RSA Scottish Art
Gullane Beach
 | Artist: William Darling McKay |
| Title: Gullane Beach | |
| Year: 1922 | |
| Medium: pencil on paper | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| Description: William Darling McKay trained at the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh and the RSA Life School. His work mainly focused on the land and the people of his native East Lothian. He was very interested in the history of Scottish art and published his own book called The Scottish School of Painting (1906). This impressionistic drawing shows the popular stretch of beach at Gullane in East Lothian. The artist has drawn the scene from a raised position, overlooking the sand dunes and across the bay at low tide.He has worked quickly to capture the feeling of space and atmosphere. The pencil strokes on the hill behind the beach are briskly roughed in at various angles to suggest the movement and the texture of the grass in the breeze.The sky and the sea have been captured with great economy of line. Perspective is effectively displayed by the diminishing sizes of the pencil marks used to represent the figures, and the hills receding into the background. Importantly, the social aspect of the scene is prominent. Families and friends are shown enjoying themselves lying on deckchairs, strolling along the shore and playing on the sand. This was an era when a holiday by the British seaside was a popular choice - even if people did have to keep their jackets on - before cheap holidays abroad became available. | |
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