George Leslie Hunter

The Wemyss Honeyman Collection;
Private collection

STRUCTURE The board is sound,. there is good impasto to the paint surface and generally the work is in good order, and ready to hang. ULTRAVIOLET There are some small flecks of retouching to the extreme left and right edges, to the white to the left of the vase, a small spot to the centre of the lower edge. There is a small vertical line of retouching to the upper edge, approx. 2 cm. in length which may relate to a small hairline crack, however, nothing is visible to the verso. FRAME In a carved, gilt frame.
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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."

George Leslie Hunter was not an artist who conformed to traditional modes of painting and just as his life was rather spontaneous, his art was also experimental. This well composed still-life in Hunter’s studio, demonstrates Hunter's refinement as an artist;  ‘It is this unerring sense of colour that made Hunter the artist he became… never a jarring pattern is found, or an inharmonious tone in his colour schemes – rich and glowing as they are without a hint of garishness’. (T. J. Honeyman, Introducing Leslie Hunter, 1937, p. 211)

Hunter usually composed his still lifes on a table-top around a central motif of flowers with a bowl of fruit, which here is spilling its contents on to the white drape that is casually arranged on the table. On one occasion he even made a cooked lobster the chief subject of his picture. Hunter would return to his Glasgow studio with bouquets of choice blooms and despite the chaos of his housekeeping, was able to construct a pleasing and sophisticated still life from which to work. An event is recorded in which, at a dinner party he became enraptured by the vase of flowers which had stood on the table at dinner, and after pleading with his host was allowed to leave with the vase and the flowers in order that he might paint them. Unfortunately he omitted to empty the water out of the vase as he marched home, becoming increasingly drenched with every step. These eccentricities and enthusiasms show the great excitement he felt for painting flowers.

Still Life of Apples and Flowers in a Blue Vase dates from c.1925 when Hunter painted several still lifes with a background of white painted panelling. It is comparable with Still Life with Tulips and Fruit (sold in these rooms, 27 August 2003, lot 1223) and Still Life with Carnations and Fruit (sold in these rooms, 30 August 2006, lot 1049) in which the still life is arranged on the polished top of a round table.