Anne Redpath

Anne Redpath OBE ARA (1895–1965) was a Scottish artist whose vivid domestic still lifes are among her best-known works.

Post-graduate study led to a scholarship which allowed her to travel on the Continent in 1919, visiting Bruges, Paris, Florence and Siena.

Critics see another influence in the tabletops tilted to suit the design, not conventional perspective: that of the medieval Sienese paintings which impressed her on her first trip abroad.

At this time she first discovered the richness of Catholic imagery (unfamiliar to a young woman brought up as a Scottish Protestant), a theme explored in her later work.

Due to attaining a scholarship, Redpath had the opportunity to travel to many European countries in which she was inspired by architecture and interior art.

On her return to Scotland in 1934, she started to sketch the countryside around Hawick, and painted landscapes with a more muted look than much of her work: Frosty Morning, Trow Mill (1936), for example.

A friend who travelled to Spain with Redpath in 1951 described her appearance: "Anne looked like Queen Victoria; black hair correctly parted in the centre and bun behind, but she wore colours!"

Redpath painted more hillsides, like Les Tourettes (1962), as she travelled in the later years of her life, but her interest was still often interior.

In the Chapel of St Jean, Tréboul , 1954, Royal Scottish Academy . A fine example of Redpath's use of a restrained palette with splashes of vibrant colour.
The Indian Rug , 1942, National Gallery of Scotland .
The poppy Field , circa 1963, Tate Gallery . A typical example of Redpath's later work featuring flowers.