GLASGOW AUCTION house McTear’s held their final picture sale of 2016 on December 14.
Two of the star lots were ‘The Toy Boat Brighouse Bay’ and ‘Burmese Girls’, both by the ‘Glasgow Boy’ Edward Atkinson Hornel. The former carried pre-sale hopes of £6000-£9000, while the latter was guided to £4000-£6000.
The Toy Boat (illustrated), a well-framed oil on canvas, was signed and dated 1918 and measured approximately 16in x 12in (40cm x 30cm).
Burmese Girls, framed under glass and another oil, was signed and dated 1922 and measured 21in x 11in (54cm x 28cm).
There’s a wee problem with Hornel (1864-1933) and I hope you won’t mind if I share it.
The issue with his work came to my attention in the 1980s when a wise old neighbour asked me to help her hang a rather solid and splendid example, two rosy-cheeked little girls in a flower-decked wood, completed in the slabbish, decorative style honed on Hornel’s travels to Japan with fellow Glasgow Boy George Henry. The two artists spent a year and a half there in 1893-1894.
“Look,” she said, as we manoeuvred the picture between two grand windows, “She has a club hand.” At the time I knew not what a “club hand” was (my nose was pressed to the frame, in any case), but from that day to this I have watched dozens of Hornels with club hands passing through Scottish salerooms.
I have winced at his portrayal of the human forearm in major paintings at the Kelvingrove, the National Museums of Scotland and in Kirkcudbright, where his former home, Broughton House, is now a museum dedicated to his output.
And, yes, his apparent inability to get it right loomed large in McTear’s richly-coloured picture. At least three wooden wrists dominate (for me!) The Toy Boat.
Large Hornels have regularly taken £20,000-plus at auction. Pre-sale hopes for the McTear’s pair more modestly reflected their smaller size. As it transpired, The Toy Boat took a mid-estimate £7500, while Burmese Girls achieved a low estimate £4000.
Not for the first time, I can think of one dear old lady in Heaven who will attribute this to the artist’s club hands.