WILLIAM STRANG RA RP RE (SCOTTISH 1859 - 1921),
PUTTO AT PLAY
watercolour on paper, signed and dated 1900
25cm x 31cm
Mounted, framed and under glass
Note: Scottish painter and printmaker. Following a brief apprenticeship with a shipbuilding firm in Clydesdale, he entered the Slade School of Art (1876) where he adhered to the uncompromising realism advocated by his teacher Alphonse Legros. After completing his studies at the Slade (1880), Strang became Legros's assistant in the printmaking class for a year. For the next 20 years he worked primarily as an etcher. His etchings include landscapes in the tradition of Rembrandt, pastoral themes indebted to Giorgione and macabre genre subjects, marked by a sense of tension and suspended animation. He also etched 150 portraits of leading artistic and literary figures. The commitment to realism and psychological intensity that characterises the best of Strang's etched work is also evident in the paintings that dominated the latter half of his career. The influence of the Belgian and French Symbolists' work and Strang's growing confidence in the handling of colour combined in his mature style with a linear clarity and schematic colouring that is best seen in such works as Bank Holiday (1912; London, Tate). His oil portraits, for example Vita Sackville-West as Lady In a Red Hat (1918; Glasgow, A.G. & Mus.), are strikingly potent images of their time. An important collection of Strang's graphic work is held in Glasgow Museums & Art Galleries. On 26th August 2014, McTear's achieved a new UK auction record for a work by William Strang when The Lady With The Pink Feathered Hat (lot 1512) sold for £16,000 (hammer). The previous record, achieved by Sotheby's, had been surpassed by Christie's (London, King Street) in July 2013.

Condition Report
No evident damage or signs of fading or foxing. In a modern mount and frame.