Still life with Tulips, circa late 1940
The Scottish painter, Anne Redpath O.B.E., R.A, R.S.A., (1895-1965), was the daughter of a tweed designer who helped to foster her interest in colour and pattern. She studied at Edinburgh College of Art (1913-19) where she won a travelling scholarship (1919) and visited Brussels, Bruges, Paris, Florence and Siena, taking a particular interest in Italian 14th-century painting. After marrying an architect, James Beattie Michie (1891-1959), in 1920, she moved to France, where she lived until 1934. Redpath returned to Hawick in this year, and from 1944-47 was president of the Scottish Society of Women Artists. In 1947 she was made an associate of The Royal Scottish Academy, and in 1952 she became the first female Academician. Three years later, she was made an OBE.
Until 1950 Redpath painted mostly still-lifes, such as The Indian Rug (c. 1942; Edinburgh, N.G. Mod. A.), and Scottish landscapes. After this date she began to paint scenes of Mediterranean life, such as The Poppy Field (c. 1963; London, Tate), based on her travels, adopting more vigorous brushwork and more intense colours.