My Favourite Things

Kamée Payton, who has joined us on work experience this July, has picked a couple of her favourite pictures in the British, European and Sporting Art Sale on 13th July. 

This summer, as I conclude my studies in Art Law at the University of York, I have had the wonderful opportunity to do work experience here at Tennants Auctioneers. It has been an absolute pleasure to learn the ins and outs of the commercial art world from the wonderful team here at Tennants, and to spend time in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. In the past weeks I have had the privilege of observing and handling a variety of wonderful objects which will be coming for sale on 13 July. Below are just a few of my many favourites.

Lot 1012
Frances Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937)
'Self-Portrait on Iona'
Pencil and Watercolour

This small painting of Cadell immediately caught my eye with the artist’s yellow jacket standing out against the beautiful cobalt blues and pale purples of the landscape. The work is interesting in its duality as seascape and self-portrait and should be appreciated as both. To me, the scene feels quiet and intimate. The only other people present are the figure to the far left in lavender tones, and me as I study the landscape which Cadell paints. I like the idea of this work capturing a moment (the artist painting) while the artist captures another moment (the landscape and the sea as it rapidly changes before him).

Cadell was associated with the Scottish Colourists. These artists all came from Scotland and had the common experience of spending time in France being influenced by the French Impressionists and Les Fauves with their bold colour palettes and loose brushwork. Cadell left for Paris when he was only 16 to study at the Academie Julian in Paris. He was particularly impressed by the work of Cézanne and Matisse. Cadell eventually returned to Scotland and regularly exhibited in Glasgow and Edinburgh. In this work we see Cadell painting on the Scottish Island of Iona. He first visited Iona in 1912 but quickly fell in love with it and spent much time there, sometimes bringing fellow Scottish Colourists with him on his painting trips. The way in which Self Portrait on Iona captures Cadell painting en plein air in one of his favourite places, is absolutely charming.

1002-1005
Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970)
Sketches of Fishermen, From the Artist's Sketchbook

There is something exciting about seeing an artist’s sketches. For me a sketchbook brings the artist to life because, like a written journal, it gives insight into the things which they felt important enough to put to paper and it is where their creative process begins. These sketches of fisherfolk are straight from Dame Laura Knight’s sketchbook. I like the idea of the artist drawing the people who she was surrounded by as they did everyday things like beachcombing. She was known for getting to know the people in the communities where she painted and found beauty in people’s day-to-day lives, as is clearly demonstrated in these works.

Knight's life was full of accomplishments. She was a War Artist in the First and Second World Wars and even painted the proceedings of the Nuremberg Trials (these paintings currently reside in the Imperial War Museum). In 1936 Dame Laura Knight became the first female artist to be elected to full membership at the British Royal Academy since the deaths of Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser, who were among its founding members and in 1965 Knight held a solo retrospective there, becoming the first woman to do so. As a fun fact, Knight was good friends with the artist Sir Alfred Munnings by whom two paintings will be coming for sale alongside Knight’s sketches on 13 July.