Tsg william irvine

william irvine EBB AND FLOW

william irvine ebb and flow 6 – 30 January 2016

16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ tel 0131 558 1200 email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk www.scottish-gallery.co.uk Cover: A Break in the Clouds (detail) (cat. 1) Left: Table with Two Lobsters (detail) (cat. 4)

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introduction William Irvine is now, to all intents and purposes an American painter.

He moved to Maine over forty years ago, having had his formal education at The Glasgow School of Art and his early experiences in the rough and tumble of the commercial art world in London in the sixties. His friend William Crozier, whom he knew from school days at Marr College in Troon, rode the bucking bronco of the bohemian life, eventually settling for homes and studios in Ireland and Winchester.

But Irvine made his move in 1968, with his young American wife, responding to an ad for one hundred acres and a farmhouse and ending up with an ‘A’ frame house in Milbridge, Maine for the summer.

Waking for the first time in this new world “to the cry of gulls, the drone of lobster boats and sunrise over beautiful waters, and islands in the distance,” the artist found at once a sense of place, a reawakening of the atmosphere of his childhood and his lifelong subject. The next year they bought their home on the coast in Blue Hill. Maine was full of artists and good local galleries and Irvine found he had friends for life and could earn a living, without straying too far from his subject, the essence of which he has pursued ever since. His starting point for each work is observed reality, his palette a distillation of the colours of the sea, sky and land changing through the seasons. The whitewashed wooden houses, yachts and work boats, fisherman’s tables, the sea, harsh or flat calm, the sky ever changing, populate his canvasses, enlivened with the energy of his brushmarks.

This exhibition of new work is a first in Scotland since 1958 but those who discover him will find a painter already kindred with a Scottish tradition of gentle expressionism, in tune with nature but highly personal enjoying a golden homecoming.

GUY PEPLOE

Right: William Irvine, 2013, image by Jeffery Becton, Digital Montage (detail)

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1 A Break in the Clouds oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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2 Cloud over Tinkers oil on board, 61 x 76.2 cms

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3 The Approaching Storm oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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4 Table with Two Lobsters oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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5 Evening Anchor oil on board, 30.5 x 40.6 cms

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6 A Split in the Cloud oil on board, 30.5 x 40.6 cms

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7 The Lighthouse oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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8 Sunset over Tinkers oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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9 Night Sail oil on canvas 61 x 76.2 cms

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10 Evening Sail oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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11 The Breaking Cloud oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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12 Heading Out oil on canvas, 61 x 91.5 cms

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13 Gulls over Tinkers Island oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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14 Last Light oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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15 Into the Fog oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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16 Evening Over Tinkers oil on board, 30.5 x 40.6 cms

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17 The Green Sea oil on board, 30.5 x 40.6 cms

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18 The Darkening Sky oil on canvas, 61 x 76.2 cms

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19 Heading Home oil on canvas, 61 x 91.5 cms

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WILLIAM IRVINE 1931 Born in Troon, Scotland 1945-1949 Educated at Marr College, Troon 1949-1953 Studied at Glasgow School of Art – obtained a Diploma in Art in Drawing and Painting 1954-1956 Served in the Scottish army, The Cameronians, Scottish Rifles. Sent to brigade

headquarters of the Eighth Armoured Division, Lueneburg, Germany 1957-1967 Moved to London where he met his wife 1967 Moved to Maine, U.S.A. – back to the sea where he has lived for the last 40 years Selected Solo Exhibitions 1949 Carnegie Library, Ayr 1958 McLellan Gallery, Glasgow 1960 Parton Gallery, London 1960, 1962 Drian Gallery, London 1968-1976 Rudolph Gallery, Woodstock, NY and Miami, FL 1980 John Little Gallery, Clark University, Worcester, MA 1982 Leighton Gallery, Castine, ME 1982-1986 Noel Butcher Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1986-2011 Leighton Gallery, Blue Hill, ME 1989 Bayview Gallery, Portland, ME 1992 June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland ME 1993 Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA 1995 Leighton Gallery, Westford, MA 1996, 1999 Davidson and Daughters, Portland, ME 2000 Carnegie Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 2001 Eastland Gallery, Portland, ME 2001-2006 McGrath-Dunham Gallery, Castine, ME 2002-2009 Firehouse Gallery, Damariscotta, ME 2003, ’05, ’07 Shaw Gallery, Northeast Harbour, ME 2003-2006 Studio E Gallery, Castine, ME 2005 George Marshal Store Gallery, York, ME 2009 Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME 2011-2013 Gleason Gallery, Boothbay Harbour, ME 2012, 2014 Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellsworth ME 2016 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Selected Group Exhibitions 1953 Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh 1958 Drian Gallery, London

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Irvine at the Drian Gallery, London, during a two-person show with Bill Crozier, 1958 1961, 1962 Portal Gallery, London 1963 Artists International Association, London 1970-1973 Shore Gallery, Boston, MA 1978 American Art Cultural Centre, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC 1982 Munson Gallery, New Haven, CT 1984 Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ 1988 Congress Square Gallery, Portland, ME 1992 Mast Cove Gallery, Portland, ME 2000 Carnegie Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 2001 Marine Environmental Research Institute, Blue Hill, ME 2002 Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport, ME 2003-2006 Studio E Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL 2005 Gregory Boon Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 2006 Turtle Gallery, Deer Isle, ME 2006-2013 Centre for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME 2006-present Greenhut Gallery, Portland, ME 2006-present Blue Hill Library, Blue Hill, ME 2007 Elan Gallery, Rockport, ME 2007, 2008 George Marshall Store Gallery, York, ME 2007-present Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellworth, ME 2008 Maine Gallery, Kennebunkport, ME 2010 Marin-Price Gallery, Chevy Chase, MD 2010 Gleason Gallery, Boothby Harbour, ME Collections University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, ME Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellsworth, ME Hand and Flower Press, London Marine Environmental Research Institute, Blue Hill, ME Rouse Corporation, Pittsbugh, PA Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh

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Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition WILLIAM IRVINE: EBB AND FLOW 6 – 30 January 2016 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/williamirvine ISBN: 978-1-910267-295 Designed by www.kennethgray.co.uk Photography courtesy of William Irvine Printed by J Thomson Colour Printers All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.

16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Tel 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk www.scottish-gallery.co.uk

Right: Last Light (detail) (cat. 14)