William Littlejohn, 77, Scottish artist, member of the Royal Scottish Academy, etc.
Shrike!
ALASDAIR STEVEN
http://news.scotsman.com/obituaries.cfm?id=1350412006
13-Sep-06 01:27 BST
WILLIAM LITTLEJOHN RSA, RSW, RGI Artist
Born: 16 April, 1929, in Arbroath.
Died: 5 September, 2006, in Arbroath, aged 77.
BILL Littlejohn's fertile and expansive imagination gave his paintings
an extra dimension of the unusual and the surreal. His canvases had a
beguiling sense of the weird and extraordinary: seagulls in the
kitchen or crockery on a harbour wall were particular favourites. This
juxtapositioning of visual ambiguities gave Littlejohn's works an air
of mystery and excitement. His paintings reflected and captured the
east coast of Scotland with an alluring devotion - the fishing port of
Arbroath inspired some of his most adventurous works. Although he did
paint in oils, his favourite medium was watercolour. He had a
continual fascination for still lifes which were at once confusing and
yet, somehow, soothing.
Littlejohn was a keen observer of fish and often painted them twisting
and turning in life-like fashion; he brought to all his fish paintings
a vivacity that was both immediate and remarkable. Latterly,
Littlejohn had become fascinated with Japanese art and artefacts.
Littlejohn was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) in
1973. Earlier this year, the academy held an exhibition of his works
in their Friends Room to honour one of their most distinguished and
longest serving academicians.
William Hunter Littlejohn was educated at Arbroath High School and
then studied art from 1946-50 at Gray's School of Art, in Aberdeen.
His promise as a draughtsman was recognised as early as 1963 when he
held his first solo exhibition. He taught widely in the Angus area
(Arbroath High School until 1966) then joined the staff at Gray's as a
lecturer and head of painting. In 1972, he was appointed their head of
fine art, retiring in 1991. He was an enthusiastic teacher, keen to
encourage the students' interest in painting and stimulate in them a
joy of looking at art as much as practising it.
Littlejohn pursued his own career in painting with typical vigour and
fervour. His world of exciting imagery had a delicate and still
quality that was reflected in many of his early works. From the late
Sixties, he painted in an all together more agitated and fervent style
- creative and visual ambiguities, however, continued to fascinate
him. He often incorporated images of Angus and Aberdeenshire into his
works but he also captured the flickering and enigmatic contrast of
different colours on shiny surfaces.
Littlejohn remained captivated by the clarity of light along the east
coast and responded eagerly to the visual thrill of the movement of
the sea, in cloud formations and sunsets. Nothing for Littlejohn was,
however, ever traditional. His pictures stimulated the observer's mind
and eye. A delightful work Fish, Mirror, Seagull almost sums up his
unrelenting desire to discover new areas of expression - yet remaining
true to his roots and style.
The RSA and Littlejohn enjoyed a long association. He exhibited there
every year from 1951 to 2006. The exhibition in the Friends Room was
extended into July so that the Duke of Edinburgh - who owns a
Littlejohn and much admires his work - was able to see it when he was
in Edinburgh. After the visit, Littlejohn wrote to the president of
the RSA to say that meeting Prince Philip was one of the highlights of
his time as a member of the academy.
The exhibition at the RSA proved very successful and many friends
appreciated seeing Littlejohn's works in such agreeable surroundings.
As the curator of the exhibition, Colin Greenslade, wrote in the
booklet: "The seasons delivered to us in hues best appreciated, not in
the gallery, but in the cosy lights of home. And in our homes is where
they deserve to be. Our own windows into one of the most skilled
aesthetes of our time."
In recent years, Littlejohn became much drawn to Japan and not only
collected but depicted Japanese plates, iconography and lanterns in
his paintings. At his home in Arbroath, he had woodwork carvings from
Japan and bonsai trees. He also experimented with the use of silver
and gold leaf in his still lifes, adding a definite and striking
audacity to many later works.
The Queen, too, possesses a Littlejohn, and his work features in many
a private and public collection (the Royal Bank of Scotland, the
Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen and the Edinburgh Civic
Collection) as well as being on show in the Scottish National Gallery
of Modern Art and at the Scottish Arts Council. Littlejohn was also a
member of the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Art and of the Royal
Society of Painters in Watercolour.
He never married.
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