Lot 17: Edward McEwan Baird (British, 1904-1949)

"The Scottish Fifie Boat"
signed 'Edward Baird 1936' (lower right), inscribed
watercolour
22.25 x 17.5cm (8 3/4 x 6 7/8in).

PROVENANCE:
Mrs Ann Baird
Mrs Jean Fairweather
EXHIBITED:
Edinburgh, Scottish Arts Council, 'Baird and Lamb', no 38
Montrose Society Exhibition, 1981, no 29
Edinburgh, SNGMA, 'Edward Baird Exhibition', 1992
LITERATURE:
Blackwood, Jonathan, 'Portrait of a Young Scotsman: A Life of Edward Baird, 1904-1949' London, 2004, p93, no 49
Baird was a significant artist whose work, unusually for a Scot, was influenced by Surrealism. He appears very rarely at auction. The Fifie was a local fishing boat and the picture also depicts Montrose Docks and Wharf Street. Baird commented: '...My excuse for making such a documentary drawing of the fishing boat is that it is a type with a history which with the wanton destruction of inshore fishing is likely to come to a close'.
Blackwood also notes that it was unusual for Baird to complete a picture at one sitting.