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adam bruce thomsonthe pastels
adam bruce thomsonthe pastels
7-31 october 2015
16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ tEl 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk
www.scottish-gallery.co.uk
the good habit
the curriculum on offer at the new Edinburgh College of art which opened in 1909 was a combination of many academic disciplines as well as painting and drawing instruction. the art school had developed from the boards of manufacture, educational initiatives which derived from a requirement from manufacturing industry to provide technical draughtsmen. the history can be traced back to 1760 and the early industrial revolution when the Board of Trustees for Fisheries, Manufactures and Improvements in Scotland set up an academy with rooms in Picardy Place which became known as the trustees academy. the academy moved to the new Royal institution, now the home of the RSa, in 1826. the master of the School was by tradition a painter. in 1907 the Scottish Education Department took over the running from the direct control of Westminster which had persisted since the 1850’s under what was known as the South Kensington System.
We should not be surprised that graduates in the early decades acquired a great range of skills in different disciplines: mural painting, drawing from life and the antique, calligraphy, technical drawing, etching, engraving and lithography, copying the old masters (sometimes from memory) and the many techniques and media of drawing and painting: pastel, stump drawing, watercolour, gouache, tempera and oil paint. adam Bruce thomson was in the first cadre of students to arrive at the brand
new building on lauriston Place in an era full of energy and possibility with an enthusiastic teaching staff and wonderful facilities which included the copies of the Elgin Marbles which were transferred from the institution building. the great irony was of course the impending cataclysm of the First World War which would engulf and decimate this gilded generation, inflicting damage and guilt on the survivors. Bruce thomson was one of the survivors and paid a heavy toll in lost friends and family but like many he was able to dedicate his life thereafter to a quiet, productive life where the discipline of work was the best carapace against the horrors and sadness he had endured.
His technical mastery of the difficult medium of pastel is clearly evident in this body of work which spans the decade or so after life returned to some sort of equilibrium in 1920. He married in 1918 and the girls, margaret and mary arrived a few years later. the family holidayed in the south west of Scotland, in Dumfriesshire and Stewartry and later in argyll, and there were visits to the Borders. Working on tinted paper with a strong palette and impressionist technique he could work quickly to capture a subject before it passed; changing skies and light over the landscape, horses on the road, his wife sleeping in the shade with her child. a simple world is evoked where the fields have not been blasted by shells and the heavy horses do not pull artillery. this is the world for which so many Scottish soldiers
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fought, preserved but also haunted by the absences, eventually recorded by hundreds of village memorials. the reengagement with normal life, the turning seasons and management of the land, birth and renewal and what mactaggart called ‘the good habit’ of work was salvation for Bruce thomson. He eschewed the antidotes of Dada, Surrealism and expressionism which emerged as the dominant tendencies of post-War modernism but he did not forget his experiences which are neither denied nor indulged in his mature work.
today these beautiful pastels evoke nostalgia for the long summers of our own youth: endless days of sunshine and rainstorms, walks, discoveries, shade by a pool, the hot stone of a country church or a bridge over a lazy river. their deceptive simplicity masks a sophistication which takes us straight to the place and time of their origin, makes us yearn to climb to the top of the distant hill, or hurry home for supper before dusk turns to night.
Guy PEPloE, tHE SCottiSH GallERy
William Wilson and Adam Bruce Thomson. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, c.1966
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1 Self Portrait, 1933pastel, 38.5 x 29.5 cmssigned and dated lower right
provenanceStudio inventory number P49
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2 Artist’s Wifepastel, 22.5 x 28 cmssigned with initials lower right
provenanceStudio inventory number P19
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3 Young Familypastel, 24.5 x 34 cmssigned lower right
provenanceStudio inventory number P64
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4 Tree and Cottagepastel, 27.5 x 35.5 cmssigned lower left
provenanceStudio inventory number P56
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5 Crossroadspastel, 28 x 31.5 cmssigned lower left
provenanceStudio inventory number P30
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6 Haystacks, Solway Firthpastel, 26 x 36.5 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P20
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7 Bridge at Kirk Yetholmpastel, 24 x 34 cmssigned lower left
provenanceStudio inventory number P26
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8 Benderlochpastel, 28 x 38 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P23
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9 Forest Trackpastel, 27 x 38.5 cmssigned lower left
provenanceStudio inventory number P34
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10 Arisaigpastel, 24.5 x 35 cmssigned lower centre
provenanceStudio inventory number P18
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11 West Highland Lochpastel, 25 x 35 cmssigned lower left
provenanceStudio inventory number P62
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12 Carrying Peatpastel, 26 x 34 cmssigned lower left
provenanceStudio inventory number P27
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13 Old White Horsepastel, 27 x 30.5 cmssigned lower right
provenanceStudio inventory number P43
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14 Fir Trees and Goatspastel, 26 x 30 cmssigned lower left
exhibitedadam Bruce thomson, Centenary Exhibition, the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1985, cat.72
provenanceStudio inventory number P32
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15 Village Through the Treespastel, 26 x 33.5 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P60
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16 Ken Bridge, Castle Douglaspastel, 28 x 38 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P39
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17 Church on River Bendpastel, 28 x 35 cmssigned lower right
provenanceStudio inventory number P29
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18 Kelso Abbeypastel, 35 x 27 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P38
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19 The Artist’s Daughter, Marypastel, 39 x 33 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P41
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20 The Artist’s Daughter, Margaretpastel, 35.5 x 27 cmssigned lower right
provenanceStudio inventory number P52
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21 Mooring Posts, Cumberland, Solway Firthpastel, 32.5 x 24.5 cmssigned lower centre
provenanceStudio inventory number P42
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22 Southwick Burnpastel, 28 x 38 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P51
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23 Boys Playingpastel, 25 x 34 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P25
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24 Solwaypastel, 25 x 35.5 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P50
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25 Beech Treespastel, 38.5 x 28 cmssigned lower left
provenanceStudio inventory number P22
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26 The Cuillinspastel, 27.5 x 38.5 cmssigned lower right
provenanceStudio inventory number P54
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27 River and Skypastel, 25 x 32.5 cmssigned lower right
provenanceStudio inventory number P47
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28 Winter Lochpastel, 26 x 35 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P63
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29 Threave Castle, Dumfries and Gallowaypastel, 28 x 35.5 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P28
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30 Graveyardpastel, 37 x 30 cms
provenanceStudio inventory number P35
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31 Fishing Boatspastel, 24 x 29 cmssigned lower right
provenanceStudio inventory number P33
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1885 Born Edinburgh1905 Studied at Royal institution School of art and RSa life School1908-09 Studied at Edinburgh College of art with Diplomas in architecture,
Drawing and Painting1910 travelled to Spain, Holland and Paris on various scholarshipsc.1912 Joined Staff at Edinburgh College of art1915-18 Served in World War i, Royal Engineers1918 married Jessie i. Hislop1919-50 Resumed staff position at Edinburgh College of art1936 Elected President of Society of Scottish artists (SSa )1937 Elected as associate, Royal Scottish academy (aRSa )1946 Elected to the Royal Scottish academy (RSa)1947 Elected to the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW)1949-56 treasurer of the RSa1956-63 President of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW)1963 awarded oBE1971 awarded first may marshall Brown memorial award of the Royal Society of Painters
in Watercolour1971 at own request, became Honorary Retired member of the Royal Scottish academy to
make way for younger members1976 awarded the new William J macaulay memorial award of the Royal Scottish academy1976 Death age 91
SElECtED ExHiBitionSRoyal Scottish academy, Edinburgh, annually 1909-1977Scottish Society of artists, Edinburgh, regularlyRoyal Glasgow institute, Glasgow, regularly
adam bruce thomsonobe, rsa, pprsW (1885-1976)
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the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, regularlyaberdeen artists Society, aberdeenSolo exhibition, aitken Dott & Son (the Scottish Gallery), Edinburgh, 1946Solo exhibition, Douglas and Foulis Gallery and Scottish arts Club, 1967Centenary Exhibition, the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1985Exhibition of Scottish Watercolours, the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1989Adam Bruce Thomson, Oils and Works on Paper, the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 2003Adam Bruce Thomson, Painting the Century, the Scottish Gallery, 2013Adam Bruce Thomson, The Pastels, the Scottish Gallery, 2015
WoRk in PuBliC CollECtionSaberdeen art Gallery and museumsBradford museums and GalleriesCity arts Centre (including Jean F Watson and Scottish modern arts association Collections)City of Edinburgh CouncilClydesdale BankDundee art GalleryFleming-Wyfold CollectionGlasgow museumsHm the Queen’s Private CollectionHeriot-Watt art Collectioninverclyde Councilmclean museum and art Gallerynational library of Scotlandnational trust for ScotlandPaisley art GalleryRoyal Scottish academyuniversity of Edinburgh Fine art Collectionuniversity of St. andrews
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Published by the Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibitionaDam BRuCE tHomSon: tHE PaStElS7 - 31 october 2015
Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/adambrucethomson
iSBn: 978 1 910267 25 7
Designed by www.kennethgray.co.ukPhotography by William Van EslandPrinted by Barr Colour Printers
all rights reserved. no part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.
aCknoWlEDGEmEntSthe Scottish Gallery would like to thank Elizabeth and andrew Hall for their help with this exhibition.
16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ tEl 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.ukwww.scottish-gallery.co.uk
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