JOHN MACLAUCHLAN MILNE R.S.A (SCOTTISH 1886-1957)
A VILLAGE STREET
Signed, watercolour
33cm x 39cm (13in x 15.25in)
While the precise location of this work is unconfirmed, it is almost certainly from Kingoodie, where Maclauchlan Milne lived with his first wife, after they married in 1911. Kingoodie lies on the north shore of the River Tay, a few miles west of Dundee. At one time there was a quarry there and the cottages depicted were where the quarry workers lived. The signature of this picture includes the artist’s initial ‘J’, which is typical of his early works. It is likely to date from approximately 1911, which was a tumultuous year for the artist. His father, landscape artist Joseph Milne, died in January and Maclauchlan Milne married six months later. The couple are unlikely to have stayed long in Kingoodie. When Maclauchlan Milne began exhibiting at the Royal Glasgow Institute and at the Royal Scottish Academy the following year, his work was submitted from his new wife’s parents’ address in Seafield Road, Dundee.We are grateful to Maurice Millar, author of The Missing Colourist: The Search for John Maclauchlan Milne RSA (privately published in 2022 and available via The Missing Colourist website) for writing this text.