* ALEXANDER GOUDIE RP RGI (SCOTTISH 1933 - 2004),
TOLEDO
oil on board, signed
image size 29.5cm x 39.5cm, overall size 45cm x 55cm
Framed.
Provenance: We are grateful to Lachlan Goudie, artist, writer, broadcaster and the leading authority on the work of his father, for authenticating this painting and confirming that "Toledo" dates to 1957 "when Dad first went there (Toledo) and spent a prolonged period staying with friends and painting."
Note: Alexander Goudie was born in 1933 at Paisley and, as a child, showed a prodigious talent for drawing. He studied at Glasgow School of Art when William Armour was head of drawing and painting and David Donaldson was the ubiquitous influence. Goudie, as a student at Glasgow, demonstrated his extraordinary ability. He received the Somerville Shanks Prize for Composition and, later, his draughtsmanship and sense of colour was recognized with the award of the Newbery Medal. As a young artist, he grew up admiring three great masters, Sir John Lavery, George Henry and James Guthrie; all artists who had bridged the gap between Glasgow and Paris. It was these artists’ glorious virtuoso control of oil paint that appealed to Goudie, as well as their genre and realist subject matter. Alexander Goudie was elected a member of the Glasgow Art Club in 1956 and a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1970. He painted a portrait of the Queen for the Caledonian Club, London (1992/93), and exhibited widely, showing at Harari and Johns, in London, the Fine Art Society, Glasgow, and the Musee de la Faience, in Quimper. 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.'' Collections: 79 of Goudie's paintings are held in UK public collections including at Glasgow Museums & Galleries, The Hunterian, Rozelle House Galleries, Paisley Museum & Art Galleries and The Fleming Collection (London). Numerous prestigious corporate collections in the UK and France and in private collections around the world.