2013 Magazine - Royal Caledonian Ball

The Scottish Colourist: S. J. Peploe
Alice Strang, Senior Curator, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Amajor exhibition of the work of the
Scottish Colourist S. J. Peploe (1871-
1935) can be seen at the Scottish
National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh
until 23 June 2013, before selected works
tour to Aberdeen Art Gallery (13 July – 19
October 2013). This is the first retrospective
of the artist’s work to be held for almost thirty
years. It consists of over 100 paintings,
brought together from public and private
collections and includes many works rarely, if
ever, exhibited before.
Along with F. C. B. Cadell, J. D. Fergusson
and G. L. Hunter, Peploe is one of the four
artists commonly known as the ‘Scottish
Colourists’. They are the nation’s most
renowned early twentieth-century artists,
who are celebrated for their immersion in
modern French art and for a shared love of
brilliant colour applied in a painterly manner.
Peploe was the eldest and most successful –
commercially and critically – of the group and
it was his friendship with the others which
bound them together.
The Coffee Pot, c.1905
Peploe was born in Edinburgh in 1871 and
lived in the city all of his life, apart from the
years 1910 to 1912 which he spent in Paris
with Fergusson. His first solo exhibition was
held at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh in
14
1903. He is best known for his fascination
with still-life painting and established his
reputation with works such as The Coffee Pot,
c.1905, which was painted in a manner
reminiscent of Edouard Manet and Dutch Old
Masters including Frans Hals and Rembrandt
van Rijn. The narrative implications of its
after-dinner atmosphere, the rich paint
applied with aplomb, the counterpoint of
bright white tablecloth against dark
background, the glint of light on silver and
glass and the touches of bright colour in fruit
and porcelain make this one of the
masterpieces of Peploe’s early career.
However, he is perhaps most celebrated for
the vividly coloured series of still lifes
executed between approximately 1918 and
1924, concentrating first on tulips and later on
roses. Tulips and
Fruit, c.1919 is a
fine example in
which the artist’s
attempt to
create the ideal
composition of
objects and
perfect harmony
of colours is
Tulips and Fruit, c.1919
realised in an
image which remains stunning almost 100
years after it was created. It seems that Peploe
never tired of painting this genre, writing in
1929: “There is so much in mere objects,
flowers, leaves, jugs, what not – colours,
forms, relation - I can never see mystery
coming to an end.”
Of equal importance to his still lives are the
Scottish and French landscapes that Peploe
painted throughout his career, usually en plein