James Waterson Herald

Typical of Scottish artist James Watterson Herald's highly individual style of painting, in which he used a wet technique in the case of watercolour, and a smudged technique in the case of pastel, to evoke an atmospheric scene. Herald was notoriously reclusive and self-contained as an artist. After living and working in London and Croydon for a decade the Forfar-born artist turned his back on the successful career he had established and returned to Scotland in 1901, settling in Arbroath. He continued to paint, but despite the best efforts of the artist's patron, John Taylor Ewen, he struggled to achieve further commercial success in his own lifetime. Ewen invited the leading figure from the Glasgow School, Edward Arthur Walton, to visit Herald’s Arbroath studio in 1904, and a report in the Dundee Evening Telegraph stated that the artist was "very highly complimented" by his fellow Scot. However, Herald, who more often than not shunned such contact, had no capacity for self-promotion, coupled with a complete lack of business acumen. As a result it was not until after his death that his paintings received the recognition they deserved, and were fully appreciated for their subtle beauty, soft palette and unique technique.