Collections

A Shingly Shore

Artist: McTaggart, William, RSA · 1835-1910

A Shingly Shore

One of a number of canvases executed by McTaggart at Machrihanish in June 1904. Caw (p.138) writes of these works as follows; "On the other hand,…

One of a number of canvases executed by McTaggart at Machrihanish in June 1904. Caw (p.138) writes of these works as follows; "On the other hand, during1903 and 1904 there was a recrudescence of out-of-doors activity. For the most part these were years of smaller canvases, but almost everything done was marked by extraordinary vitality of conception and execution. Flooded with ambient light, exquisite or powerful in colour, magical in suggestion of movement, composed with exceptional felicity and painted with the greatest subtlety, in them and a few landscapes painted during the following year and in the three or four pictures done in 1907 (after which he painted comparatively little) McTaggart remained at the height of his powers............Next June [ie 1904] his work at Machrihanish was no less remarkable....and in "Whaur the burnie rins doon to the Sea", "A Shingly Shore", The White Sand Hills", "The Race of the Tide", and "Broken Weather changing to Fine", to name no more, he attained very wonderful effects of light, colour, and atmosphere by an economy of means and a subtlity [sic] of handling greater even than he had hitherto used."