
May Matthews
Managing Director, Scotland



Sold for £44,800 inc. premium
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Managing Director, Scotland

Senior Specialist

Sale Coordinator
Provenance
With Portland Gallery, London.
Private collection, UK.
Sale, Bonhams, London, 11 November 1998, lot 40.
Private Collection, Netherlands (acquired at the above sale).
Cadell first travelled to Iona in 1912 and from then he would visit almost every summer to paint its distinctive scenery, seascapes and beaches. Perhaps most distinctive in Cadell's work from the island is his ability to render the subtleties of changing light across its landscape. In the present work, there are areas of intense brightness where the sun reflects off the sand and rocks, and other more gentle areas, perhaps muted by passing cloud cover. This skill in his work creates a patchwork of colour and tone which bring the scene to life.
His paintings from Iona perfectly express the spirit of what could be described as the Colourist philosophy of painting, and TJ Honeyman, biographer of the Scottish Colourists and the man who coined the term, considered Cadell's Iona series to be the 'archetypal Colourist pictures'.