One of the finest paintings by Robert Gemmell Hutchison, possibly the best loved of Scottish artists, is for sale at the Annual Scottish Sale at Bonhams, Edinburgh on Wednesday 31 August. It has an estimate of £120,000-180,000.
‘Sea Gulls and Sapphire Seas’ was painted in 1909 and represents the artist at the height of his powers. In a dazzling display of impressionistic technique, Hutchison places a characteristic foreground of children in the sand dunes against the sparkling sea and whirling gulls. Many of his most popular paintings feature children playing beside the sea and he often used his daughters and their friends as models in coastal locations in Berwickshire, East Lothian and Carnoustie.
A prolific painter all his life, Gemmell Hutchison exhibited tirelessly and successfully but never allied himself to a particular school of Scottish painting such as the Colourists or the Glasgow Boys.
The Head of Pictures at Bonhams, Scotland, Chris Brickley said, “In its ambition and confidence ‘Sea Gulls and Sapphire Seas’ is one of Gemmell Hutchison’s best works. It’s a superb coming together of all the elements which have made him such a popular figure in Scottish art.”
