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Paintings by William McTaggart, R.S.A. Selected for the Scottish Committee of the Arts Council by J. W. Blyth, Esq. In his admirable biography of the artist Sir James L. Caw wrote: “Nobody could have suspected when in 1835 the name of William McTaggart was registered amongst the births in Campbeltown parish, that the name of the most original and fascinating painters of the nineteenth century had been recorded for the first time.” Well it was so, and as the years passed and his art progressed we found more and more to excite our wonder and admiration. We are told in the same biography that as a young boy he drew precociously well – whence came that talent is a mystery – and when after much opposition his wish to study art was conceded, he soon showed that his talent was outstanding and of an original character. When at the age of sixteen he joined the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh, he came into close contact with many of the strongest personalities in Scottish Art. Orchardson, Pettie, Tom Graham and George Paul Chalmers were all there, and became his close friends. One would naturally have expected that their art would influence his, but no, this lad from a croft at the extreme corner of the Mull at Kintyre pursued his own course and became the first and foremost impressionist painter in Scotland. McTaggart’s impressionism was inborn and spontaneous. It was not influenced by any theories or dogmas, and he was unaware of the movement in France. On a varnishing day at the Royal Scottish Academy he took Wingate aside and asked: “What is this impressionism they are all talking about?” Wingate’s naïve reply was: “I fancy it is just what you and I have been doing for a good many years.” It is highly probable that McTaggart’s impressionism may one day be acclaimed the most completely satisfying of all in this lovely art phase. His impressionism embraces every aspect of his pictures, notably in his use of figures, so often misunderstood. We frequently hear, as a complaint, that McTaggart’s children are always the same, but this Exhibition should quickly dispel that erroneous notion. McTaggart’s use of figures in his composition is one of the most fascinating features in his art. They are always part of the impression. In some cases the impression was a strong one, in others it is more fleeting, or it may be so light that the figures appear only as notes of lovely colour. A beautiful example of these differences will be found in “A Country Lane,” No. 37 in the catalogue. Here the artist’s attention has been momentarily arrested by a rather charming incident. A boy is instructing a little girl in the manipulation of a penny whistle. How beautifully the incident has been portrayed, the boy with head inclined, intent on his job, the girl eagerly extending her hands for the whistle, and all conveyed to the canvas by a few vital brush strokes. And how perfectly the incident takes its place in the composition with another group treated quite differently – its impressionism no the artist being so slight – but conveying that impressionism just as convincingly and just as happily placed. McTaggart’s pictures of the sea are the most wonderful ever painted, and his supremacy in this branch of his art is apt to minimize the interest in his landscapes. In this Exhibition the landscapes have been given their due prominence, and it must be apparent that it is simply a change of subject, and that all the excellencies of the sea pictures are here also. In fact, it may well be that some of the landscapes provide even more scope for his exquisite sense of colour, his resourceful technique and lightness of touch. McTaggart loved all nature, land, sea, sky, air, and his fellow men. This Love radiates from his pictures. We finish as we begin, with a quotation. In an able article on McTaggart’s art the late P. McOmish Dott wrote: “Whether we delight in McTaggart’s pictures for their simple natural beauty, or the art faculties which they reveal, or the faith, courage and joy in living which inspire them, it is beyond question that they contain the blossom and fruit of great natural gifts, illuminated by a powerful intelligence and consecrated by earnest endeavor.” J. W. B. 1954 32
Mctaggart was born into a crofting family (both parents were Gaelic speakers) at aros farm near Machrihanish in 1835. although he lived most of his working life in edinburgh and after 1889 at lasswade he returned nearly every year to Kintyre to paint and sketch and there is a clutch of paintings he produced including the monumental Rainy Day, Machrihanish and a number of small sunset works of which this is one. the effect of the dying sun casting a fiery glow across the sky and sea is captured with marks of intense, broken colour while children float in a rowing boat, fishing in the shallows. William Mctaggart (1835–1910) Sunset at Machrihanish, 1882 oil on panel, 15 x 20 cms signed and dated lower right Provenance: Miss Greenlees, edinburgh. 33
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 22 and 23: Most contemporary publications, exh
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 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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