Robert Gemmell Hutchison RSA 1855-1936

A native of Edinburgh, R. Gemmell Hutchison was born in 1855, and died on 22nd August 1936. After his school days he began work as a seal engraver, but soon left that occupation for painting and studied at the Art School of the Board of Manufactures.

He exhibited for the first time in the Royal Scottish Academy in 1878 and in the Royal Academy in 1881. A very early work was acquired by the Royal Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland. An assiduous and prolific worker, Hutchison painted in oil, water, and pastel, and with varied subjects—figures, landscapes, the seashore, domestic interiors and occasionally portraits.

As indicated, his works from the first found a ready sale, and he is represented in the permanent collections of Oldham - Glasgow, Kelvingrove Gallery; Modern Arts Association, Edinburgh; Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery ; Bolton; Toronto, Canada; Fine Art Association, Canada ; Blackpool; Hamilton Trustees, Glasgow; Paisley Art Institute; The Academy possesses “ Reflections,” bought through the Thorburn Ross Memorial Fund.

Elected as an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1901, he became an Academician in 1911. His Diploma picture is an open-air subject, entitled ‘‘ Shifting Shadows.” He was a Member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Water Colours (1895), and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. His works were premiated several times in the Paris Salon.

During summer for many years he painted at Carnoustie and latterly at Coldingham, where he died. Mr. Hutchison was a robust and original character, very vivid and downright in speech, but in his painting revealing a tenderness for the maternal and the childlike which is remarkable. And, while the influence of the Dutch followers of Israels is obvious over a large part of his career, still, his contribution to Scottish Art is very definite and important, especially in his later work, a fruition in itself expressive of his innate power.

He is survived by a widow and four daughters, his only son, also a painter, having been killed in the war.

RSA Obituary Transcribed from the 1936 RSA Annual Report