Anne Redpath, R.S.A., A.R.A. 1895-1965

Painted c.1938, Still Life with White Tulips is among the finest of Redpath's pictures from the period that is generally regarded to be her most successful. Similar in composition and subject-matter to the work of Peploe's paintings of the later 1920s, Still Life with White Tulips bears comparison with Peploe's series of paintings of tulips. Tulips were one of Redpath's favourite flowers and she painted a number of striking compositions, exploiting the rhythms suggested by the arabesques of the drooping flower heads, including White Tulips in a White Vase of c1938 and Red and White Tulips of c1940. Largely composed of subtle blues and whites, Redpath avoided coldness by the use of delicate pinks for the book covers and by allowing the warmth of the board to show through areas of the white paint. With this painting Redpath combines the strength of a bold composition with the subtlety of colouring, that mark her experiments in pale tones;  'She was an extrovert and sensitive, and this balance between strength and subtlety is the key to her achievement as a painter.' (Patrick Bourne, Anne Redpath 1895-1965, Her Life and Work, 1989, p. 9)

The inclusion of the paperback books may also have been suggested by Peploe's still lifes, several of which include piles of books arranged on table-tops. Redpath was an avid reader and there were many books around her house that she could use in her still lifes but it is significant that she chose these particular examples; they are recognisable as the classic covers used by the publishing house Penguin. The first Penguin paperbacks were published in the summer of 1935 and were a mix of fiction, crime and biography. The aim of the books was to provide good quality writing to be sold at low prices in traditional book shops but also at railway stations and chain stores such as Woolworths. The different genres of the books were denoted by the colour of the covers; crime being green, fiction orange and biography blue. The inclusion of Penguin books in Redpath's painting gives a note of contemporary style and perhaps also suggests Redpath's belief that art and literature were not for the privileged minority, but for everyone. From its beginnings Penguin was regarded as a left wing publisher and Redpath certainly considered herself to be a liberal thinker. Therefore the inclusion of these books in the still life is as much a political statement as it is an artistic one. The same motif of books appears in The Pink Table of c1944 in which another paperback is prominent with a copy of Studio magazine.

Anne Redpath returned from France in 1934 after unrest between the French and Italians made the Redpath family nervous of remaining on the continent. Settling in Hawick in Scotland, she embarked on the most productive and spontaneous period of her career. Almost immediately in that year she was elected a Professional Member of the Society of Scottish Artists in 1934 four years before Still Life with White Tulips was painted, she was made a Member of the Scottish Society of Women Artists. A flamboyant character, brimming with energy, Anne Redpath was a striking figure in her studio and it was in studio painting that she found her greatest freedom of expression. Interiors and still lifes rather than landscape afforded her a much greater control of her subject and fired her imagination. Witty, droll and with an unerring judgement of character, Redpath was never pretentious (she despised artifice) and always welcoming of those who were genuine. Her paintings reflect her sensitive and open character, particularly in the lack of artifice of the still-life arrangements in which she found her distinctive voice.

Terence Mullaly noted the importance of subtle colouring in Redpath's work from the 1930s; 'pinks and greys, mauve and lilacs are colours which she commands. Equally remarkable is Anne Redpath's use of white. I have now for several years lived with a large still life by her which is in effect a study in white. It is a picture of beauty; handled with boldness, indeed bravura. It combines to a degree today rare decisive use of paint, an uninhibited delight in its qualities, and a respect for the thing seen.' (Terence Mullaly, Anne Redpath Memorial Exhibition catalogue, The Arts Council of Great Britain Scottish Committee, 1965, p.3.)

The Aitken Dott & Son label on the reverse of this picture is the type that was reserved for the pictures sent for exhibition and different from the labels pasted onto pictures which were not exhibited. The label is printed with the title Still Life which supports the suggestion that this is the picture that was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1939, the same exhibition that included Redpath's Lilies (Sotheby's, Gleneagles, 27 August 2003, lot 1231).