A powerful example of post-war European abstraction, this painting dissolves a rugged landscape into a heavily textured architecture of pure colour and form.
A fortress-like structure emerges from a storm of fractured planes and heavily worked pigment. The artist builds the composition with a palette knife, applying thick, confident slabs of oil paint in a palette of slate blues, ochre, and stark whites that create a tangible, sculptural surface. This work is a potent distillation of the post-war School of Paris, capturing the raw, material-focused energy of Tachisme and showing the profound influence of Nicolas de Staël's abstract landscapes from the early 1950s. The painting masterfully navigates the line between pure abstraction and a deeply felt sense of place, conveying the monumental weight of its subject through sheer texture and structural force.
Hamish Lawrie was born in Dunfermline, Fife and studied at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen. In the 1940s he worked as a cameraman in the film industry and is believed to have sold his first painting to poet Dylan Thomas. The Scottish Colourist J.D. Fergusson was a friend and mentor.
Medium: Oil on hardboard.
Inscription on Front: Signed Lawrie lower left
Condition: The artwork is in very good vintage condition, with craquelure and surface texture consistent with the artist's heavy impasto technique. The period frame shows minor scuffs and wear appropriate to its age.
Height 29cm / 11.5” Height with frame 38cm / 15”
Width 34.5cm / 13.5” Width with frame 44cm / 17.5”
