Scottish Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell Modern Oil Paintings

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell was born in Edinburgh and educated at the Edinburgh Academy. At the age of sixteen, on the advice of the painter Arthur Melville, Cadell went to study in Paris at the Academie Julian. His exposure to the French artists of the time was to have a profound and long-lasting effect on his art. He met Samuel Peploe in Paris and become friends with the more senior artist whose career and art had a distinct influence over him.

Cadell's first one man show was held in Edinburgh in 1908, and until 1914, he was based in the city, apart from a brief period in Munich and a short, but memorable stay in Venice. Cadell made his first visit to the Western Isle of Iona in 1912 and found it an emotive place, not least because of the light and colour of the beaches and skies. It attracted many other artists, including Peploe, Fergusson, John MacLauchlin Milne and William Glass. In Scotland Campbell Boileau oil painting had little direct contact with the progressive ideas that were emanating from abroad. As a result he chose as his subject matter articles and environments that were close at hand - bottles, fans, fashionable Edinburgh New Town house interiors and glamorous women which he painted in a loose, impressionistic manner, the colours strong and fresh.

While in France, his exposure to work by the early Fauvists, and in particular Matisse, proved to be his most lasting influence. After his return to Scotland, he was a regular exhibitor in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as in London. He painted landscapes, interiors, still life and figures in oil painting, but he is particularly noted for his portraits, depicting his subject with vibrant waves of colour. He enjoyed the landscape of Iona enormously, which he first visited in 1912 and features prominently in his work.

He painted landscapes, interiors, still life and figures in both oil and watercolour, but he is particularly noted for his portrait paintings, depicting his subject with vibrant waves of colour. He enjoyed the landscape of Iona enormously, which he first visited in 1912 and features prominently in Francis Campbell oil painting. During the 1920s he spent several summers with Samuel Peploe, another Scottish Colourist, on painting trips to Iona.