Anne Redpath, R.S.A., A.R.A.

Anthony Rampton Esq.

London, Commonwealth Institute, 14 Scottish Painters, 1963/64, no. 106

The canvas is original. On close inspection there is some very minor craquelure just left of centre and very minor spots elsewhere. Otherwise in good original condition. Ultraviolet light reveals no sign of retouching. Held in a simply decorated wooden frame with gold painted edges in fair condition.
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Pittenweem in Fife is a small, secluded fishing village on the east coast of Scotland and literally translated from Gaelic means 'the place of the dark caves'. Pittenweem, Village in Fife is a highly typical example of Anne Redpath's style of landscape painting dating primarily to the late 1950s and first half of the 1960s also observed in such works as Landscape, Kyleakin (1958) and Les Tourettes (1962). The most poignant comparison is made with Dolce Aqua (1963), sold at Sotheby's on 1 May 2008 for £102,500, which differs only in the location and tonal palette which Redpath chose. In the present work Redpath has depicted the village on a seemingly cloudy day and Redpath frequently spoke about her preference for dark and grey weather, offering her a more dramatic and stimulating mood with which to work. The architecture of the village appears as flat blocks of white and grey pigment. The buildings have limited special depth and they cast no shadows. Redpath has laid down thick impasto to represent concrete form but by scraping it back, she has created a striking image of a town where nothing has concrete solidity.

Redpath's career truly reached a crescendo in the latter half of her life. During the years of early marriage and motherhood spent in France, she produced very little work and instead chose to concentrate her time and efforts on her young family. Only on her return to Scotland in 1934, with her children in school and a financial incentive to earn money at a time when her husband struggled to provide for the family, did Redpath return to her painting with full gusto.  The artist acknowledged the unerring importance of painting in her life despite the barren periods when she commented of her time as a mother, "I always had a rather guilty conscience. I always knew I would come back to painting." By the 1950s, Redpath was living in Edinburgh and enjoying a reputation shared by few other contemporary Scottish, and particularly female painters. She was elected the first woman painter R.S.A in 1952 and had her first solo show at The Lefevre Gallery in London the same year. Her highly respected opinion and academic approach were acknowledged by the Arts Council who asked her to lecture on their behalf and the articles she was asked to write for The Scotsman.