CONSTANCE FREDERICA GORDON-CUMMING (1837-1924)
A Lady of Adventurous Disposition
Karen Taylor is delighted to offer for sale the recently rediscovered contents of a portfolio of nearly 100 watercolours by the artist which have remained with her family until now. Untouched for a century and stored in family attics, these vibrant watercolours reveal the talent of a Scottish female artist who was widely exhibited during her own lifetime and published over 20 popular books and articles, but who has faded from view.
This collection is a remarkable record of an artist whose talent was nurtured from childhood when Sir Edwin Landseer was a visitor to her family home of Altyre, Morayshire on the river Findhorn in Scotland.
Her first trip was to India in 1868 after which she published “From the Hebrides to the Himalayas’ in 1876. Henceforth painting, writing and travel became her way of life and she visited many corners of the world- the collection includes views of Germany, Switzerland, Egypt, India, thirty watercolours Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tahiti, Yosemite and Hawaii.
She specialised in landscapes and was also an explorer and mountaineer, drawn to high peaks in the Highlands, the Himalayas, Ceylon, the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, the volcanoes of the South Seas and Yosemite, a place she loved especially and where she held the first exhibition. While travelling she was able to take advantage of freedoms she could enjoy away from home and records naked bathing in Fiji.
The artist was aware of the environment and critical of the deforestation she witnessed in Ceylon and California.
Over 300 of her works were included in the Indian and Colonial Exhibition at South Kensington. In 1914 she was made a Life Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
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