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signed l.l.: F. C. B. Cadell; inscribed and signed on the reverse: Still Life. Anemones./ by/ F.C.B. Cadell./ Absorbent ground/ NEVER varnish/ F.C.B.C.

oil on panel

PROVENANCE

Edinburgh, Doig Wilson & Wheatley;
Private collection
EXHIBITED

Paris, Mona Bismark Foundation, Glasgow, Hunterian Art Gallery and London, Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, Les Coloristes écossais de 1900 à 1935, 21 April - 26 June 2004, no. 73
CATALOGUE NOTE

The vibrant colours and expressive brushstrokes of Still Life with Anemones, painted in 1931 exemplify the bold style Cadell developed after the First World War. The overall effect is quite different from the impressionistic paintings Cadell painted c.1925, for example The Black Hat. After seeing Cadell's first London exhibition at the Lecester Galleries in 1923, the art critic for the Daily Mail noted that '... he has solidified his style. All forms are stated with an assurance that carves conviction...' The Sunday Observer also reported that 'not a trace of the earlier Cadell is left... although his colour has lost none of its charm and harmonious brightness.'

The development of Cadell's style towards paintings of a stronger, brighter colour with a far tighter and almost architectural structure demonstrate the clear influence of Peploe, in particular his still lifes of a similar subject. It was indirectly through Peploe, who had spent more time in France, that Cadell became acquainted with the French avante-garde tendencies such as the hatched strokes typical of Cezanne's late works and the bright palette of the Fauves.

The present work is dateable to the same period as Roses (Sotheby's, Hopetoun House, 14 April 2003, lot 109) which shares a similar colour scheme and formal arrangement. The pink china bowl appears in the small panel Blue Jug and Silhouette whilst the unusual thick-stemmed wine glass here used as a vase, appears in The Green Bottle of c. 1927. The Persian tile was the subject of a painting of 1909 whilst a similarly composed study of Anemones in a Vase was exhibited at the Lefevre Gallery in 1988. Cadell's careful and tasteful placement of objects and flowers is here demonstrated with great intelligence and refinement. The geometric lines created by the books and the diagonals of the table-edge, contrast dynamically with the ornate tile depicting a horseman and the reflections cast on the polished surface of the table.

Still Still Life with Anemones is a beautiful painting from Cadell's transitional period, combining the rich texture so typical of Cadell's earlier impressionistic works with a tighter structure that looks forwards to the stylized interiors, such as Interior: The Orange Blind of c. 1927 (Glasgow Museums: Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove) that Cadell painted until the end of his artistic career.

On the reverse of the present picture is a painting of a beach at Iona which Cadell painted over in order to reuse the panel.