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Most contemporary publications, exhibitions, talks, and articles carrying the general title of British art should be more properly termed english art because of the almost complete absence of reference to native resident scottish artists. the fault lies in ourselves. It has often been said that if scottish art had been entitled to a more prominent place in the histories of British art it would have won it without difficulty. the assumption is that fame and distinction are made solely to merit. this is not so. If the arts are to be sustained in a flourishing condition they must be continuously refreshed in the hearts and minds of the people. similar objectives were followed by the sMaa, of which Blyth was Chairman from 1944 until his death. the constitution stresses the supportive role played by the association in maintaining an interest in, and representation for, scottish artists. Blyth was further able to contribute to the position of scottish art by his involvement with the Kirkcaldy art Gallery and with various exhibitions held in london. During and after the second World War, Blyth extended his collection of works by scottish artists, purchasing examples of alfred edward Borthwick (1871–1955), Robert Burns (1869–1941), sir David young Cameron (1865–1945), Katherine Cameron (1874–1965), sir George Clausen (1852–1944), Joseph Crawhall, stanley Cursiter (1887–1976), sir James Guthrie, e.a. hornel, George henry, sir John lavery, ernest stephen lumsden (1883–1948), William Mactaggart (1903–81), James McIntosh Patrick (1907–98), arthur Melville (1858–1904), John Maclauchlan Milne (1885– 1957), thomas Corsan Morton (1859–1928), James Campbell Noble (1846–1913), James Paterson (1854–1932), Denis (1914–93) and Willy Peploe (1910–65), sir George Reid (1841–1913), John Crawford Wintour (1825–82) and Peter Wishart (1846–1932). the largest number of works Blyth collected by a scottish artist during this period was six pieces by William George Gillies (1898–1973) which are now all in the Kirkcaldy art Gallery. Mr and Mrs Blyth with Robert Wemyss honeyman and ‘tim’ 18
It is tempting to posit that the primary reason why Blyth collected so many pictures by Scottish artists after the beginning of the Second World War was the very low prices. He liked a bargain and rarely had to spend more than thirty pounds on a picture by one of these artists. The cost of all the pictures by the above-mentioned artists comes to less than he paid for Venture Fair in 1920 by William McTaggart. But this is not sufficient: his motivations were complex and varied. He certainly liked to support young Scottish painters (and even the galleries, in difficult times) and it is not unreasonable to describe his pattern of purchasing as compulsive. But he did not buy exclusively Scottish works (nor limit the quantum of his spending) and would defend his favourite Scottish painters only if he sensed an injustice in how they might be treated by the critical and curatorial establishment. In 1939 Blyth became involved with an ambitious exhibition being organised by Stanley Cursiter, who was by then Director of the National Gallery of Scotland. The ‘Scottish Art Exhibition’ took place in Burlington House, the home of the Royal Academy, and was not a critical success. The critics attacked the paintings of McTaggart especially, which was galling to Blyth since he had personally selected them from his own collection. He recounted how: Whenever these art critics in London know a thing comes from Scotland it is suspect at once. … We had this McTaggart room which I helped to choose and one critic wrote that we had done a poor service to McTaggart by showing a succession of seashore pictures round the room. Actually there were more landscapes than seascapes for I had chosen them myself. I very much doubt it, because the pictures were Scottish, the critic had never come to see them. And then another had written ‘McTaggart piles on the paint till he gets his effect!’ I feel that critic wrote without going to see the pictures. He would probably say ‘Oh it’s Scottish which is of no interest to high-brow people like us.’ Representative of the ‘more advanced and emphatic phase of recent painting in Scotland’, as the catalogue introduction defined it, were 21 S.J. Peploes, eight Cadells, five Hunters, along with two by Walter Grieve (1872–1937) and one each by William York Macgregor (1855–1923), T. Corsan Morton and William Crozier (1897–1930). The mixed critical reception may well have been a disappointment to the curators but cannot have been altogether a surprise; with the benefit of hindsight, the selection could have been balanced with the inclusion of William Gillies and William MacTaggart to represent the living. With the advent of war and the evacuation of so many pictures into safe storage from the National Galleries, Lillian Browse persuaded the Director Kenneth Clark to let her curate a series of shows of contemporary work, and from March to the end of August 1940 she put on ‘British Painting Since Whistler’ which contained no Scottish art at all. As a result Blyth wrote some ‘extremely stormy’ letters to his young friend, demanding Scottish representation in the exhibition. A Scottish room was granted for 15 works, and pictures by Edwin Alexander, Robert Alexander (1840–1923), S.J. Peploe, McTaggart and Wingate were sent from the Blyth Collection. To these works were added three from other sources, including an early Guthrie, Pastoral, Cockburnspath and Orchardson’s An Enigma. The reviews were again disappointing. D.S. MacColl, Wilson Steer’s biographer, wrote in a letter to The Times: 19
Page 1: the taste of JW Blyth
Page 5 and 6: Foreword Michael Portillo I knew my
Page 7 and 8: elevation plan to Wilby house, 1909
Page 9 and 10: Collecting Blyth kept a simple reco
Page 11 and 12: the hawcklymuir factory, Kirkcaldy
Page 13 and 14: and Explanatory Notes on the Art of
Page 15 and 16: Peploe in terms of colour: ‘altho
Page 17 and 18: Blyth’s conversion was certainly
Page 19: Trouville Harbour and Deauville (pa
Page 24 and 25: a warning of what we have escaped i
Page 26 and 27: Vale “No plans were ever made for
Page 28 and 29: catalogue Eugène Boudin was born i
Page 30 and 31: “everything that is painted on th
Page 32 and 33: Wintour was born in Edinburgh and a
Page 34 and 35: Two years senior to his great frien
Page 36 and 37: Paintings by William McTaggart, R.S
Page 38 and 39: there are a number of pictures of R
Page 40 and 41: In July 1947 Blyth bought a picture
Page 42 and 43: “The remarkable place which he ho
Page 44 and 45: “To few men has a more beautiful
Page 46 and 47: Wingate’s first arran subject exh
Page 48 and 49: Wingate’s Farm seems close in spi
Page 50 and 51: Alexander was born in Edinburgh, so
Page 52 and 53: edwin alexander (1870-1926) Moorlan
Page 54 and 55: edwin alexander (1870-1926) Doves a
Page 56 and 57: edwin alexander (1870-1926) Gullane
Page 58 and 59: edwin alexander (1870-1926) Storeho
Page 61 and 62: s.J. Peploe (1871-1935) The Lobster
Page 64 and 65: Peploe is strongly associated with
Page 66 and 67: Comrie is a village on the River ea
Page 68 and 69: s.J. Peploe (1871-1935) Paris Plage
Page 70 and 71: s.J. Peploe (1871-1935) Royan, 1910
Page 72 and 73:
Peploe began to visit the south-wes
Page 74 and 75:
fergusson held his first one-man-sh
Page 76 and 77:
Blyth bought three hunters the othe
Page 78 and 79:
Grant first visited Cassis in 1927
Page 80 and 81:
Lily McDougall was born in Glasgow
Page 82:
Walter Richard Sickert was born in
Page 85 and 86:
Walter Richard sickert (1860-1942)
Page 87 and 88:
ernest stephen lumsden (1883-1948)
Page 89 and 90:
James McBey (1883-1959) Venice Gran
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