Street scene

James Alfred Aitken (1846-1897) was a Scottish landscape painter. His first teacher was Horatio McCulloch (also MacCulloch or M'Culloch), whose famous landscapes of the Scottish Highland wilderness had a great influence on his practice. After his family relocated to Dublin, Ireland, Aitken received further training from Henry MacManus at the Royal Dublin Society’s school, before finally settling down in Glasgow in 1872. He exhibited regularly at the Glasgow Institute and at the Royal Scottish Academy, and also became a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour.

This work is different from Aitken’s usual rustic village scenes or idyllic landscapes, seeing that it is an unfinished sketch. He displays an extraordinarily modern approach by arranging disconnected shapes of colour to create the visual illusion of buildings, and the naturally fuzzy edges of the colour blocks give the work a unique visual character.

Further reading:

Mallalieu, H.L. (1986), The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists up to 1920: Volume I – The Text, 2nd edition, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club.