I felt instinctively that what I wanted to say in my work was more related to Gillies than the ‘painterly’ or ‘stir the paint about more’ gestural Scottish painting of the time. I envied his speed, facility and skill, and admired the fluidity and fluency of his pen-and-ink drawings and watercolours. His work reveals his continuous celebration and enjoyment of snow, rainbows, stormy skies, twilight, moonlight, sunlight.
Frances Walker CBE, RSA, RSW (b.1930)
Sir William Gillies is still highly underrated in Modern British terms. Born in Haddington, he trained and taught at Edinburgh College of Art, and did the latter as principal. He was a great influence on many of the next generation of the Edinburgh School. He himself studied in Paris with Andre Lhote and absorbed, variously, the work of Munch, Matisse, Braque and Bonnard. Still life and landscape oils tend to be composed studio pieces of subtle complexity. Watercolours are lyrically observed renderings of the Scottish Borders based on decisive pencil or pen drawings or for larger works, executed alla prima. Gillies had a long and fruitful relationship with The Scottish Gallery which continues in the secondary market.