Flint is most well known for his exceptional repertoire of nubile young ladies. The present work, however, The Sunshine of Kirkcaldy Under Repair at St. Monance, showcases his unrivalled skills as a landscape watercolourist. The delicate strokes of pastel colour vividly conjure up one of the most beautiful harbour spots in Scotland.
Kirkcaldy, a town in Fife on the east coast of Scotland, lies on a shallow bay on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. It is the largest settlement between the cities of Edinburgh and Dundee and given Flint’s Scottish heritage, it is unsurprising that he favoured the artistic potential provided by the natural environs of Scotland. St. Monance is more commonly known as St. Monans and it is a small town and harbour. Flint’s composition incorporates the distinctive triangle of the local church which can still be seen today.
Bury has commented that Flint is ‘the greatest master technically of the elusive watercolour method of art.’ And, when in 1947 Flint was knighted, Charles Wheeler, the president of the Royal Academy, paid tribute to the artist describing his watercolour technique as a ‘baffling skill’. Both of these remarks are eminently applicable to the present work.
It was as an artist of feminine grace that Flint won universal acclaim, for his picturesque gypsies, flamenco dancers and languorous nudes and half-draped beauties. It has been written that ‘the artist combined thought, feeling and knowledge of the subject with confidence and love, and he communicated that love to the spectator in unmistakable terms. Such is the reason for his universal success with artists, connoisseurs and the public in general.’
William Russell Flint studied at the Royal Institute of Art, Edinburgh and subsequently moved to London taking up freelance illustration commissions for various magazines and publishers. Some of his best known efforts include illustrations for Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur (London, 1910) and Homer’s Odyssey (London, 1924). He cemented his artistic reputation with watercolour landscapes of the British Isles and France, Italy and Spain with many of the latter including references to local customs. On returning to his native Scotland after the Great War, Flint continued to work as a freelance artist and became one of the most sought after artists of his day. Whilst his work won immediate favour with amateur collectors, he was also rapidly recognised by societies including the Royal Society of Oil Painters to which he was elected in 1912. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1917, and President of the latter from 1936-56. Knighted in 1947 he was accorded a solo exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1962, the highest distinction that an artist can achieve during his lifetime. Adrian Bury describes how ‘in the infinite variety of temperament, vision, technique, achievement despair and triumph recorded in the long history of art, Sir William Russell Flint takes a unique place. At its best, his work is perfect and without criticism.’1
1 Lewis, R. Biography of Sir William Russell Flint 1880-1969 (Edinburgh, 1980), introduction.
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