* ALEXANDER GOUDIE RP RGI (SCOTTISH 1933 - 2004)
BRITTANY

oil on canvas, signed, titled verso
framed

image size 49cm x 74cm, overall size 64cm x 89cm

Note: The view of a panoramic Brittany landscape is typical of Goudie's early visits to the region. Frequent visits to Villa Ker Jane, the home of Goudie's parents-in-law in the village of Loctudy, Brittany were part of the artist's oeuvre. Recurring visits to Brittany became not just a holiday break from the city life of Glasgow, but a place of experimentation for his painting, leading to new developments in an increasingly individual style. The sources of Gauguin's powerful symbolism; calvaries, the carved wooden figures of the pieta, rosaries and graveyard guardians, had a power which belied their simple imagery and rough execution. This simplicity - a reduction of form to its basic but unmistakably symbolic shape - gave traditional Breton art its power and Goudie was deeply affected by it. In the first Brittany paintings colour was not one of Goudie's prime concerns, but over the years he moved away from a primarily tonal definition of the world around him to one where colour and pattern take a dominant role. In Cadell and van Dongen, both of whom simplified their approach to figurative painting by the introduction of pure colour, he found guidance. The brilliant light of Loctudy encouraged Goudie to make changes to his palette. The flat landscape, with expanses of water reflecting the powerful skies swept in from the Atlantic, were not suitable subjects for the tonal approach to painting which he brought with him from Scotland. Sir Timothy Clifford, former Director of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: ''At his best, Goudie could draw better than any of his rivals in Scotland. There was magic and vision in his art and, I expect, history will be kind to him.''.