Contemporary & Post-War Art (474) Lot
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Contemporary & Post-War Art (474) Thu, 18th Aug 2016, Edinburgh Lot 132 Estimate: £3000 - £5000 + Fees § ALEXANDER GOUDIE R.P., R.G.I. (SCOTTISH 1933- 2004) ROYAL OPERA HOUSE Signed, oil on canvas 48cm x 86cm (19in x 34in) Note: 'I have always lived through my art and in a sense to really taste life to the full I am obliged to put a line around it. Since early childhood this has been my lot, everything which excited my imagination had to be set down in pictorial terms, a magic world where a different language helps explore and explain as well as heighten the experience of living.' And so Alexander Goudie outlines his understanding of art, as an all-pervasive force that allowed him to fully engage in life and all that it had to offer. It is no surprise, then, that Goudie painted across genres, found inspiration in music and literature as well as visual experience, was keen to collaborate on projects in different spheres, and remained a dedicated dandy. After training at Glasgow School of Art, he spent time travelling in Europe on a scholarship, where he encountered art that inspired him, as well as being to his taste, by artists like Rodin and Courbet. He liked to see, and attempt, mastery in painting but in a more conventional way; remaining uninspired by 20th century artistic movements, such as cubism or futurism. He has been described as 'an old- fashioned painter,' and for a man who felt that his job as an artist was 'to simply to tell a story in pictures and to speak with a clear voice,' presumably this was a compliment. But for the artistic establishment at this time, that would be far from a positive affirmation of his approach, entirely aside from their thoughts on his technical abilities. It is thought that Goudie was first drawn to the still-life genre while on one of many recurring trips to Brittany, the homeland of his wife, where he was captivated by the abundance to be found on the kitchen table, from fruit, vegetables and flowers to poultry and still-to-be-skinned game. In the offered collection of still-life works, Goudie's ability to beautifully render a range of objects and textiles is apparent, creating a striking decorative effect, always grounded in painterly principles. As Sir Timothy Clifford, former Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland eulogised, Goudie 'had the skill and eye to describe, as almost no one else could, the sweating flanks of a cart-horse, the toiling, foreshortened form of a Breton peasant, the sheen on silk velvet, or the glow on a pretty girl's cheek.'.