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

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This is one of three extant paintings from the 1930s by Gillies which survive in the RSA Collections in which he most deeply immersed himself in near…

This is one of three extant paintings from the 1930s by Gillies which survive in the RSA Collections in which he most deeply immersed himself in near pure abstraction.

He had an opportunity to exhibit such avant garde works through the Society of Eight, to whose select membership Gillies was elected in 1931, in their annual exhibitions in the New Gallery, Shandwick Place, Edinburgh.

The present work and the other two, Flags and Bunting and Untitled, are evocative of the work of Kandinsky and Gillies' personal library included a copy of Will Grohmann's biography, Kandisnsky, published by Editions Cahiers d'Art in 1930.

Talking of this element of his practice in an interview in 1960, in which Gillies acknowledged Kandinsky's influence, he stated "its not part of my make-up, I'm afraid. My kind of painting comes naturally to me. I need the contact with nature."

© Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture