Eric Robertson Sold at Auction Prices

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941)

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) EVE Inscribed with the Trustee's stamp to the stretcher verso, oil on canvas, unframed 107 x 92cm (42in x 36in) By descent from the Artist to the present owner This work is intentionally unframed. The artist painted the border of the canvas and exhibited it in his Liverpool flat in this manner. It was painted over a period of three days in January 1922.

Eric Harald Macbeth Robertson (British, 1887-1941) Two mythological figures (unframed)

Eric Harald Macbeth Robertson (British, 1887-1941) Two mythological figures signed and dated 'ERIC.ROBERTSON.MARCH.1910' (lower left) pencil 20.7 x 15cm (8 1/8 x 5 7/8in). unframed

Eric Harold Macbeth Robertson (1887-1941) Scottish, 'Study for Desire', pencil on paper, signed to top right corner, 23.5 cm x 49.5 cm, framed and glazed.

Eric Harold Macbeth Robertson (1887-1941) Scottish, 'Study for Desire', pencil on paper, signed to top right corner, 23.5 cm x 49.5 cm, framed and glazed. Private collection, Maas Gallery label verso, with purchase receipt and catalogue

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941)

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) LOCHSIDE Signed lower left, pastel on black paper 25cm x 30cm (10in x 12in)

Eric Harald Macbeth Robertson (British, 1887-1941) 'Nude Girl' (Painted in 1921)

Eric Harald Macbeth Robertson (British, 1887-1941) 'Nude Girl' signed 'Eric Robertson' (lower right) oil on canvas 101.6 x 152.4cm (40 x 60in). Painted in 1921

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) LOCHSIDE

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON LOCHSIDE Signed lower left, pastel on black paper 25cm x 30cm (10in x 12in)

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) ANNE FINLAY

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) ANNE FINLAY Signed and inscribed, pencil (47cm x 36cm (18.5in x 14.25in)) Provenance: Kemplay & Robertson, Edinburgh (AK 1135) Note: Anne Finlay (1898-1963) trained at Edinburgh College of Art where she became friends with her teacher Dorothy Johnstone and thus Johnstone’s fellow members of the Edinburgh Group exhibiting society, including Eric Robertson and his wife Cecile Walton. 1920 was a key year for the artists, with the Group’s second post-war exhibition in the New Gallery, Shandwick Place and Robertson’s solo exhibition at The Petit Salon on South Castle Street. Of the former, the critic Frederic Quinton exclaimed: Usually people look to the Edinburgh Group, as we know them, for something unique rather than universal: for something of pagan brazenness rather than parlour propriety. Half of Edinburgh goes to Shandwick Place secretly desiring to be righteously shocked and the other half goes feeling deliciously uncertain it may be disappointed by not finding anything sufficiently shocking. And so these young and talented artists are primarily expected to provide entertainment rather than enlightenment. Hence so much splendid achievement goes unnoticed. (Frederic Quinton, The National Outlook, November 1920, pp.102-103) In his turn, the critic of The Scots Pictorial declared of Robertson: [He did]…much to lend spice and variety to the show. He is nothing if not alive! Vitality is the very essence of his art. Mr Robertson ranks as the vital unit of the group. In landscape he deals with the eternal aspect of mountains…and in quite another mood paints portraits and figure subjects of rare imaginative quality. (As quoted in John Kemplay, The Two Companions: The Story of Two Scottish Artists – Eric Robertson and Cecile Walton, Ronald Crowhurst & Co., Edinburgh, 1991, p.88) Furthermore, 1920 was a significant year for the group’s friendships, as John Kemplay has recounted: [Cecile]…had made a new friend in Anne Finlay, a very attractive and vivacious student…Eric used her more and more to model for him and when he and Cecile rented a house at Crianlarich in Perthshire for May and June of 1920, Anne Finlay was invited to join them for part of the time. Behind the house, there was a waterfall leading to a pool where Eric, Cecile, Anne Finlay and others would bath in the nude together; and it was this setting which figured in a number of paintings and drawings he completed during the two months they spent there. (John Kemplay, op.cit., pp.89-90) By the Rock Pool (Lot 128) and Anne Finlay (Lot 130) were both made during this happy, carefree and somewhat daring holiday and reveal the sitter’s plentiful attractions. She moved to London in 1922, where she held various teaching posts before becoming Registrar of the City & Guilds of London Art School. Throughout, she maintained her own practice, exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy of Arts, with the Society of Women Artists and the Royal Scottish Academy; she was elected a member of the New English Art Club in 1953. We are grateful to John Kemplay for his help in researching these works.

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) THE GRAMPIANS

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) THE GRAMPIANS Signed and dated 1913, inscribed verso, oil on canvas (81cm x 117cm (32in x 46in)) Provenance: By descent from the Artist to the present owner

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) BY THE ROCK POOL

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) BY THE ROCK POOL Oil on canvas (44cm x 59cm (17.25in x 23.25in)) Provenance: The Artist's Estate Kemplay & Robertson, Edinburgh (AK 1064) Bonhams Edinburgh, The Scottish Sale, 25 August 2006, lot 1091, where acquired by the present owner Note: Anne Finlay (1898-1963) trained at Edinburgh College of Art where she became friends with her teacher Dorothy Johnstone and thus Johnstone’s fellow members of the Edinburgh Group exhibiting society, including Eric Robertson and his wife Cecile Walton. 1920 was a key year for the artists, with the Group’s second post-war exhibition in the New Gallery, Shandwick Place and Robertson’s solo exhibition at The Petit Salon on South Castle Street. Of the former, the critic Frederic Quinton exclaimed: Usually people look to the Edinburgh Group, as we know them, for something unique rather than universal: for something of pagan brazenness rather than parlour propriety. Half of Edinburgh goes to Shandwick Place secretly desiring to be righteously shocked and the other half goes feeling deliciously uncertain it may be disappointed by not finding anything sufficiently shocking. And so these young and talented artists are primarily expected to provide entertainment rather than enlightenment. Hence so much splendid achievement goes unnoticed. (Frederic Quinton, The National Outlook, November 1920, pp.102-103) In his turn, the critic of The Scots Pictorial declared of Robertson: [He did]…much to lend spice and variety to the show. He is nothing if not alive! Vitality is the very essence of his art. Mr Robertson ranks as the vital unit of the group. In landscape he deals with the eternal aspect of mountains…and in quite another mood paints portraits and figure subjects of rare imaginative quality. (As quoted in John Kemplay, The Two Companions: The Story of Two Scottish Artists – Eric Robertson and Cecile Walton, Ronald Crowhurst & Co., Edinburgh, 1991, p.88) Furthermore, 1920 was a significant year for the group’s friendships, as John Kemplay has recounted: [Cecile]…had made a new friend in Anne Finlay, a very attractive and vivacious student…Eric used her more and more to model for him and when he and Cecile rented a house at Crianlarich in Perthshire for May and June of 1920, Anne Finlay was invited to join them for part of the time. Behind the house, there was a waterfall leading to a pool where Eric, Cecile, Anne Finlay and others would bath in the nude together; and it was this setting which figured in a number of paintings and drawings he completed during the two months they spent there. (John Kemplay, op.cit., pp.89-90) By the Rock Pool (Lot 128) and Anne Finlay (Lot 130) were both made during this happy, carefree and somewhat daring holiday and reveal the sitter’s plentiful attractions. She moved to London in 1922, where she held various teaching posts before becoming Registrar of the City & Guilds of London Art School. Throughout, she maintained her own practice, exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy of Arts, with the Society of Women Artists and the Royal Scottish Academy; she was elected a member of the New English Art Club in 1953. We are grateful to John Kemplay for his help in researching these works.

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) THE ROSE FAN

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) THE ROSE FAN Signed and dated 1920, oil on canvas (101.5cm x 152.5cm (40 x 60in)) Provenance: By direct descent from the artist to the present owner Exhibited: Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 94th Annual Exhibition, 1920 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Autumn Exhibition, 1921 National Portrait Society, Grafton Galleries, London, 11th Annual Exhibition, 1921 Literature: E. A. Taylor, 'The Royal Scottish Academy', The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art, London, vol. LXXX, no. 329, August 1920, p.21, ill. b/w p.22 In 1919, Eric Robertson returned to Edinburgh after serving in the Friends’ Ambulance Unit during World War One. He and his wife, the artist Cecile Walton, were founding members of the exhibiting society the Edinburgh Group, which re-formed that year; other members included Dorothy Johnstone, D. M. Sutherland and William Oliphant Hutchison. The Group mounted post-war exhibitions at the New Gallery in Shandwick Place in 1919, 1920 and 1921. Reviews of the 1920 exhibition praised the Group for its ‘splendid achievement’, whilst Robertson was declared to have ‘genius’, with his portraits and figure studies posessing a ‘rare imaginative quality’.[i] Moreover, reviews of Robertson’s solo exhibition at The Petit Salon in Edinburgh that Spring praised Robertson’s ‘imaginative designs’ and described his work as being ‘full of subtle provocation’.[ii] Late that Summer, Robertson and Walton moved to 48 Lauriston Place near to Edinburgh College of Art, in which they could both have a studio. As their joint biographer John Kemplay has declared: ‘It was at Lauriston Place that they enacted the final setting of their marriage and within three years their brilliant achievements as artists…would end, never to be recaptured.’[iii] It was during this propitious period that Robertson painted the impressive The Rose Fan of 1920. As noted in the artist’s records, held in a private archive, the sitter is Miss Maisie Luman and this was Robertson’s fifty-first oil painting. It is a celebration of the beauty and sophistication of young womanhood. The elegant Miss Luman reclines on a chaise longue and turns her head to meet the viewer’s gaze. Restrained sensuality abounds, as her bare skin is striking in comparison with the opulent evening gown she wears, whose skirt layers are masterfully rendered. Indeed, Robertson’s skills as a draughtsman are plain to see, particularly in the passages of fabric not only in his model’s outfit, but also in the realisation of the cushion which provides support, the material on which she sits and that which is hung behind her. Details including the positioning of her fingers on the titular fan and the pattern on this accessory itself, add to the feeling of luxury which pervades the painting. Robertson sent The Rose Fan to the Royal Scottish Academy in the year it was painted. In his review of the Academy’s Annual Exhibition, the artist, designer and critic E. A. Taylor wrote that the portraits by Robertson on display were ‘distinctly personal…notably his The Rose Fan and Cecile.’ The latter presumably referred to an image of Robertson’s wife. In 1921, The Rose Fan was shown in London, when it was included in the National Portrait Society’s 11th annual exhibition. [i] As quoted in Elizabeth Cumming and John Kemplay, The Edinburgh Group, Edinburgh 1983, p.7. [ii] Frederic Quinton, ‘The Faun-Mind in Modern Art’, The Scots Pictorial, 10 April 1920, pp.420-21. [iii] John Kemplay, The Two Companions: The Story of Two Scottish Artists – Eric Robertson and Cecile Walton, Edinburgh 1991, p. 90.

Eric Harold Macbeth Robertson (British, 1887-1941) Lillith (1909) 26 x 19 cm. (10 1/4 x 7 1/2 in.)

Eric Harold Macbeth Robertson (British, 1887-1941) Lillith (1909) pencil artist's estate stamp (verso) 26 x 19 cm. (10 1/4 x 7 1/2 in.)

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) BEN LAWERS

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) BEN LAWERS Indistinctly signed, oil on canvas (61cm x 76cm (24in x 30in)) Provenance: Acquired from the artist by his niece and thence by descent to the present owner.

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) QUEEN GUINEVERE ENTERING THE COURT OF KING ARTHUR

ERIC HARALD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) QUEEN GUINEVERE ENTERING THE COURT OF KING ARTHUR Watercolour (30.5cm x 73cm (12in x 28.75cm) Provenance: Acquired from the artist by his niece and thence by descent to the present owner.

ERIC HAROLD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) LE RONDE ETERNEL

ERIC HAROLD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) LE RONDE ETERNEL Signed and dated 1920, oil on canvas (168cm x 52.5cm (66in x 60in)) Footnote: Literature: Duncan Macmillan, Scottish Art 1460-1990, 1990, p.334 Julian Halsby & Paul Harris, Dictionary of Scottish Painters 1600 to the present, 1990, Ill.p.198

ERIC ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) FUTURIST LANDSCAPE, C. 1920 25cm x 32cm (9.75in x 12.5in)

ERIC ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) FUTURIST LANDSCAPE, C. 1920 Pastel 25cm x 32cm (9.75in x 12.5in)

Eric Robertson SCOTTISH 1887-1941 - Anne Finlay

Eric Robertson SCOTTISH 1887-1941 Anne Finlay inscribed with the artist's name, the title and the medium on a Bourne Fine Art and an Everard Read gallery label adhered to the reverse oil on canvas 59 by 44cm excluding frame; 75 by 61 by 4,5cm including frame

ERIC ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) CECILE (WALTON) AT CRIANLARICH 91cm x 105cm (36in x 41.5in)

ERIC ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) CECILE (WALTON) AT CRIANLARICH Oil on canvas 91cm x 105cm (36in x 41.5in)

Eric Robertson,Scottish 1887-1941-Mythological scene;pencil on paper, signe

Eric Robertson,Scottish 1887-1941-Mythological scene;pencil on paper, signed and dated June 27th 1911, 18.3x23cm

ERIC ROBERTSON, FRAMED OIL ON CANVAS DEPICTING A LANDSCAPE SCENE WITH MOUNT

ERIC ROBERTSON, FRAMED OIL ON CANVAS DEPICTING A LANDSCAPE SCENE WITH MOUNTAINS, SIGNED, APPROXIMATELY 90cm x 106cm

ERIC ROBERTSON, FRAMED OIL ON CANVAS DEPICTING A LANDSCAPE SCENE WITH MOUNT

ERIC ROBERTSON, FRAMED OIL ON CANVAS DEPICTING A LANDSCAPE SCENE WITH MOUNTAINS, SIGNED, APPROXIMATELY 75cm x 90cm

ERIC HAROLD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) RONA 26cm x 53cm (10.25in x 20.75in)

ERIC HAROLD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) RONA Signed and inscribed with title, pencil, unframed 26cm x 53cm (10.25in x 20.75in)

ERIC HAROLD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) STUDY FOR 'HUMANITY CRUCIFIED' 21.5cm x 52cm (8.5in x 20.5in)

ERIC HAROLD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) STUDY FOR 'HUMANITY CRUCIFIED' Signed and inscribed with title and dated 'Nov. 17, 1915', pencil, unframed 21.5cm x 52cm (8.5in x 20.5in)

Éric Robertson (1887-1941) Femme nue allongée sur une méridienne

Éric Robertson (1887-1941) Femme nue allongée sur une méridienne Crayon noir et estompe signé en bas à droite

Eric Harold Macbeth Robertson-(British, 1887-1941)-Family in a farm landscape unframed

Family in a farm landscape signed and dated 'Eric Robertson 1919' (lower right) pencil 64 x 11cm (25 3/16 x 4 5/16in). unframed

Eric Harold Macbeth Robertson-(British, 1887-1941)-Study of figures dancing and flying in an architectural setting unframed

Study of figures dancing and flying in an architectural setting pencil and watercolour 56 x 77cm (22 1/16 x 30 5/16in). unframed

Eric Harold MacBeth Robertson (1887-1941)

The Daughters of Beauty - III Oil on Canvas 91.5cm x 183cm, artist's estate stamp to stretcher

Eric Harold MacBeth Robertson (1887-1941)

The Daughters of Beauty - II Oil on Canvas with a figural study to the reverse of the canvas 91.5cm x 183cm, artist's estate label to stretcher

Eric Harold MacBeth Robertson (1887-1941)

The Daughters of Beauty - I Oil on Canvas 87.5cm x 178.5cm, artist's estate label to stretcher

Eric Harald MacBeth Robertson (1887 - 1941) Modern

Eric Harald MacBeth Robertson (1887 - 1941) Modern allegorical subject, with four female figures Watercolour, unsigned 21 x 17 cm Footnote: Eric Robertson and his first wife, Cecile Walton (daughter of the painter E A Walton) were an artistic couple of exceptional talent in the first few decades of the 20th century. Their story is told in 'The Two Companions' by John Kemplay (Edinburgh, 1991). Besides exhibiting at the Royal Scottish Academy, they were members of the Edinburgh Group, a Society that exhibited more challenging art between 1912 and 1921. The couple's lifestyle raised eyebrows, as did Eric Robertson's highly charged erotic subjects. Cecile Walton's most famous painting is her self-portrait as a nursing mother (called 'Romance') in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Eric Harold Macbeth Robertson (1887-1941) Loves

Eric Harold Macbeth Robertson (1887-1941) Loves Awakening Pencil Signed and dated January 1911 27 x 18 cm (10 1/2 x 7 in) condition report: Under glass, no visible damage

Eric Harold Macbeth Robertson (British, 1887-1941) Elegant interior

Elegant interior signed 'Eric Robertson' (lower left) oil on board 25 x 35cm (9 13/16 x 13 3/4in).

ERIC HAROLD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) THE OLD ASH TREE 41cm x 38cm (16in x 15in)

ERIC HAROLD MACBETH ROBERTSON (SCOTTISH 1887-1941) THE OLD ASH TREE Oil on canvasboard, unframed 41cm x 38cm (16in x 15in)

Eric Harold MacBeth Robertson (1887-1941) Adam and

Eric Harold MacBeth Robertson (1887-1941) Adam and Eve Signed watercolour, 34x26.5cm Studies architecture of the R.I.S. & Edinburgh College of Art. He was influenced by the work of Burne-Jones and Rossetti. A close friend of John Duncan who introduced him to Celtic symbolism. he met Cecile Walton in Duncan's studio, who later became his wife.

Eric Harald Macbeth Robertson 1887-1941 , study of a seated nude (recto), the crucifixion (verso) oil on canvas

oil on canvas

ERIC ROBERTSON

SNOW COVERED MONTAINS Signed, pastel 27cm x 32cm

Eric Herald Macbeth Robertson (1887-1941)

Chesterknowes signed 'Eric Robertson' (lower left) oil on canvas 35 x 34 in. (88.8 x 86.3 cm.).

Eric Robertson (1887-1941)Houses through treessigned, oil on canvas,62cm x 85cm (24.5in. x 33.5in.)Provenance: Denis Peploe