Samuel John Peploe RSA

(British, 1871-1935)

Still life with apples, pears and peaches

Footnotes

Provenance
Aitken Dott, Edinburgh.
Duncan Miller, London.
Private collection.
Sale, Christie's, Edinburgh, 26 October 2006, lot 188.
Private collection.
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 22 April 2010, lot 68.
Property of a Gentleman (acquired from the above).


Bursting with rich, saturated tones, the present work demonstrates Peploe's innate love of colour. Peploe had used colour at its highest pitch since his return to Scotland after working in France in 1913. He painted bold still lifes in which primary tones were emphasised by distinctive black outlines and the juxtaposition of bright colours placed side by side was used to convey an intensity in his work. The cobalt blue and emerald green of the drapery dominate the background, whilst jewel-like orbs of pigment are used for the fruit.

More than any other member of the Scottish Colourists, Peploe had been influenced by the radical work of the Cubists and Fauves and he developed a way of painting more closely akin to that of Cézanne with his bold colour and delineated tone. As Stanley Cursiter, the artist's biographer wrote 'the main impression gathered from [Peploe's] paintings is of colour, intense colour, and colour in its most colourful aspect. One is conscious of material selected for inclusion in still-life groups because of its colourful effect; reds, blues, and yellows are unmistakably red, blue and yellow; the neutrals are black and white' (S. Cursiter, Peploe: An intimate memoir of an artist and his work, 1947, p. 43).

A sense of rhythm is achieved in the broad and contrasting brushstrokes that lead the eye across the surface. The picture is prevented from becoming overwhelmingly angular with the inclusion of the curved porcelain bowl, vase and scattered spherical fruit. It is well known that Peploe used favourite studio props in endless permutations in his quest to paint the perfect still life and experimented with composition. Some of these were very subtle adjustments, others more radical, such as the unusual change here to a landscape format.

Still life with apples, pears and peaches portrays Peploe's mastery of the simple but stunning qualities of colour and form in this startling composition.