* GORDON HOPE WYLLIE DA RSW (SCOTTISH 1930 - 2005),
FARMHOUSE ON ARRAN
mixed media on board, signed and dated '95, titled verso
35cm x 35cm
Framed (original) and under glass.
Exhibited: Tolquhon Gallery, 'Christmas Exhibition', 1995.
Labels verso: Tolquhon Gallery, Tolquhon, Tarves, Ellon; together with artist labels.
Note: Gordon Wyllie was born in Greenock and in 1949 was accepted to study at the Glasgow School of Art. Under the tutelage of such luminaries as Edward Odling and Mary and Willie Armour, Gordon distinguished himself, graduating in 1953 after an eminent final year. He was awarded the post-diploma, or Masters course, won the Scottish Academy Award and also the Newbery Medal, the school's most prestigious prize. This was all the more remarkable considering that Gordon had, in his diploma year, returned home to care for his father, whose seriously deteriorating health ended in death two months before the degree show, and Gordon himself had suffered a bout of pneumonia. With a scholarship award, he studied that summer at Hospitalfield, Arbroath, as a post-graduate under Ian Fleming. Fleming inspired Gordon and encouraged him in abstraction, with which he occupied himself for the next few years. Meanwhile, he trained at Jordanhill College of Education in Glasgow to become a teacher, in the vanguard of the resurgence of art teaching in Scottish schools by the new art masters, undoubtedly because they painted actively while teaching full-time. Passionate about art education, he was instrumental in influencing many students to pursue a career in the creative industry. A former pupil aptly described his classroom as a "guided exploration rather than a formal lesson". His love of the Scottish countryside is mirrored in his work and undoubtedly stemmed from the bank of images he built when, as a youngster, he traveled with his parents around the country. Argyll and the Western Isles were his favourite destinations, where he was fascinated by the crofts and farms sprouting from the land. Small houses typified his landscapes and still-lifes included abstracted landscapes; flowers, particularly poppies, fruit and fish feature in his later output. In 1996, he was awarded the Alexander Graham Munro prize at the RSW exhibition in Edinburgh. His work featured regularly in one-man and combined shows and at his last one-man show in London in 2003, demand for his paintings remained high, as it has done ever since.