Red and pink carnations

GEORGE LESLIE HUNTER

Rothesay 1877 - 1931 Glasgow

Ref: CC 160

Red and pink carnations

Signed lower right: Hunter

Oil on canvas laid down on board: 9 x 5 ¾ in / 22.9 x 14.6 cm

Frame size: 12 ¼ x 9 in / 31.1 x 22.9 cm

Painted in the 1920s

In an antiqued water-gilt frame with colourwash

Provenance:

Richard M Thune, New York

The Fine Art Society, London, May 1997 [10799]

Dr John Cooney (1926-2018), Dublin, then by descent

Exhibited:

London, The Fine Art Society, Spring ’97, 6th May-6th June 1997, no.57, illus. in colour p.46, as Carnations in a glass vase

From the early 1920s, George Leslie Hunter abandoned the precise, realistic representation of his still life subject against a dark ground, inspired by Dutch seventeenth-century masters such as Willem Kalf, in favour of boldly painted flowerpieces before a lighter field. In contrast to his pre-war paintings, such as Roses in a white and blue vase (Glasgow Museums), Hunter’s work of the 1920s began to show a greater freedom and spontaneity of execution, bold colour and a thicker use of paint. In their monograph on Hunter, Bill Smith and Jill Marriner write that the artist’s later work displays the ‘freshness and exuberance that have been missing hitherto. The joy in what he paints and in the quality of the paint itself is evident.’[1]

Hunter’s delight in the tactile qualities of paint can clearly be seen in the present work, a sumptuous small-scale flowerpiece rich in colour and media. He depicts the flourishing, long-stemmed flowers with loaded, expressive strokes, his assured brushwork giving this modest arrangement incredible depth and intensity. Hunter skilfully captures the form and mass of the vibrant red and pale pink flowers and their densely-packed, yet delicate, ruffled petals. Concentrating on the three stunning blooms, he crops all but the neck of the delicate glass vase, whose dark, teal tones tint the background, also executed in rapid, rhythmic strokes, brilliantly offsetting the warmth of the fragrant flowers.

[1] Bill Smith and Jill Marriner, Hunter Revisited: The Life and Art of Leslie Hunter, Atelier Books, Edinburgh 2012, p.75.