Cadell

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937)

Crème de Menthe 1917

Oil on canvas

107 x 84cm

McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock.

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937)

Black and Gold 1920-25

Oil on canvas

103 x 92cm

McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937)

Interior - The Orange Blind, c.1928

OIl on canvas

33.86 inch x 44.02 inch

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell, R.S.A., R.S.W. (1883-1937)

Figure and Kirk, Iona

signed 'F.C.B. Cadell' (lower left)

Pencil and watercolour

6¾ x 9¾ in. (17 x 24.7 cm.)

Private collection

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell, R.S.A., R.S.W. (1883-1937)

North Wind, Iona (The Bather)

signed 'FCB Cadell.' (lower right), signed again and inscribed 'NORTH WIND. IONA./(THE BATHER.)/by F.C.B. Cadell./F.C.B.C.' (on the reverse)

oil on panel

14½ x 17¾ in. (36.8 x 45 cm.)

Private collection

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell R.S.A. (1883-1937)

The Sound of Iona c. 1928

signed 'F.C.B. Cadell' (lower left)

oil on canvas laid down on board

14¾ x 17¼in. (37.5 43.8cm)

Private collection

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell R.S.A. (1883-1937)

Iona: Ben More

signed 'F.C.B. Cadell' (lower left)

Oil on panel

38 by 46 cm., 15 by 18 in.

Private collection

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell R.S.A. (1883-1937)

Still Life with a Lacquer Screen c.1932

Oil on canvas

59.5 by 49.5 cm., 23 1/2 by 19 1/2 in

Private collection

Francis Cadell was a member of the so-called 'Scottish Colourists', a loose-knit group which included the artists S.J. Peploe (1871-1935), J.D. Fergusson (1874-1961) and G.L. Hunter. Of the Scottish Colourists, Cadell was perhaps the most versatile, painting landscapes, seascapes, still-lifes and portraits with equal facility.

The group's paintings were noted for their freedom of handling, and richness of colour

Cadell spent three years in Paris at the turn of the century. Such experience exposed the young artist to the progressive ideas of the avant-garde and immersed him in the inspirational legacy of the Impressionists and their circle.

Cadell was a close friend of the Scottish architect Reginald Francis Joseph Fairlie (1883-1952) who was the architect of a number of notable Catholic buildings in Scotland.

He painted many portraits with wonderful Edinburgh interiors, frequently varied in effect with harmonious colour, animation and lightness in touch.

Iona became his second home. Each year he would visit the island, spending all his time painting the beauty of the white beaches and green seas.

Iona Cathedral is the burial place of the early Scottish kings. The first Christian settlement on the island was founded by St Columba over fourteen hundred years ago. The Cathedral has been an important Christian centre for over 800 years, with its architecture changing and evolving over the centuries.

According to Roger Billcliffe, Cadell was a well-know figure on the island which was a continuous source of inspiration, 'its great attraction was its light and the rapidly changing colours of sand, sea and sky caused by the wind blowing in the clouds from the Atlantic. The fields, hills, farms and beaches of Iona never failed to offer Cadell some new subject ... he became a 'weel-kent' figure ... remarked upon as much for his eccentricity as his talents as an artist' (see R. Billcliffe, The Scottish Colourists, London, 1989, p. 41).

In 1913 Cadell wrote the following verse wich he entitled One Sunday in Iona:

Warmed by the sun, blown by the wind I sat

Upon the hill top looking at the sound.

Down in the church beneath, the people sat

On chairs and laughed and frowned.

No Chairs for me when I can lie

And air myself upon the heather

And watch the fat bees buzzing by

And smell the smell of summer weather.

Let them bow down to God unfound

For me the sound that stretches round

For me the flowery scented ground

Upon the hilltop looking at the sound.

No church for me to worship in

Confined by walls of dank dark stone.

For rather can I worship him

When I am out in his fair world.