GEORGE LESLIE HUNTER (SCOTTISH 1877-1931)
VILLEFRANCHE
Signed, oil on canvas
61cm x 51cm (24in x 20in)
T. & R. Annans & Sons Ltd, GlasgowExhibited:Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Festival Exhibition: Peploe, Cadell, Hunter, 1949
Villefranche encapsulates the pleasure and inspiration Hunter found in the south of France during the 1920s, especially its architecture, natural beauty and climate.Villefranche-sur-Mer is a town on the Côte d’Azur. Hunter spent extensive periods in the region, particularly between 1927 and 1929 and principally from a base in St-Paul-de-Vence. He enjoyed himself immensely and declared “This is an ideal country to loaf in and I wish I could simply loaf around and enjoy the sunshine and the cooking as most of the people around here do.’ (T. J. Honeyman papers, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh ACC978972/25/6/3, quoted in Derek Ogston, Leslie Hunter: Paintings and Drawings of France and Italy, Baillieknowe Publishing, Kelso, 2004, p.42)Whilst there, Hunter created many works on paper, using pen and ink, coloured chalk and pastel; the present painting is a rare example of a fully-realised south of France oil. In a letter of September 1927 to his dealer, Alexander Reid, Hunter wrote from St-Paul: “Of course, my paintings are the main thing. I may stay down here another month or two and thereby take your advice to finish everything before returning…I know the coast now between Monte Carlo and Cassis and have made about a hundred drawings in colour…Have worn a straw hat every day since I landed here.” (quoted in T. J. Honeyman, Introducing Leslie Hunter, Faber and Faber Ltd, London, 1937, pp.121-122)In Villefranche, Hunter makes the most of its hillside location, creating a composition anchored by the red-tiled villa in the centre foreground, whilst neighbouring properties climb upwards to a skyline punctuated by natural features, a church tower and a lone palm-tree. The sunny, verdant view is crowned by the blue sky of a perfect summer’s day. Touches of colour provide energy and rhythm, whilst the thickly-painted surface adds a layer of sensuality to an idyllic scene.