Cassis, Le Port

FRANCIS CAMPBELL BOILEAU CADELL RSA RWS

1883 - Edinburgh - 1937

Ref: CB 230

Cassis, Le Port

Signed lower left: FCB Cadell; inscribed with the title on the reverse

Oil on panel: 17 5/8 x 14 5/8 in / 44.8 x 37.1 cm

Painted circa 1923-24

Provenance:

Private collection, Perthshire, acquired between the wars in Glasgow, then by descent in 1958

This striking sun-drenched image of Cassis shows the harbour from the north side looking north-east, possibly from the Place de Grand Carnot. Cadell boldly crops the pavement in the lower left corner, above which brightly coloured boats are reflected in the deep blue water leading the eye to the pretty pastel-coloured waterfront buildings, their light facades punctuated by vibrant shutters, with the lush green hills beyond. Cadell captures the picturesque view in brilliant mediterranean light in this inspired composition painted at the height of his career in the early 1920s. Cadell was demobilised in the spring of 1919 and in 1920 he moved into 6 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh making frequent trips to Iona. In 1923 he visited Cassis and returned with his friend and fellow Scottish Colourist, SJ Peploe and his family in 1924. In the exhibition catalogue for the artist’s retrospective held at the National Galleries of Scotland in 2011, Alice Strang writes, ‘The paintings he made in the south of France are bolder, in composition and palette, than the work produced on Iona. By the mid-1920s Cassis had become popular with artists. It was a small seaport, set in front of a ridge of limestone hills topped by a castle, with a picturesque, working harbour, charming side-streets and brilliant light…Cadell then spent two months in Cassis, staying in the Hotel Panorama, from where he painted a series of images and from where he wrote to George Chiene: ‘I find this part of France most interesting to paint. The light is wonderfully brilliant even fierce – the weather is superb – Basking! …This place has several points in common with Iona. The colour and formation of headlands etc and to some extent the sea…Instead of, as in Iona, painting against time and trying to get finished before the next squall of rain, I can work as long as I feel disposed on one thing.’[1]

Cadell’s vibrant paintings of Cassis were an immediate success, his Register of Pictures recording the sale of ten works in 1923 to important patrons including JJ Cowan and Jane Rough. In 1924 he sold a painting of Cassis at the Royal Glasgow Institute for £76 and the following year from the Society of Eight exhibition to Lord Blanesburgh of London and GW Service of Glasgow.[2] Paintings of Cassis also grace several public collections including the Kirkcaldy Galleries in Fife and The Fleming Collection.

Its possible that while staying in France, Cadell saw the exhibition, Les Peintres de L’Ecosse Moderne held at Galerie Barbazanges, Paris in 1924, the first show devoted to the work of the Scottish Colourists, Cadell, Peploe, Fergusson and Hunter.  The following year, an exhibition of their work was held at the Leicester Galleries in London.

[1] Alice Strang, FCB Cadell, exhibition catalogue, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh 2011, p.42.

[2] Cadell’s Register of Pictures is on long-term loan to the National Galleries of Scotland GMA AL/15/6.