AN “exceptional” private collection of Scottish Colourist art was shown to the public yesterday as auctioneers prepare for a big-money sale.
More than 30 works by some of the country’s best-loved painters will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London next month.
They were amassed by Glasgow ship owner Major Ion Harrison, who passed them down through the family and entertained the artists at the home where the pieces hung. This includes The Drawing Room, Croft House by Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell, which was displayed in the room where it was created.
Estimates on the collection, which features works by George Leslie Hunter, Samuel John Peploe and John Duncan Fergusson, run to six figures, with one item – another Cadell – expected to reach up to £600,000.
Thomas Podd, Sotheby’s Scottish Art Specialist, said visiting Harrison’s home was “an experience that will live long in the memory”.
He added: “One’s eye was instantly drawn to Cadell’s The Drawing Room, Croft House hanging in the very same room it depicts, with the majority of furniture and artworks unchanged some 80 years later.
“It is hard to imagine a work that encapsulates so perfectly the spirit of an entire collection. With its balanced composition and sophisticated application of colour, the painting is not only the ultimate Colourist statement, but it speaks also about the collector and his friendship with the artists whose works lined the walls of his beautiful home.”
A spokesperson for the auction house added: “The pictures in the Harrison Collection represent such a broad range of styles, subjects and dates by all of the four Colourists that they present an opportunity to assess the differing influences and themes that link them together or contrast them.”
Harrison’s love for the Colourists began after his friend Dr John Thomas Honeyman, who later became director of the Glasgow Art Gallery, encouraged him to attend an exhibition.
He said: “I had never seen anything in art similar to these pictures.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here