RSA Scottish Art
Glen Beg
 | Artist: Denis Peploe |
| Title: Glen Beg | |
| Year: c. 1961 | |
| Medium: oil on canvas | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA Diploma Collection | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| © the artist’s estate | |
| Description: Denis Peploe worked on still life and figure painting, but he was primarily a landscape artist, working in Spain and the Scottish Highlands.This landscape is an exploration of a small glen that lies on the north side of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. By transforming trees, rocks and buildings into geometric shapes the artist reflects the influence of Cubism on Scottish art. Although there are definite shapes in the painting which represent real objects, the abstract rendering has created a very exciting painted surface that can be appreciated for its tonal, textural qualities as much as for its depiction of a landscape scene. In abstract works like this, the subject often becomes the use of paint itself, not just the scene which was used as the basis for the painting.He has applied plastic layers of oil paint broadly and thickly, giving the surface of the painting a life of its own which is separate from the scene it depicts. The shiny chunks of broadly applied paint are almost like little individual sculptures joined together. The palette draws mostly on cool greys and blues, pale white and buttery cream, and the occasional block of russet or maroon. Brush strokes are constantly changing direction and striking off neighbouring patches of texture. Peploe has found a very exciting way of applying paint which sends the viewer's eye cascading around the painting.The composition displays a painstaking deconstruction of the landscape into tiny elements with a specific direction, colour, tone and texture. You can just about see the landscape if you screw up your eyes and look at it. Peploe has analysed the landscape and broken it into patches that join with other small areas to represent a larger object, such as a hillside or the sky. A strong diagonal running from left to right curls around the foreground of the scene and leads the eye to the building and tree near the centre. Realism was never an intention in this work. Have you ever tried to create a more abstract representation of a scene? | |
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