Thread: James Guthrie (1859-1930) was a Scottish painter & exponent of a natural style of painting. His works are some of the most popular paintings in Scottish art. Let’s take a look!
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He was born in Greenock, the son of a minister & attended Glasgow U to study law. In 1877 art called him & he became a self-taught painter. Boats in Harbour (1876). His ability was such that even his early work is technically proficient.
Guthrie was not only self-taught, he was also committed to living in & painting his native country. He lived mostly in the Borderlands. A Gallant of Terror (1880), Cottage on the Hill (1881) & Gypsy Fires (1881). At this time the art market was dominated by London.
Guthrie’s early work focused on scenes of daily life. He gave his subjects a quiet dignity & he sought to set typical Scottish scenes in art. This was an approach popular in the 19th C in France. Paid Off (1881), The Pedlar (1881) & Boy with a Straw (1882) & Crowland (1882)
Despite his commitment to a Scottish vision he was also familiar with Continental art & was influenced by Bastien-Lepage & also his fellow countrymen, the Glasgow Boys. Margaret Helen Sowerby (1882), Poppleton, the Artist at Work (1882) & Field Work in the Lothians (1883)
He exhibited regularly at the annual exhibitions of the Glasgow Art Club. Hard at It (c1883), A Hind’s Daughter (1883) & To Pastures New (1882-3). The latter two paintings are his best known works. The genius of Guthrie is that he did not descend into sentimentality.
Ironically the naturalists used a lot of photography, which at the time was new tech and akin to artists using Ai today, and many artists thought that photography would be the death of painting. They were wrong.
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