SAMUEL JOHN PEPLOE R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1871-1935)
PINK ROSES IN A BLUE AND WHITE VASE
Signed, oil on canvas and verso with Still Life with Fruit and Flowers
56cm x 51cm (22in x 20in)
Acquired by the father of the present owner
Pink Roses in a Blue and White Vase is a quintessential still life painting of the mid to late 1920s by S. J. Peploe and, what is more, it bears the later work Still Life with Fruit and Flowers on its verso. In his still lifes of the 1920s, Peploe brought to bear all the experience he had gained in the genre as an emerging artist in Edinburgh before the war, his experimentation in pre-war Paris and the development of his practice during the conflict. Peploe’s exploration of the work of artists, from Edouard Manet to Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne, were combined with his own innovation in a significant series of works which spanned the decade.Peploe found endless inspiration in favoured still life props, such as the blue-and-white Chinese porcelain vase, informally arranged roses and white drapery seen here. Using an elevated viewpoint and corner positioning, Peploe weights the composition to the left, whilst the roses entering from the right suggest the space beyond the confines of the canvas. The precision of his earlier efforts in the genre has given way to the looser, more expressive technique of the period. Detail is implied rather than specifically rendered, such as in the patterning of the vase and dish. Confidently applied brushstrokes are drawn across the texture of the support, layering rather than blending colours in passages which verge on the abstract, especially in the background. A more gentle palette than that used in previous years sees a harmonious blend of mid-tone pink, blue, yellow and brown. The overall effect is one of a relaxed and confident master at work.The later Still Life with Fruit and Flowers shows how Peploe maintained his fascination with the still life genre into the 1930s. New, more rustic, props were introduced, such as the earthenware vase featured here. Fruit and flowers continue to bring bright colour and compositional high notes to the image, whilst a strong use of black to outline form can be related to contemporary works by his friend and fellow Scottish Colourist, F. C. B. Cadell.The current work takes us from the 1920s into the 1930s, following Peploe as his reputation and stature grew. Acquisitions of his work were made by several public collections, including for Manchester and Aberdeen Art Galleries. His work was shown in a group exhibition alongside Cadell, Fergusson, Hunter and others in Paris in 1931, from which one of his paintings was acquired for the French national collection. It is little wonder that, following his death in Edinburgh in 1935, David Foggie described him in The Scotsman as “one of the most interesting and inspiring of Scottish painters..one of the few whose works were highly esteemed not only in Scotland, but in England and abroad.” (David Foggie, ‘Peploe’s Art: A Scotsman under French Influence’, The Scotsman, 14 October 1935)