Messum's is delighted to be featuring a fine example of Paul Maitland's work in this week's Country Life, 11th March 2020. The painting is available to view at Messum' s Studio by appointment (call 01628 486565).
Paul Maitland was a pupil of the French émigré, Theodore Roussel (1847-1926), and was among the select group of British artists in the 1889 London Impressionists exhibition at the Goupil Galleries, one of the first moments that Impressionism was linked to painting in Britain. He had studied at the Royal College of Art and it was through his master, Roussel, a French artist who lived in Chelsea that Maitland became associated with Whistler and his circle.
By 1888, Maitland had become a member of the New English Art Club; exhibiting alongside Sickert and Steer. His paintings were also shown at the Royal Society's Suffolk Street Gallery, the Grafton Galleries, the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.
Through Roussel, Maitland became interested in different means of conveying space and atmospheric effect. Owing to a debilitating illness that restricted his ability to move, he painted small easily transportable works, venturing only as far as Kensington and the Chelsea embankment. Though he would return to paint Kensington Gardens on many occasions, he never fell into repetition. Rather, he sought to capture the subtle nuances of light and shade observed in a familiar and well-loved place.
'A Corner of Kensington Gardens' is a fine example of the artist's senstive response to a quiet corner of his local parkland. The early morning light highlights the March daffodils and focusses the viewer's eye on the, perhaps recently, vacated park bench ..... It is a scene which has barely changed in over a century since it was painted and will be particularly familiar to anyone who enjoys the quiet corners of London at this time of year.
To view the painting and other similar British Impressionist paintings, please contact Messum's Studio on 01628 486565 or email studio@messums.com.