Over 60 paintings by Samuel Peploe (1871-1935)—the most colourful of Scottish artists—will be gathered for Kirkcudbright Galleries’ 2026 Summer Exhibition. We’re delighted that the exhibition’s curator, noted art historian Amanda Herries, has agreed to give a special lecture on the artist for TASDAG members and guests. After the lecture and lunch at the Selkirk Arms (included in the ticket), you’ll be able to view the exhibition with Amanda.
10:30-11:00 Teas & Coffees before lecture—Kirkcudbright Galleries 11:00-12:30 Lecture by Amanda Herries & questions 12:30-14:00 Lunch at the Selkirk Arms 14:00-15:00 Viewing the exhibition with Amanda
Peploe’s early career showed little trace of his artistic leanings. He left school at 14; his guardians wanted him to pursue a career in the army; he was. Peploe is one of the group of four artists known as the ‘Scottish Colourists‘. Born in Edinburgh, he studied art in Paris and lived there from 1910 to 1912. It was through painting holidays in Northern France that he was introduced to the use of bold colour, inspired by the bright sunlight. He later experienced the same intensity of light while painting on the island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland. French painting proved to be a powerful influence for Peploe throughout his life. Although his work never became abstract, it was characterised by tight composition, strong colour and assured handling.
Hitchcock’s masterpiece ‘North by Northwest’ (1959) the way it should be seen—on the big screen.
Of course you’ve probably seen the film already on television / DVD etc. But that’s not how Hitchcock designed it. Think about the iconic “crop-duster” scene. It starts with an overhead shot of a desolate, empty field, flat to the horizon. A bus approaches. Out steps Roger O. (“What does the O stand for?”—“Nothing!”) Thornhill (Cary Grant), and waits by the empty road. There’s nothing to see besides the vast fields, shot in glorious VistaVision by cinematographer Robert Burks, reaching into the distance.
Here are Hitchcock’s own words, explaining why this has to be seen on a large screen to be properly appreciated:
Now in movies…the cliché of the man being put on the spot is usually a place of assignation and it takes the form of a figure under a street lamp at the corner of the street with the rain-washed cobbles shining in the night… Somebody is going to come along and bump him off. Well of course, this is such a clichéd thing, you see, that one has to fight shy of it and run as far away from it as one possibly can because it’s all predictable. Now I decide to do something quite different…therefore, I take the loneliest, emptiest spot I can so that there is no place to run for cover, no place to hide, and no place for the enemy to hide.
Do join us for this very special screening, to rejoice in Roger O. Thornhill’s increasingly dramatic and suspenseful predicaments (and to admire the scene-stealing suave sophistication of James Mason as the villain of the piece).
