charcoal on paper
mounted, framed and under glass

Provenance: the artist's studio sale, Thomson Roddick.
Note: Charles Oppenheimer was born in Manchester in 1875. His mother was Scottish and the family owned a mosaic manufacturing business. He studied under Walter Crane at Manchester School of Art and in Italy. Although not a native Scot, (he didn't settle in Scotland until he was in his mid-thirties) he was passionate about his adopted home town of Kirkcudbright and found an endless source of subject matter in the 53 years he lived in the town. Kirkcudbright drew some of Scotland's greatest artists, such as Cadell and Fergusson, and many painters gathered here following the lead of E.A. Hornel. They were primarily attracted to the effect of the light on the hilly ground which produced soft colours and a spectrum of grey. Oppenheimer was a keen fisherman and many of his paintings dealt with the effect of light on water. His views of The Solway Coast and Whitby were used by British Rail for their advertising campaign 'See Britain By Rail'. He retained a love of Italy and produced some excellent canvasses of Venice and Florence. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, where he became a full member in 1934.