WILLIAM MCTAGGART R.S.A., R.S.W. (SCOTTISH 1835-1910)
ON THE BEACH, BAY VOYACH
Oil on panel
20cm x 34cm (8in x 13.5in)
Ivor McTaggart;Ewan Mundy Fine Art Ltd, Glasgow
Literature: James L. Caw, William McTaggart: A Biography and an Appreciation, Glasgow, 1917, p.268 'It is very difficult to believe that anyone has painted the sea better than McTaggart'John Duncan Fergusson, Modern Scottish Painting, 1943, p.31 William McTaggart’s artistic innovations represent the inception of modern art in Scotland. This distinction is particularly remarkable given that the artist had little contact with European art movements and remained in his home country for the great majority of his life. Over the course of his career he nurtured a visual language that explored the atmosphere of the natural world in all its gaiety and fragility, an idea that was increasingly expressed through breezy coastal scenes peopled by tumbling, carefree children. As McTaggart matured he moved away from representational painting and prioritised working en plein air to best capture atmospheric effect, earning himself the moniker ‘The Scottish Impressionist’. In On the Beach, Bay Voyach McTaggart treats the figures and Machrihanish landscape with equal attention, emphasising qualities of dynamism and transience, so that the motion of the beach-goers is almost indistinguishable from that of the whipping wind and rolling sea. James Caw, McTaggart’s biographer, characterised McTaggart’s Machrihanish paintings by their ‘enhanced brilliance of lighting, greater purity of colour and increased freedom of handling (James Caw, William McTaggart: A Biography and an Appreciation, Glasgow, 1917, p.130). The present lot appears to be a study for the 1894 painting Macrihanish, Bay Voyach which is held in the Fleming Collection (FWAF/RF143).