Scottish Colourists

Born under grey Edinburgh skies, the Scottish Colourists had a thirst for brighter hues. So what can we learn, asks STEVE PILL, from a new display of their stylish, modern paintings?

The Scottish Colourists is a collective name given to Samuel Peploe, John Duncan Fergusson, Francis Cadell and Leslie Hunter, four Edinburgh painters who made their mark at the dawning of the 20th century. Each artist created elegant portraits, blocky still life and fond Scottish scenes, reworking the techniques of the French Impressionists into something bolder and distinctive, forsaking pastel blues for bright primary hues.

A question often asked of the group is whether they festishised light and colour because their surroundings in the early 20th century had so little of it? This is often posed by anyone who hasn’t spent enough time in the Scottish capital, a place that the author Alexander McCall Smith would famously later describe as “a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.”

It was less a case of lacking colour and light at home in Edinburgh and more that they wanted to imbue their surroundings with the vibrancy they had seen elsewhere. Their outlook was far broader than their patriotic collective name suggests too. They each spent time studying in Europe and the USA, returning with a thirst for both modern art and classical paintings they had seen on their travels.