James Guthrie
c. 1882
Pencil drawing on paper
3198
30 × 23 cm
43 × 36 × 3 cm
Sir James Guthrie, 1859-1930
Born in Greenock, the son of a minister of the Evangelical Union Church, Guthrie studied law at Glasgow University before turning to art in 1877. He was largely self-taught, although he received great encouragement from a number of Scottish painters based in London after he moved there in 1879, in particular John Pettie, who had dissuaded him from, visiting Paris before he settled in London. Although Guthrie had no direct contact with developments in France, in London he had many opportunities to see the work of Bastien-Lepage. Soon the influence of John Robertson Reid and George Clausen, themselves strongly influenced by the French artist, could be seen in Guthrie's painting.
Bastien-Lepage's influence on the works and the development of the Glasgow Boys cannot be overstated. He was the leading advocate of French tonal painting, his works seeming to present the viewer to a matter-of-fact and unsentimental vision of reality. He used a square brush to give a flat surface, adapting the patterns of his brushstrokes to the purposes of description. Guthrie was to adopt more vigorously than his contemporaries this technique of using a square brush and the putty-like textures, so favoured by Bastien-Lepage.
Later Guthrie turned to portrait painting with great success, becoming one of the most prominent Scottish portraitists as well as a leading artist in pastel, second only to Whistler.