Dorothy Johnstone ARSA - Portrait of the Artist’s Daughter Anne

Dorothy Johnstone ARSA (1892–1980) - Portrait of the Artist’s Daughter Anne, 1953

An exceptionally personal 1953 oil on board by the important Scottish artist Dorothy Johnstone ARSA, depicting her daughter Anne. Signed and dated at the lower right and retaining an old handwritten label to the reverse identifying both the sitter and artist, together with the family address at Woodhouselee, Cults, Aberdeenshire.

Anne is shown seated three-quarter length in a wooden armchair, dressed almost entirely in dark blue and black and holding a vivid blue piece of fabric across her lap. Her fair hair is carefully arranged around her head, while a pale necklace provides a further point of contrast against the dark clothing. Johnstone gives particular attention to the sitter's face and hands, which are modelled in warmer pink, cream and ochre tones and stand out strongly from the surrounding dress.

The portrait is particularly effective in its balance between observation and painterly freedom. Anne's face is comparatively finely resolved, with subtle changes of colour used to describe the complexion and the fall of light, while the clothing and surrounding interior are handled much more broadly. Loose passages of blue, grey, ochre, green and muted red build the background without describing the room too literally, allowing the sitter to remain the clear focus of the composition.

A particularly attractive feature is the restrained use of blue throughout the painting. The near-black blue of Anne's dress is relieved by the brighter cloth held between her hands, while touches of blue recur within the chair and surrounding interior. These cooler tones are offset by the warm browns, russets and ochres of the background, producing a sophisticated and distinctly mid-century palette.

The identity of the sitter gives the painting particular significance within Johnstone's work. Anne was the daughter of Dorothy Johnstone and the Scottish painter David Macbeth Sutherland. Johnstone had married Sutherland in 1924, and the couple had two children, Ian and Anne. Following Sutherland's appointment as Head of Gray's School of Art, the family moved to Aberdeen, where Johnstone continued to paint and exhibit while increasingly establishing herself as a portrait painter.

Johnstone was born in Edinburgh in 1892 and was among the earliest generation of students to attend Edinburgh College of Art. She became associated with a notable circle of Scottish artists including Cecile Walton and Mary Newbery and exhibited regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy over a career spanning several decades. Although marriage required her to leave her teaching position at Edinburgh College of Art, she continued to paint throughout her life, producing portraits and landscapes and maintaining close connections with the Scottish artistic establishment. She was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1962.

Portraiture, and particularly the sympathetic depiction of younger sitters, became an important part of Johnstone's later practice. This work is especially appealing in that respect, recording not a commissioned sitter but a member of the artist's own immediate family. Painted in 1953, when Anne was approximately twenty-five years old, it combines the intimacy of a family portrait with the scale and compositional assurance of a substantial finished work.

The reverse retains an important old handwritten label reading “Anne / By Dorothy Johnstone / Mrs D. M. Sutherland / Woodhouselee, Cults / Aberdeenshire / Agent Taylor's, Aberdeen”, providing unusually strong contemporary identification of both sitter and artist and linking the painting directly with the Sutherland family home at Cults.

The reverse is also of additional interest. Much of the back of the board is presently concealed beneath old brown paper backing, but substantial areas of paint remain visible around its margins. These exposed passages, particularly along the lower and right edges, appear to form part of a further loosely painted study or composition on the reverse of the board. As the majority remains concealed beneath the historic paper, the nature of this second image cannot presently be determined, but it provides an intriguing glimpse into Johnstone's working practice and has been left undisturbed.

Presented in a newly fitted dark stained wooden frame whose warm brown tones complement both the wooden chair and the muted colours of the interior. The simple, broad profile gives the painting a suitably understated period character while allowing the considerable scale and presence of the portrait to remain the focus.

A particularly appealing and personal example of Dorothy Johnstone's portraiture, combining an identified family sitter, a firm 1953 date, the artist's signature, an important contemporary label and the intriguing survival of a further painted study to the reverse. Its scale, restrained mid-century palette and direct connection to Johnstone's own family give the work particular interest within her portrait output.

Artist: Dorothy Johnstone ARSA (1892–1980)
Title: Portrait of the Artist’s Daughter Anne
Date: 1953
Medium: Oil on board
Signed: Signed and dated 1953 lower right
Unframed size: 76cm x 64cm
Framed size: 86cm x 73cm
Provenance / Labels: Old handwritten label to the reverse identifying the work as Anne, by Dorothy Johnstone, and giving the family address as Woodhouselee, Cults, Aberdeenshire, with “Agent Taylor's, Aberdeen” also inscribed
Verso: Old paper backing concealing much of the reverse, with exposed margins revealing a further painted study or composition
Condition: Good vintage condition overall, with minor age-related surface wear consistent with the painting's age. The historic paper backing to the reverse has been left undisturbed. Presented in a newly fitted dark stained wooden frame.