Yale Center for British Art, Gift of Isabel S. Kurtz in memory of her father, Charles M. Kurtz
Copyright Status:
Copyright Undetermined
Accession Number:
B1989.17.2
Gallery Label:
Sir James Guthrie became a leading figure in Scottish art in the late nineteenth century. Initially rejected by the conservative Glasgow Art Club for his expressive painting technique, he later became President of the Scottish Royal Academy (1902–19) and received a knighthood in 1903. An admirer of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Guthrie favored naturalism over sentimentality and was among the first artists in Scotland to paint en plein air. The loose, gestural brush marks and passages of light and dark in this painting evoke the shift from day to nighttime. Inspired by contemporary French painting, Guthrie focused on capturing the everyday reality of rural communities, here depicting a working street in the small coastal town of Oban in Scotland, where the advent of a railway in 1880 had led to increased industry and tourism.\n\n Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2020
