Please join me on tour with the Scottish Colourists, as I give the talk ‘A Century of the Scottish Colourists’ in Edinburgh (in-person and online), Kirkcudbright (in-person) and Glasgow (in-person twice) in 2025 and 2026.
oil on board, 38 x 46cm, The Fleming Collection, London
A Century of the Scottish Colourists
The talk marks a century since the four artists, F C B Cadell, J D Fergusson, Leslie Hunter and S J Peploe, now known as the Scottish Colourists, exhibited together as a quartet for the first time in London, in 1925. It considers the ebb and flow of the group’s reputation in the intervening one hundred years, focusing on their shared exhibitions held during their lifetimes and those held in the public sector thereafter.
From the honour of works by all but Cadell being acquired for the French national collection in 1931, to the deaths of all but Fergusson by 1937, to decades of obscurity before the triumph of the National Galleries of Scotland’s touring group exhibition of 2000, the Scottish Colourists are now accepted as Scotland’s leading artists of the twentieth-century with a growing international status.
the Fleming Collection at Dovecot Studios, 2025
Radical Perspectives at the Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh
I shall give the talk for the first time at Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh on Tuesday 22 April 2025. It is part of the events programme accompanying their Radical Perspectives exhibition, organised in partnership with the Fleming Collection. The show places the four Scottish artists in the context of their English, Irish and Welsh contemporaries. Visit it before it closes on 28 June 2025 to see if you agree with me that the Scots come out on top! The exhibition includes Cadell’s The Dunara Castle at Iona of c.1929, seen above, whilst the poster features Peploe’s Luxembourg Gardens of c.1910; both are in the Fleming Collection.
oil on canvas, 53 x 64cm, The Fleming Collection, London
The Colourists in Kirkcudbright
Kirkcudbright and its environs provided inspiration for paintings such as Kirkcudbright, seen above, by Peploe. It is therefore apt that I shall next be giving the talk at Kirkcudbright Art Galleries on Saturday 10 May 2025. This event is for the Friends of the Galleries, which I encourage you to join to support the Galleries’ activities. A display celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jessie M. King, one of the town’s most important artistic residents, opened there on 21 March 2025 and runs until 22 June 2025.
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh: Gift of Eric Anderson courtesy of the
American Patrons of the National Library and the National Galleries of Scotland 2024
A New Hunter at the National Galleries of Scotland
My tour with the Scottish Colourists then returns to Edinburgh. I shall be giving the talk in-person at the National Galleries of Scotland on Tuesday 15 July 2025. It will also be livestreamed online via YouTube. We shall be celebrating the gift, by Eric Anderson through the Amercian Patrons of the National Library and the National Galleries of Scotland, of Hunter’s The Beach, Juan-les-Pins of 1927, to the national collection in 2024.
oil on panel, 56 x 67cm
City Art Centre, Museum & Galleries, Edinburgh (c) Culture Perth & Kinross
Fergusson: From Paris to Glasgow
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Fergusson moved from Paris to Glasgow, where he lived for the rest of his life. I am therefore delighted to continue my tour with the Scottish Colourists in the city. I shall give the talk for the Glasgow Antiques and Fine Art Society on Wednesday 20 May 2026. Please check their website closer to the time for the complete details, but the event is due to take place in the Strathclyde Suite in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
A Colourist Collection
As Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow has one of the best collections of the Colourists’ work, it is fitting that my tour with the Scottish Colourists is due to conclude when I give the talk for the Friends of Glasgow Museums at some point in 2026. Full information will be available on their website in due course.
I do hope you will be able to join me at one of these events. In the meantime, you might enjoy this post about a blog I have written for the National Galleries of Scotland about the 2025 centenary, this article about an Art UK Curation I wrote to mark the 150th anniversary of Fergusson’s birth and this blog about the most recent painting by Cadell to join the national collection.
