§ JAMES CUMMING R.S.A., R.S.W. (SCOTTISH

Signed lower right, oil on board (Dimensions: 91.5cm x 68.5cm (36in x 27in))

(91.5cm x 68.5cm (36in x 27in))

Provenance: From the collection of the late Dr Angus Gibson, to be sold to support the University of Edinburgh Art Collection

Footnote: Exhibited: Summer Exhibition 1997, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Cumming was born in Dunfermline and enrolled at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) in 1939. His training was interrupted by service with the Royal Air Force during World War Two. His return to ECA in 1946 led to post-graduate study and a travelling scholarship used to live in Callanish on the Isle of Lewis. This experience inspired the body of work with which Cumming made his name and emerged as a leading figure in post-war Scottish art. Cumming joined the staff of ECA in 1950 and taught there for over thirty years. His colleagues included Robin Philipson and William Gillies, whilst his students included John Bellany and Sandy Moffat. Amongst multiple accolades and positions, Cumming was elected a full member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1970, an institution he served as Treasurer, Secretary and Custodian of Collections. Table in the Barn of c.1965 is a fine example of the abstract vocabulary and varied technique for which Cumming is celebrated. Whilst referencing reality, Cumming brings together form, pattern, spatial and physical layering with textural variety and an extensive palette. A retrospective of his work was held in 1966, not long after this painting was completed, which was organised by the Carnegie Trust in his home town. Indeed, Cumming exhibited regularly throughout his career and his work is held in multiple public collections. Following his death in 1991, The Independent declared 'James Cumming's unique and unmistakable style and his stature as an artist made him a major figure in Scottish painting...The pictorial language he created evolved out of Post-Cubism and produced an idiom of expressive distortions within a powerfully controlled structure and impeccable craftsmanship. His colour sense could be strangely beautiful and haunting, the paintings wrought with immense care.' (The Independent, 28 January 1991 as quoted in the exhibition guide to James Cumming, Talbot Rice Gallery, 2012).