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Lot Essay
Sir James Guthrie was a renowned Scottish artist and a prominent member of the radical young movement known as ‘The Glasgow Boys’, alongside artists such as John Lavery and Joseph Crawhall. ‘The Glasgow Boys’ contributed to the emergence of a new style that questioned the conventions pioneered by the Victorian academy.
By 1885, Guthrie was at the peak of his career, an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, and had become committed to portraiture. The present lot, executed shortly after this appointment, depicts a female subject in a white dress and feathered bonnet, engrossed in the page of a newspaper; a delicate and intimate moment of introspection. It belongs to a group of works known as the 'Helensburgh series' of pastels, posed for by members of the Whyte family and their friends (exh. catalogue Helensburgh and the Glasgow School, 1972, p. 17). Guthrie lived in Helenburgh in the 1880s, and sought to convey images of middle class life in this series.
By 1885, Guthrie was at the peak of his career, an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, and had become committed to portraiture. The present lot, executed shortly after this appointment, depicts a female subject in a white dress and feathered bonnet, engrossed in the page of a newspaper; a delicate and intimate moment of introspection. It belongs to a group of works known as the 'Helensburgh series' of pastels, posed for by members of the Whyte family and their friends (exh. catalogue Helensburgh and the Glasgow School, 1972, p. 17). Guthrie lived in Helenburgh in the 1880s, and sought to convey images of middle class life in this series.