Howson's dark vision of Robbie Coltrane set to fetch £70,000

Published on Friday 4 September 2009 22:06

PETER Howson's painting of actor and comedian Robbie Coltrane is one of more than 150 works that will go under the hammer later this month, The Scotsman has learned.

The work is a highlight of Sotheby's September sale of Scottish art, which this year has been moved from Gleneagles to London for the first time.

Unveiling work by artists ranging from the Scottish Colourists to former miner Jack Vettriano yesterday, the auctioneer dismissed as "ridiculous" the criticism that it was turning its back on Scotland.

The man in a surreal wheelchair in Howson's Blind Leading the Blind III, one of a series from 1991, is not named, but yesterday Howson, one of the leading Scottish painters of his day, confirmed it was closely based on Coltrane. The painting is expected to sell for up to 70,000.

"Robbie and I were pretty good pals, and Robbie was my best man when I got married to Teri," Howson said, referring to his former wife, a Glasgow teacher. "It wasn't done from life. I had never drawn him, but I wanted to."

Coltrane helped care for Howson's baby daughter, Lucie, now 20, but the two men, both former students at the Glasgow College of Art, have since drifted apart.

"A lot of people say it also looks like another friend of mine, Hugh Byars, the artist," he added. "But Robbie was the initial inspiration. I don't know if he ever saw it or recognised it. He never mentioned it – I didn't know how he would feel about me putting him in a wheelchair."

Sotheby's came under sharp criticism earlier this year when it announced it was cancelling the Gleneagles summer sale, a much-loved fixture on the Scottish art scene for 40 years.

But Sotheby's Scottish sales director Andre Zlattinger said: "The idea that Sotheby's are abandoning the Scottish market is ridiculous."

While its biggest rival, Christie's, has abandoned specialist Scottish sales, Sotheby's has pledged to continue twice-yearly Scottish art auctions at its London salerooms. But smaller auctioneers in Edinburgh – including Bonhams and Lyon & Turnbull – claim they will be handed an advantage.

But Mr Zlattinger insisted London sales would expose Scottish work to international clients, citing the record price for a painting by Colourist George Leslie Hunter set in April.

"In the last 18 months, we have had buyers from 15 different countries, " he said. "Our other British sales, including Irish sales, have always been held in London."

Pictures in the 30 September auction will be shown in Edinburgh on 15-17 September. They include two Colourist paintings of France: Hunter's Street Scene, Vence and Samuel John Peploe's Luxembourg Gardens.

Two of Peploe's still-life paintings top the sale. His Red and Pink Roses, Oranges and Fan from the early 1920s, is estimated at 300,000 to 500,000.

The Colourist FCB Cadell is represented by a society painting, Lady Lavery in Black, and Ben More from Iona.

There are 15 paintings by Vettriano, and works by two big 20th-century names, Anne Redpath and Joan Eardley, and the so-called "fifth Colourist", John Maclauchlan Milne.

Saving money may be the reason behind sale's move south

I DON'T know why Sotheby's can't sell Scottish pictures in Scotland.

If it is an international market as they say, then location is less important. Buyers who want pictures will go anywhere; certainly they will bid anywhere. It is not hard.

I suppose that is also a reason why we should not object to Scottish sales being held in London, but there has always been a lot of local interest in these sales.

This may not be at the international level, but it should not simply be discounted. Holding the sales in the context of the pictures' origins adds a dimension, too.

I suspect the move away from Scotland has more to do with cost and convenience. If I remember rightly, Christie's started the rot by staging their Scottish sales in London. If so, Sotheby's are no doubt relieved to be able to follow suit.

There are some good pictures in this sale of some 150 works from Scotland. The paintings by Samuel John Peploe are a bit run-of-the-mill. His roses never were his best suit.

But those by FCB Cadell are more interesting, especially Lady Lavery shown in her black hat and veil.

A painting by his fellow colourist John Duncan Fergusson, Swimmers near the Sea, is of interest because of the naked sitter, his partner, Margaret Morris.

Anne Redpath's Summer Gaiety is a lovely picture. But Peter Howson painting Robbie Coltrane, if that is what the picture really is, in Blind Leading the Blind II, is a curiosity, but no more.

It's a powerful picture, but not a pretty one, and that goes with the sitter, Hagrid of Hogwarts. You cannot put Howson alongside Peploe and Cadell.

Duncan Macmillan