John Maclauchlan Milne was the artist with strong Dundee connections who is widely regarded as the ‘fifth colourist’.
Now the hunt is on to find the late art hero’s undiscovered paintings ahead of a major exhibition of his work that will be staged in Dundee in the summer.
Milne was based in Dundee for about 30 years in the early 1900s.
He was a member, and later the president, of the Dundee Art Society, which now owns the gallery where the exhibition of his work will be held.
Undiscovered work
Alan Lawson, the curator of the exhibition, said it’s not known how many paintings Milne completed over the course of his working life.
The artist was active for 40 years but Alan predicts that at least 100 undiscovered paintings by Milne could still be out there in Dundee.
He said: “Milne was friends with my grandparents throughout the early 1900s, resulting in quite a few of his works being in our family.
“About 12 of the items in the exhibition are his paintings which had been in our family for a long time or have been recently bought by us.
“Several private owners in Dundee have also now agreed to lend their pictures to the exhibition, as has Milne’s nephew from Ayrshire.
“But I believe there will be more of Milne’s work in the area that I’d like to find.”
Milne was born into an artistic family, as both his father and uncle were professional landscape painters in the 1880s – both of whom also have two oil paintings featured in Alan’s collection.
A painter of mostly coastal scenes, landscapes and still life, Milne was later named the fifth colourist, the final member of The Scottish Colourists alongside S.J. Peploe, F.C.B. Cadell, J.D. Fergusson and Leslie Hunter.
Others refer to him as The Dundee Colourist.
Milne’s paintings regularly fetch high prices at auction, and were recently featured at the Portland Gallery in London.
Milne arrived in Dundee with his family in the early 1900s.
He was named after John Maclauchlan, who was custodian of Dundee’s public art collection.
Milne was supported by William Boyd in Dundee, who acquired many of his paintings, just as ‘Bunty’ Cadell was supported by Glasgow ship owners George Service.
He had a studio at 132a Nethergate, and had his first solo exhibition in March 1921 at Murray’s Galleries at 106 Nethergate.
The Portland Gallery described Milne’s Nethergate studio as “…a Riviera holiday without a tedious journey in the train bleu… all the glories of flowery land and purple sea gleam from canvases”.
After returning from the First World War, where Milne served with the Royal Air Force in France and Belgium, he was elected president of the Dundee Art Society from 1919.
While president, he completed several portraits of Scotland.
His dated works from the 1930s include Torridon – Ross-shire, Perth from Kinnoull Hill, and Durness – Sutherland.
Exhibition records include pictures from Glenelg, Morar, Glen Lyon, and Skye.
Milne also went to Iona to paint and his exhibits in 1937, 1938 and 1939 include North Shore, Iona, Sound of Iona and Treshnish Isles.
Alan chose the Roseangle Gallery for the exhibition of Milne’s work because of its longstanding connection to the Art Society, and to Milne himself.
He said: “The society owned the gallery so it has been nice to select a venue that has a connection to Milne.”
The gallery also owned a painting of Milne’s that they have given to Alan for the exhibition.
Milne left Dundee in 1940 to live on Arran.
A final exhibition at his studio in the Nethergate in April 1940 seems to have marked the end of his time in Dundee.
Milne’s work became that of the island and there are a series of paintings of Arran that Milne completed which are dated from 1939 to 1956.
He died in Greenock in October 1957.
Alan is looking for other artwork by Milne that could be loaned to him for the exhibition.
It will be running for four weeks from June 24 at Roseangle Gallery and will be opened by art curator and writer Alice Strang.
Alan said: “It’s reasonable to think Milne could’ve painted around 1,000 paintings over the span of his career.
“How many are owned by people in the Dundee area?
“Maybe a hundred.
“Most of our collection so far has come from the city.
“I think more people from Dundee will have other paintings by Milne that I’d like to add to the exhibition.”
All of Milne’s artwork was autographed by the artist.
His signature is unmistakable, much like the mark he left on the art world.
Anyone who owns any of John Maclauchlan Milne’s artwork and would be willing to lend it to Alan for the exhibition can email him at aylawson@btinternet.com
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