Modern times

Over the short space of two decades, the art of Scottish Colourist, George Leslie Hunter progressed from profound shock at the avant-garde art of Picasso and Matisse, to forging ahead in modern colour, form and perspective. The paintings in the collection of his cousin Arthur Leyden, to be offered for sale in Edinburgh in October, are testament to that remarkable artistic journey – and each picture has a story to tell. Although born in Scotland in 1877, Hunter moved to America with his family when he was 15. He began working as a magazine illustrator in San Francisco in 1899 and around this time adopted the professional name of Leslie Hunter, (although he continued to be known as George to his friends and family). He even became a naturalised US citizen. However, Hunter’s ambitions to become an artist ended abruptly when, on the eve of his first show, he lost everything in the 1906 earthquake, including his sketch books and paintings from his very first trip to Paris in 1903. With no choice but to start again, he returned to Scotland. Being the same age, Hunter and his cousin Arthur spent a lot of time together and became firm friends. Theirs was a close family connection. Hunter’s maternal grandmother was from Southend, Kintyre, and Arthur was born and raised in nearby Campbeltown.

The closeness of their friendship took practical form in the financial and moral support that Arthur was able to offer his cousin. It was this willingness – indeed eagerness – to help right from the beginning that laid the foundation for Arthur’s remarkable and comprehensive collection of Hunter’s art.

It all started with A Street Corner, Paris. This rare survivor from Hunter’s first Paris trip after his return from America shows an unmistakable sense of future promise, with its intuitive pictorial harmony, mood and texture. At this stage of his career, though, he was far from the finished article and like many aspiring artists was barely making ends meet. His first taste of commercial success – his solo exhibition at Alexander Reid’s prestigious Glasgow gallery, La Société des Beaux-Arts in 1913 – was three long years off. Influenced by Édouard Manet’s still lifes and landscapes, Hunter had begun to incorporate elements of the French Modernist’s techniques into his own work. Arthur’s purchase of two of these Manet-inspired paintings Tulips and Trees was not only essential in encouraging his cousin to keep going, it also helped provide the means to do so.

Hunter was also keen to explore Manet’s technique in portraits, and Arthur and his brother, John, obligingly sat for him. (Arthur, of course, acquired them both). The Portrait of Arthur Leyden from around 1913 shows an important progression in Hunter’s work. It is refreshingly different and modern in tone, as is Hunter’s increasingly adept use of fluid brushwork and colour to build form, contours and personality. It also captured something vital in Arthur. As his daughter, Peggie, told Michael Palin for the BBC programme Palin on the Colourists from 2000: “This is a portrait of my father that I like very much, because I feel him, it’s ... he’s strong ... it’s just him.”

Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the two cousins were to be separated when, in 1915, Arthur accepted a job in New York, mirroring the journey Hunter had made all those years earlier. Although a great physical distance now lay between them, their friendship remained unaffected. Indeed, their mutual love of America, its lack of social constraints and the easy-going nature of Americans strengthened their bond.

George Leslie Hunter (British, 1877-1931) Portrait of Arthur Leyden, signed ‘Hunter’, oil on canvas, 61.2 x 50.5cm (24 x 19¾in). Estimate: £12,000 - 18,000 ($15,000 - 20,000)

George Leslie Hunter (British, 1877-1931), Still life with roses and Japanese print, 61 x 50cm (24 x 19¾in). Estimate: £60,000 - 80,000 ($70,000 - 95,000)

On a trip back home in 1924, Arthur added a work to his collection – Still Life with Melon – which proved pivotal in Hunter’s artistic development. In Paris, in 1908, the artist had been astounded on a visit to Gertrude Stein’s salon by her pioneering collection of works by Matisse and Picasso. It took him years of experimenting before he could harness such modern concepts in paint. Hunter had an affinity with the theories of both Paul Cézanne and the philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) that colour was the sensation in the eye, rather than the actual colour of an object. This began to find form in his painting – and in Still Life with Melon, the innate sense of pictorial harmony is as striking as the feeling the artist has translated the colour sensations on canvas that had previously eluded him. Arthur, always such a loyal supporter on Hunter’s artistic journey, bravely acquired a very modern painting for its time. Works such as these are what differentiate Hunter, even from his fellow Colourists, and makes him the most exciting – and misunderstood and perhaps under-appreciated of the group.

It was on that same trip home to Scotland that Arthur also bought Still Life with Japanese Print, datable to 1921- 22 – one of only two paintings by Hunter to feature a Japanese print – along with two charming Fife landscapes. Landscape in Fife dates from 1921-22 when Hunter was making immense strides in his sense of colour and form. Cottages in Fife from around the same period demonstrates his use of colour blocks arranged across the canvas surface united with a wonderful sense of pattern

Hunter re-located to Provence in the South of France in 1927 – ‘I’m in love with this country’, as he wrote to Arthur. It inspired a life-affirming liberation of his own sense of bold colour, form and pattern. By late summer 1928, he felt confident he was achieving the consistent quality in his work that would put his great dream of a New York exhibition within reach. Picasso and Matisse had been gaining a following in New York and he wanted to be there too. (There was also perhaps a bit of rivalry at play – two of the other Scottish Colourists, Samuel Peploe and J.D. Fergusson had recently shown at the prestigious Kraushaar Art Galleries).

On 19 November 1928, Hunter sailed to New York to stay with Arthur and his family so that he could scout round for a gallery to exhibit his work. Six months later, Hunter’s show opened at the Feragil Gelleries to much fanfare and enthusiastic newspaper reviews, including one in The New York Times by Lloyd Goodrich who went on to become Director of The Whitney Museum. Arthur also bought two of the still life works painted in his apartment during the time Hunter lived there; Still Life with Candlestick and The Blue Teacup.

In Michael Palin’s interview from 2000, Arthur’s daughter Peggie, gave an insight into ‘Uncle George’s’ working method. Still Life with Candlestick “was painted in our apartment in New York and you can see the basket, the silver basket... he just took things right and left, what he wanted to paint”. Hunter’s assured modern handling of colour and texture animates Still Life with Candlestick and it is a fitting tribute to Hunter’s stay with Arthur, Marcelle and Peggie Leyden in their New York home. Peggie kept the candlestick, wax fruit and silver basket and they were displayed near the painting, until eventually the basket became the only survivor.

The Blue Teacup is very much Hunter’s bold statement that he’d arrived in his naturalised country, demonstrating a firm grip on what it means to be modern. And this achievement was in no small part thanks to the unfailing support of his cousin Arthur Leyden.

It was the last time the cousins saw each other. Although Hunter wrote in a thank-you letter, “I am feeling in very good health and spirits and am beginning to get some amusement out of life again”, his health was ailing. He died three years later. The pictures in this unique collection – belonging to the Leyden family since they were painted – form an enduring celebration of Hunter’s artistic legacy.

Jill Marriner, co-author of The Life and Art of Leslie Hunter provided material for this article.