George Henry, R.A., R.S.A., R.S.W.

William York MacGregor, Glasgow;
Private Collection 

Glasgow, The Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, 1885, no. 523

J. Craig Annan (Intro.), Exh. Cat. The Glasgow Boys, 1971, illus. p. 51;
Roger Billcliffe, The Glasgow Boys: The Glasgow School of Painting 1875-1895, 1985, illus. p. 152

Original canvas. There is a horizontal stretcher mark running across the upper border. Some patches of craquelure visible, notably to the are to the right of the girl seated on the left. Also a small dent to the canvas and some associated paint loss to the dress of the girl on the right. Held in a lightly dedorated gilded frame. UV light reveals some small spots of retouching along the stretcher mark in the upper right.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Playmates is one of George Henry's most accomplished and celebrated works, displaying all the quintessential characteristics of the Glasgow Boys' style. In the introduction to The Glasgow Boys exhibition catalogue published by the Scottish Arts Council in 1971, reference is made to the Glasgow Art Club Book (published in 1885) which identifies and describes some outstanding examples of 'Glasgow Boyism' including "Guthrie's Schoolmates, a Guthrie-like Henry called Playmates and Macgregor's Pollards on the Tyne." (p.12). In 1883, the year prior to Henry painting Playmates, three important pictures which profoundly influenced the Glasgow Boys were exhibited at the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts; Le Mendiant by Jules Bastien-Lepage, La Baignade by William Stott of Oldham and Evie by Arthur Melville.

Another important event in the same year was the discovery, by James Guthrie and Edward Arthur Walton, of the village of Cockburnspath, a small village set back slightly from the cliffs and sea approximately 10 miles south along the coast from Dunbar. Co'path, as it was known, provided a physically and mentally stimulating environment for The Boys and was to become their summer headquarters, often being referred to as 'their Barbizon'. This connection with Paris is obvious as the group's primary interest and artistic influences came from across the Channel, most notably from those artists in the realist circle of Bastien-Lepage. In an obvious homage to Bastien-Lepage, Henry, Guthrie and Crawhall each signed their works in his capital letter style, as indeed was the case for some members of the British Impressionists such as George Clausen and Henry Herbert La Thangue. Their choice of realist subject matter and the loosely handled square-brush technique were elements directly adopted from Bastien-Lepage and his contemporaries and can be clearly seen in the present work.

It was in 1884 that William York Macgregor produced his celebrated work entitled The Vegetable Stall which was arguably taken as the ideal for which the Glasgow Boys were striving at that time; "a vigorous, painterly grasp of realism" (p.19). Playmates was painted  two years after Guthrie's To Pastures New and in the very same year as Guthrie's Schoolmates and Macgregor's The Vegetable Stall, illustrating the important movement and artistic progression in which each of these artists were deeply involved. The influence of Guthrie's To Pastures New upon Henry is particularly remarkable and although this picture was not exhibited at the Royal Glasgow Institute until 1885, Henry would almost certainly have been aware of it at Cockburnspath.

The composition which Henry employs in Playmates is masterfully measured with each of the two young children, engrossed in a game of 'chucks', occupying a precisely balanced space. In an article in The Scotsman on 10th February 1885, it is stated that a "feeling for harmony is manifested in...Henry's broadly painted Playmates, whose colour arrangement consists in the application of soft flesh tints, blue frocks and white pinafores upon a background of grey wall" decorated with flower pots and plants. When Playmates was exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts in 1885, it was extremely well received by both the other Glasgow Boys and critics, so much so that it was purchased by William York Macgregor for £52 as an Art Union prize at the Institute.