Review: Alexander Goudie RP RGI: A Retrospective

I had the pleasure of viewing a very good looking retrospective exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculpture by the late Alexander Goudie yesterday (father of Lachlan Goudie) in the Threadneedle Space of the Mall Galleries.

The artist died in 2004, however he left a considerable body of work and a website is maintained and exhibitions are held periodically of his work - although most are in Scotland.

This is a rare opportunity to see some of his wonderful work in London.

View of the exhibition which displays the visual styles and artistic talents of Alexander Goudie

The exhibition also distinguished itself yesterday by being an exhibition which sold a very considerable amount of work in the first hour. I think the collectors were out in force yesterday! I'm not surprised - there is some very nice artwork on display by an artist who has the ability to be theatrical but also knew how to keep things simple. I was particularly impressed by some of the sculptures - in bronze and bisque - and his watercolours paintings.

Alexander Goudie RP. RGI. (1933-2004) is widely acclaimed as having been one of Scotland’s finest figurative painters.

The Private View is being opened this evening by Sir Jackie Stewart who is known to be a major supporter of all things Scottish and has been a major collector of Scottish Art for some years.

Below you can see views of the exhibition - which I very much recommend that people take a look at this week if in London and/or visiting the Mall Galleries.

Self-portrait - Homage to Van Gogh (Sold)
note the Van Gogh references in the background and foreground.
I gather Goudie also loved painting sunflowers!

Self portrait on the left, summer paintings from Brittany
and a painting (Cancan) and sculpture of his wife

Two watercolour paintings
The Day's Catch
Irises (sold)

His wife Marie-Renee Dorval is French and I had the pleasure of meeting her yesterday. She figures in a lot of the paintings.

The family spent their summer in Brittany where he painted all the time.  

His paintings of Breton ladies are wonderful - but I also particularly liked his watercolour paintings of flowers and fish.

His bisque sculpture of Le Marin is outstanding - I kept walking round and round it as it has fabulous presence and detail at the same time.

Goudie had a long-standing love affair with the Scottish tale about Tam O'Shanter and made a number of paintings on this theme. This is a BBC article about Alexander Goudie and the witch from Robert Burns' poem

If you're interested in this Scottish artist I recommend 

• the Alexander Goudie Trust website
• plus this Telegraph obituary of Alexander Goudie

An amazing painting of Tam O'Shanter - The Chase
meets the stunning painted bisque of a Breton fisherman  "Le Marin" (sold)

More about Scottish Art

In addition to the exhibition, there's also An evening of Scottish art at The Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1 14th April 6.30pm - but this is now fully booked. These are the speakers you will miss!

Speakers include:

• The broadcaster Andrew Marr
• Alice Strang (Senior Curator at the National Galleries of Scotland)
• James Knox (the Director of the Flemings collection of Scottish art)
• Deborah Clarke (Senior curator of the exhibition ‘From Caledonia to the continent’ at the Royal Collection)
• Nick Curnow (Vice Chairman of the Scottish auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull)
• Lachlan Goudie ROI (Artist and broadcaster, ‘The Big Painting Challenge’, ‘The Story of Scottish art’)
• The evening will be moderated by Dr Bendor Grosvenor (Art dealer and TV art historian, ‘Fake or Fortune')