Banner: Detail of La Châtelaine, c. 1930 JD Fergusson Courtesy of The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council

*This exhibition is now closed*

Bringing together a true blaze of colour in the work of four artists who collectively became known as The Scottish Colourists, the exhibition brought together paintings by S.J. Peploe (1871–1935), J.D. Fergusson (1874–1961), G.L. Hunter (1877–1931) and F.C.B. Cadell (1883–1935).

The Scottish Colourists are now among the most admired of early twentieth century British artists. Their direct contact with French post-impressionism and their early knowledge of the work of Matisse and, in particular, the Fauves ("the wild beasts") artists – which celebrated colour, encouraged them to produce paintings that are considered some of the most progressive in British art in the first decades of the 1900s.

Their early appreciation of continental developments injected a modernist verve into their paintings, and in this they were ahead of almost all their British contemporaries. It is no surprise therefore that during their lifetime the Colourists developed an international reputation, exhibiting in London, Paris and New York, as well as Scotland, but since their deaths they have often been overlooked in histories of British art.

However, in the last 35 years, there has been a dramatic revival of interest in their work. It is the honest, straightforward optimism in the work of the four Scottish Colourists, with their sensuous delight in colour, form and light that has caused their art to regain its popularity.

Roses and Still Life, c. 1925, S.J. Peploe © University of Dundee Museum Services

The exhibition included over 40 paintings and drawings which presented the favoured subjects of the four artists, such as still-life, portraiture, the female nude, landscape and urban scenes. In addition to the paintings and drawings, the exhibition also included sketchbooks and notebooks by each of the artists and related memorabilia in the form of press-cuttings and photographs.

7 September 2019 - 12 January 2020