he worked as in illustrator for Californian newspapers and magazines. Here he developed his skill as a draughtsman which become the  cornerstone of his talent.
Hunter’s first one man exhibition was due to open in San Francisco in 1906, but all the works intended for this show were destroyed by the San Francisco earthquake. He was utterly devastated by this disaster and didn’t fully recover from the trauma, he returned to Scotland and settled in Glasgow. Here he became acquainted with Alexander Reid, in whose  gallery he did eventually hold his first one man exhibition in 1916.
During the 1920s, Hunter came to prominence with Fergusson, Cadell, and Peploe as one of the four artists collectively known as the Scottish Colourists. They were all influenced, to varying degrees, by the purity, bright colour and brushwork technique of the French Impressionsists, Post-Impressionists and Fauvists.
In 1922 Hunter visited Paris, Venice, Florence and the Riviera Coast, often joined by his friend and colleague John Duncan Fergusson. Following their return, he settled in Fife and painted still lifes and landscapes, many of which were inspired by the house-boats at Loch Lomond.
Hunter spent much time during subsequent years in the South of France, painting at Saint Paul de Vence, Cassis and St Tropez between 1927-1929. His visits abroad proved highly productive and he exhibited much of his recent work at the Feragil Galleries, New York in 1929, an exhibition that won him considerable critical acclaim.
 Hunter's health however was  poor and that same year he suffered a serious breakdown. Dispite his failing health he continued to paint and produced some of his finest works during his later years.
Hunter is best known for scenes painted in Fife and in the South of France. He died in Glasgow in 1931 following unsuccessful treatment and surgery for his medical condition.

There is an album of his paintings in my pictures, again, the images are very small which is a shame but it does give you some idea of his work

 

 

delete reply lauritasita wrote on Jul 1, '08 Thank you for telling me about this artist. I love this painting.

delete reply wickedlyinnocent wrote on Jul 1, '08 Another artist charmed by St Paul de Vence and the magnificent Mediterranean colours, I'd spend a lot of time there too if I were a painter. Thanks for the great informative blog on the Scottish Colourists, I love bohemian artists devotedly obsesssed to art.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jul 1, '08 Do you know the pronounciation of Bute? I couldn't find it.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jul 1, '08 A lovely painting; it does not move me in quite the same way as "The Orange Blind" did, but it is valuable to know about the school of painters as I had not heard of them before. It must have been heartbreaking to lose his first works in the earthquake and fire.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jul 1, '08 I love these paintings too. What a shame about his first exhibition!

delete reply starfishred wrote on Jul 1, '08 very nice things you are teaching us thanks you guys are very good poets and writters to