F.C.B. Cadell, Carnations (c.1913), Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, London. Oil, 76 x 63.5 cms.
Literature: Hewlett, Tom, 'F.C.B. Cadell', Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2011, plate 46
F.C.B. Cadell, Miss Don Wauchope's Robe (c.1915), Private Collection. Oil on canvas, 112 x 86.5cms.
'Miss Don Wauchope's Robe' c.1915, was created during a particularly satisfying and productive period of Cadell's career. Upon returning from a formative trip to Venice in 1910, his work was instilled with a new brilliance of light and easy broadness of brushstroke. He had consolidated a position for himself within Edinburgh society as a colourful, witty and entertaining host; conducting 'artistic' evenings from his studio at 130 Great George Street which gained him the loyal support of patrons, won over by both the art and the man. He was a founding member of the Society of Eight, a group of Scottish artists who, from 1912, regularly organised their own exhibitions out with the normal routes of thegallery world. It boasted an an array of talented and successful members including Patrick Adam and Sir John Lavery. These factors combined to provide a
heightened confidence in Cadell's work that is abundantly visible to the viewer. Cadell was painting like a man in his element and it was reflected in commercial and critical success; to his extreme pleasure he had several works accepted for exhibition in the Royal Scottish Academy during this time.
One of his oeuvre's quintessential themes - the elegant studio interior - began to sell well, serving to fund his lifestyle which was as luxurious as money would allow. He also formed a highly productive working relationship with Miss Don Wauchope, a beautiful, elegant and thoroughly modern society lady who would sit for him regularly over the next fifteen years. It is her “brilliantly coloured robe”[1] that artlessly lies in a louche crumple of sumptuous material in the painting represented here. As gallerist Tom Hewlett quips when discussing the work in his 1988 biography of Cadell, “she obviously shared Bunty's taste for fine clothes”[2]. The pair, it seems, were kindred spirits. A favourite recurring prop of Cadell's can also be observed on the side table in the form of an abstractedly rendered lapis blue porcelain buffalo. The same ornament can often be spotted in his interiors during this decade; on the mantlepeice in the stunning large-scale work 'The White Room' and in a still life study arranged with a mirror and buddah. The work as a whole is devised of masterful, extremely clever flashes of brushwork. The laquered floor, the creamy upholstrey, the blue-ish shadows cast against the wall are all artfully shaped with extremely dexterous, quick, adroit strokes.
After the War Cadell's style underwent a marked change. Leaving behind the delicate whites, lilacs, pinks and expressive brushwork of his Impressionistic style he began to introduce the Fauve influenced flattened planes of vibrant colour which characterise his famous still lifes. When considering his career retrospectively, these stunning societal interiors steeped in the influence of Whistler, Lavery and Sargent read as “a swansong of the innocent and idealistic Edwardian era”[3]. They are also, as with so much of his work, a reflection of the personality of the man himself: quick-witted, spirited, distinctive, ebullient and - of course - a little decadent.
Image and note courtesy of Lyon and Turnbull, Edinburgh
S.J. Peploe, Interior, Aberdeen Art Gallery. Oil on canvas, 38 x 30.5 cms.
Image courtesy of Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Collection www.aagm.co.uk
F.C.B. Cadell, Florian's Café, Venice (1910), Private Collection. Oil on canvas, 45 x 38 cms.
Literature: Strang, Alice, 'F.C.B. Cadell', National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2011, plate 13
F.C.B. Cadell, Carnations (c.1913), Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, London. Oil, 76 x 63.5 cms.
Literature: Hewlett, Tom, 'F.C.B. Cadell', Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2011, plate 46
F.C.B. Cadell, Miss Don Wauchope's Robe (c.1915), Private Collection. Oil on canvas, 112 x 86.5cms.
'Miss Don Wauchope's Robe' c.1915, was created during a particularly satisfying and productive period of Cadell's career. Upon returning from a formative trip to Venice in 1910, his work was instilled with a new brilliance of light and easy broadness of brushstroke. He had consolidated a position for himself within Edinburgh society as a colourful, witty and entertaining host; conducting 'artistic' evenings from his studio at 130 Great George Street which gained him the loyal support of patrons, won over by both the art and the man. He was a founding member of the Society of Eight, a group of Scottish artists who, from 1912, regularly organised their own exhibitions out with the normal routes of thegallery world. It boasted an an array of talented and successful members including Patrick Adam and Sir John Lavery. These factors combined to provide a
heightened confidence in Cadell's work that is abundantly visible to the viewer. Cadell was painting like a man in his element and it was reflected in commercial and critical success; to his extreme pleasure he had several works accepted for exhibition in the Royal Scottish Academy during this time.
One of his oeuvre's quintessential themes - the elegant studio interior - began to sell well, serving to fund his lifestyle which was as luxurious as money would allow. He also formed a highly productive working relationship with Miss Don Wauchope, a beautiful, elegant and thoroughly modern society lady who would sit for him regularly over the next fifteen years. It is her “brilliantly coloured robe”[1] that artlessly lies in a louche crumple of sumptuous material in the painting represented here. As gallerist Tom Hewlett quips when discussing the work in his 1988 biography of Cadell, “she obviously shared Bunty's taste for fine clothes”[2]. The pair, it seems, were kindred spirits. A favourite recurring prop of Cadell's can also be observed on the side table in the form of an abstractedly rendered lapis blue porcelain buffalo. The same ornament can often be spotted in his interiors during this decade; on the mantlepeice in the stunning large-scale work 'The White Room' and in a still life study arranged with a mirror and buddah. The work as a whole is devised of masterful, extremely clever flashes of brushwork. The laquered floor, the creamy upholstrey, the blue-ish shadows cast against the wall are all artfully shaped with extremely dexterous, quick, adroit strokes.
After the War Cadell's style underwent a marked change. Leaving behind the delicate whites, lilacs, pinks and expressive brushwork of his Impressionistic style he began to introduce the Fauve influenced flattened planes of vibrant colour which characterise his famous still lifes. When considering his career retrospectively, these stunning societal interiors steeped in the influence of Whistler, Lavery and Sargent read as “a swansong of the innocent and idealistic Edwardian era”[3]. They are also, as with so much of his work, a reflection of the personality of the man himself: quick-witted, spirited, distinctive, ebullient and - of course - a little decadent.
Image and note courtesy of Lyon and Turnbull, Edinburgh
S.J. Peploe, Interior, Aberdeen Art Gallery. Oil on canvas, 38 x 30.5 cms.
Image courtesy of Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Collection www.aagm.co.uk
F.C.B. Cadell, Florian's Café, Venice (1910), Private Collection. Oil on canvas, 45 x 38 cms.
Literature: Strang, Alice, 'F.C.B. Cadell', National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2011, plate 13