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Seagulls View - St Abbs

Artist: Rodger, Willie, RSA RGI DUniv · 1930-2018

Seagulls View - St Abbs

The artist was the first person to be elected to the new discipline of Printmaker when he was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Scottish…

The artist was the first person to be elected to the new discipline of Printmaker when he was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1989. On abolition of the Associate rank and the discreet disciplines of Painter, Sculptor and Printmaker to be replaced by the new generic discipline of Artist, he was elevated to full Academician rank in 2005.

The artist spent his annual summer holidays with his wife and family at nearby Coldingham Sands during the first fortnight in August each year for 20 years. The beach huts and holidaymakers on the Sands, and views of buildings within the small fishing village of St Abbs provided him with endless sources of inspiration.

The present work can be seen in the lineage of Scottish topographical works of coastal villages which harks back to William Daniell and his contemporaries. The artist’s intimate knowledge of the topography of the village enabled this view for the seaward side of the small harbour; a physical location to which he never physically travelled himself.

The print features the deployment of a favoured motif, slanting rain, printed from a closely grained wooden drawing board which had been brushed with a wire brush to remove the softer wood between the firmer ridges which take the ink. This element was not included in the editioned version of the work. The colour was applied by hand using a paper stencil.

There was a companion print of the village viewed from the area to the upper right of the present work looking down on the harbour titled Landlubber’s View of St. Abbs, printed in green, ochre and terracotta..

The Berwickshire village was known to a number of Members of the Academy who produced work featuring it, including Robert Gemmell Hutchison RSA, Sir William George Gillies RSA, and John Bellany HRSA.

© The Willie Rodger Art Trust