40 pictures from Blyth collection go on sale

An HISTORIC group of 40 Scottish pictures from the vast collection of John Blyth, a Fife linen merchant, goes on sale at Edinburgh’s Scottish Gallery in July.

Over 50 years Blyth, who died in 1962, built up one of the largest private collections of Scottish art – nearly 240 paintings, including 84 alone by the Scottish Colourist SJ Peploe, a trove that would be worth millions of pounds today.

His buying ran through the 1920s Depression and continued until the Second World War.

“Reviewing his purchases over many years, it is clear that John Blyth had a passionate commitment to Scottish artists,” said the journalist and former cabinet minister Michael Portillo, who is a grandchild of Blyth.

“He collected them, befriended them and fought for them to be recognised.”

Much of the Blyth collection is now on display in the Kirkcaldy Art Gallery, where he was a major donor, becoming its first convenor in 1925. He started collecting art in 1909 and was still buying works in 1956.

His purchases often focused on the Scottish Colourists, but his collection also included 45 pieces by William McTaggart, and 24 by Walter Sickert.

The Scottish Gallery, in Dundas Street, is Edinburgh’s oldest independent art gallery. It opened in 1842 as Aitken Dott and much of Blyth’s collecting was done through the gallery.