George Leslie Hunter’s paintings are known for their vibrant demonstration of colour across still life and landscape subjects. Alongside his fellow ‘Scottish Colourist’ friends, Hunter’s practice was heavily inspired by the French Impressionist artists, having visited France frequently over the early 1900s and later purchasing a studio there in the 1920s.

From 1907 onwards, having been profoundly moved by the paintings of Henri Matisse and the strong light of the French sun, Hunter employed bold contrasting colours and decorative fabric patterns into his oils. Additional inspiration from Paul Cézanne can also be seen, with the use of subtle perspective and the repeated white tablecloth motif: often folded or draped in a way which intentionally cuts through composition of well-defined fruits, vases and flowers. The inclusion of contrasting colours and bold, grounding outlines across these scenes gave Hunter’s painting a wonderful freshness and exuberance that was widely celebrated amongst critics. In a 1923 review of the Leicester Galleries exhibition ‘Three Colourists’, The Times Newspaper wrote of his painting ‘…his still life paintings are strong and simple in design and gorgeous in colour…He makes the heart glad like wine'.

Still life with fruit and flowers is wholly typical of Hunter’s 1920’s still life painting. Moving away from earlier delicate palettes and controlled compositions, the thicker application of paint illustrates the artist working instinctively and with a focus on form alongside his use of colour. Bright reds, blues, greens and whites vibrate against each other simultaneously yet feel balanced in the arrangement, neither struggling to compete for the viewer’s eye. Hunter’s use of shape cleverly leads us around the entirety of the painting. The angled edge of the table in the lower right corner initially draws the viewer in, towards the vertical and triangular shapes found in the fruit and fabric displayed behind. Once here, we are drawn higher, converging at the central vase and finally to the vibrant floral display at the top of the board.