Constance Walton Acquisition

By Susan Mansfield, 16.04.2020

An atmospheric figure study by Constance Walton becomes the newest addition to the Fleming Collection. The acquisition demonstrates the ongoing commitment of the Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation to grow the collection as part of its core charitable goals to increase understanding and awareness of the richness and variety of Scottish art. 

Constance Walton is part of a remarkable artistic dynasty, the sister of painter E. A. Walton and the designer and architect George Walton, who worked with Charles Rennie Mackintosh. She was also the aunt of the 1920s realist painter Cecile Walton.

Cecile Walton. Early Morning. © The Artist's Estate. All Rights Reserved 2019/Bridgeman Images

Constance Walton trained at Glasgow School of Art and was a member of the group known as the Glasgow Girls, women artists and designers who came to the fore in the late nineteenth century, thanks to the enlightened attitude of the head of school, Francis Newbery, who set out to enrol men and women equally.

Day Dreams is a large watercolour (53 x 32 cm) of a young girl sitting on steps staring dreamily into the distance. Though Walton became best known for flower studies, this painting shows the influence of artists such as Arthur Melville and Joseph Crawhall, and perhaps her brother’s painting A Daydream produced some ten years earlier. However, she makes the subject entirely her own, deftly using the soft tones of watercolour.