Collections

Untitled

Artist: Gillies, William George, Sir, CBE RA RSA PPRSW · 1898-1973

One of three near pure abstract oil paintings by Gillies in the RSA Collections which reveal his interest in Kandinsky's art.

His election as a member of the Edinburgh-based Society of Eight in 1931 provided Gillies with the opportunity to exhibit such avant garde works.

He acknowledged Kandinsky's influence in an interview in 1960 and his personal library contained Will Grohmann's 1930 biography of Kandinsky.

However, in the same 1960 interview he stated that pure abstraction was; "not in my make-up, I'm afraid. My kind of painting comes naturally to me. I need the contact with nature."

This is probably the most pure abstract of the three oils and although untitled and of unclear iconography, the shapes are evocative of bunting and possibly floats or marker buoys, some elements of which find comparison in the other two abstract works in the RSA collections by him.