DOI Artikel:
Walker, A. Stodart: A Scottish landscape painter: James Cadenhead, A.R.S.A., R.S.W.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43449#0033
James Cadenhead, A.R.S.A.
is never any attempt at finicky handling of the
brush-work, no over-emphasis of detail. True,
nature is to him never vagabond, a merely
glorious chaos of light and darkness; at least, if
it appear so, it can never be expressed by him as
such. The interrelation of tree and cloud, of
mountain and atmosphere, the delicate marriage of
light and shade, the corporate choir of subtle
harmonies, are sought for and translated in the
medium of paint. Gifted with vision and the
capacity to interpret, then genius becomes the
infinite capacity of taking pains. Inspired and
cultivated labour—that is the phrase we might
apply to the work of Mr. James Cadenhead.
Perfection in design, there can be little doubt, is
one of Mr. Cadenhead’s main aims, the ambition to
attain which is most successful in his water-colour
drawings. Mr. James Caw, writing of Mr. Caden-
head in his “ Scottish Painting, Past and Present,”
sees the influence of the Japanese colour-prints
strong, as he finds the artist’s design largely founded
upon combinations of
decoratively coloured
spaces. There is a great
deal of truth in this, and it
is on this account that
nearly all of Mr. Caden-
head’s water-colour draw-
ings are produced in the
studio, where a closer study
of the design can be secured
than if he laid down his
drawing in the open air.
Mr. Cadenhead’s usual
method is to make outdoor
studies in oil and from these
to construct his water-colour
scheme. These studies,
however, are not mere
sketches. Many of them
have been exhibited on the
line in the Royal Scottish
Academy and constitute
some of the most effective
examples of the artist’s
genius. Many collectors,
indeed, show a preference
for these oil studies, each
representing one day’s com-
munion with nature, to the
more laboriously planned
oils upon which Mr. Caden-
head has worked of late.
And it is of interest to
note that while the artist is a very rapid worker in
the open, and is able to produce at one sitting
the impression of a finished canvas, he is a slow
worker in the studio, where his super-critical
attitude becomes dominant and where he wrestles
long with delicate problems of light, shade, and
design, which the very nature of things precludes
in the open. But it must be noted that Mr.
Cadenhead is extremely careful in selecting his
outdoor material before he puts brush to canvas.
He approaches nature as Sir James Guthrie
approaches his sitters. He must thoroughly realise
the potentialities of his material before he trans-
lates it in the cipher of art. The present writer
has seen Mr. Cadenhead plant himself in one of
his favourite districts—of which Deeside, in
Aberdeenshire, may be placed first—and allow
some weeks to pass before placing the canvas in
front of his palette.
Apart from the success which has attended his
efforts in water-colour and oils, Mr. Cadenhead
“ SHEEP-TRACK ”
FROM AN Oil. PAINTING BY JAMES CADENHEAD, A.R.S.A.
19
is never any attempt at finicky handling of the
brush-work, no over-emphasis of detail. True,
nature is to him never vagabond, a merely
glorious chaos of light and darkness; at least, if
it appear so, it can never be expressed by him as
such. The interrelation of tree and cloud, of
mountain and atmosphere, the delicate marriage of
light and shade, the corporate choir of subtle
harmonies, are sought for and translated in the
medium of paint. Gifted with vision and the
capacity to interpret, then genius becomes the
infinite capacity of taking pains. Inspired and
cultivated labour—that is the phrase we might
apply to the work of Mr. James Cadenhead.
Perfection in design, there can be little doubt, is
one of Mr. Cadenhead’s main aims, the ambition to
attain which is most successful in his water-colour
drawings. Mr. James Caw, writing of Mr. Caden-
head in his “ Scottish Painting, Past and Present,”
sees the influence of the Japanese colour-prints
strong, as he finds the artist’s design largely founded
upon combinations of
decoratively coloured
spaces. There is a great
deal of truth in this, and it
is on this account that
nearly all of Mr. Caden-
head’s water-colour draw-
ings are produced in the
studio, where a closer study
of the design can be secured
than if he laid down his
drawing in the open air.
Mr. Cadenhead’s usual
method is to make outdoor
studies in oil and from these
to construct his water-colour
scheme. These studies,
however, are not mere
sketches. Many of them
have been exhibited on the
line in the Royal Scottish
Academy and constitute
some of the most effective
examples of the artist’s
genius. Many collectors,
indeed, show a preference
for these oil studies, each
representing one day’s com-
munion with nature, to the
more laboriously planned
oils upon which Mr. Caden-
head has worked of late.
And it is of interest to
note that while the artist is a very rapid worker in
the open, and is able to produce at one sitting
the impression of a finished canvas, he is a slow
worker in the studio, where his super-critical
attitude becomes dominant and where he wrestles
long with delicate problems of light, shade, and
design, which the very nature of things precludes
in the open. But it must be noted that Mr.
Cadenhead is extremely careful in selecting his
outdoor material before he puts brush to canvas.
He approaches nature as Sir James Guthrie
approaches his sitters. He must thoroughly realise
the potentialities of his material before he trans-
lates it in the cipher of art. The present writer
has seen Mr. Cadenhead plant himself in one of
his favourite districts—of which Deeside, in
Aberdeenshire, may be placed first—and allow
some weeks to pass before placing the canvas in
front of his palette.
Apart from the success which has attended his
efforts in water-colour and oils, Mr. Cadenhead
“ SHEEP-TRACK ”
FROM AN Oil. PAINTING BY JAMES CADENHEAD, A.R.S.A.
19