ANNE REDPATH O.B.E., R.S.A., A.R.A., L.L.D., A.R.W.S., R.O.I., R.B.A. (SCOTTISH 1895-1965)
INTERIOR WITH PATTERNED RUG
Signed, oil on panel laid down
80cm x 95cm (31.5in x 37.5in)
Having lived in France for fourteen years and following the birth of her three sons there, Redpath returned to the Scottish Borders in 1934. She lived first at 52 Orchard Terrace, Hawick, before moving to nearby 5 Beaconsfield Terrace. She resumed painting in earnest and was soon embedded in the Edinburgh art world, as a member of the Society of Scottish Artists and the Scottish Society of Women Artists. Her work was shown regularly in group exhibitions in Edinburgh, Glasgow and, from 1946, in London. Her first solo exhibition in Scotland was held at the Gordon Small Gallery in the Scottish capital in 1947, the year in which she was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy.Interior with Patterned Rug dates from this propitious period in Redpath’s career. She continued the tradition of the interior in Scottish art history, following in the footsteps of forebears including David Wilkie, Wiliam Quiller Orchardson and more recently F. C. B. Cadell, and made a distinct contribution to the genre in her own right. Having been struck by the effect of a colourful rug hung on white plaster walls in Florence whilst on an Edinburgh College of Art travelling scholarship, Redpath thereafter took great care over the decoration and furnishing of her homes. They in turn became the subject of some of her most celebrated works, not least The Mantelpiece of c.1947 in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland.Redpath’s training at Edinburgh College of Art, where she was an outstanding student, and her direct exposure to modern French art during the 1920s and early 1930s, particularly that of Henri Matisse and Eduoard Vuillard, also contributed to the achievements realised in works such as Interior with Patterned Rug. From a slightly raised, oblique viewpoint, Redpath orchestrated a complex composition of white painted furniture, carefully rendered still life objects dispersed across the image, the patterned rug which takes up almost half of the canvas surface area and a deft use of colour to draw the eye around the room. As Philip Long has pointed out:“The similarity of Redpath’s work from the 1940s to aspects of Matisse’s painting is clear, in particular the tendency to flatten forms and make them decorative elements in an overall pictorial design and the ability to use colour to create harmonies, striking juxtapositions and to express volume.” (Philip Long, Anne Redpath 1895-1965, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, p.19) The present painting is at once highly personal, providing a glimpse into a domestic space, as well as international in its art historical scope.