Edwin G Lucas (30 March 1911 – 9 December 1990) was a Scottish

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

artist. He was an amateur, self-taught apart from evening classes at

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

, but during the period 1939-1952 he produced

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

works that are said to be unprecedented in Scottish art of the period. His work attracted little attention from the art world at the time, but it started receiving recognition following its "discovery" in 2013 by curators of the

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art National Galleries Scotland: Modern (the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art) is part of National Galleries Scotland, which is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Modern houses the collection of modern and contemporary art dating from about 1 ...

Early career

Edwin George Lucas was born in

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

in 1911, and grew up in

Juniper Green Juniper Green is a village on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated about south-west of the city centre. It bridges the city bypass, and extends along the foothills of the Pentlands. It is bordered by Colinton to the east, Baberto ...

, a village on the outskirts of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. He was educated at Juniper Green Primary School and then

George Heriot's School George Heriot's School is a private primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Lauriston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff. It was ...

.Lavery, Jen. "Recognition for artist who gave it up for day job",

Edinburgh Evening News The ''Edinburgh Evening News'' is a daily newspaper and website based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded by John Wilson (1844–1909) and first published in 1873. It is printed daily, except on Sundays. It is owned by National World, whic ...

, 2013-10-16. He was interested in a career in art, but his family discouraged this because his uncle, E G Handel Lucas, who is now a well regarded Victorian artist, struggled to make a decent living and lived the latter part of his life in poverty. Instead, Edwin joined the Civil Service in Edinburgh and studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Law in 1934. Throughout the 1930s he painted conventional, well executed landscapes.Gleadell, Colin. "Surrealist discovered by his son",

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

, 2014-03-18, p.26. These were mainly watercolours, with a strong emphasis on the countryside close to the family home in Juniper Green. They were often accepted for exhibition by the

Society of Scottish Artists The Society of Scottish Artists is a Scottish artist-run organisation which seeks to ''promote and encourage experimentation and the "adventurous spirit" in Scottish art.'' It was founded in 1891 by Patrick Geddes, William Gordon Burn Murdoch and ...

, Annual Exhibition Catalogues, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1945. (SSA) and the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country's national academy of art. It promotes contemporary art, contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy ...

One of these paintings attracted attention from the French journal ''La Revue Moderne des Arts et de la Vie''. Its review called him ''"artiste extrêmement cultivé...un artiste plein de claire simplicité"'' (a highly educated artist...a painter of great clarity and simplicity). It also commented on his ''"liberté d'esprit et sa souplesse de style"'' (freedom of spirit and stylistic versatility), attributes that were to become defining characteristics of his later work.

Influence of Surrealism

Surrealist works were shown at a number of exhibitions in Edinburgh during the late 1930s. One example was the SSA exhibition in December 1937, which included the first works by

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

and

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( ; ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His ...

to be shown in Edinburgh.Society of Scottish Artists, An Exhibition of interest and Merit,

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

, 1937-12-11, p.15. Lucas would certainly have attended because one of his watercolours was also included. Another example was an exhibition at Gladstone's Land Galleries in June 1939 by a group of graduates of

, including

William Gear William Gear RA RBSA (2 August 1915 – 27 February 1997) was a Scottish painter, most notable for his abstract compositions. Early life Gear was born in Methil in south-east Fife, Scotland, the son of Janet (1886-1955) and Porteous Gea ...

.Abstract Art, Edinburgh Group Exhibition,

, 1939-06-14, p.14. Gear and Lucas were both close friends of

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Order of the British Empire, CBE (8 June 1912 – 26 January 2004) was one of the foremost British Abstract art, abstract artists, a member of the influential Penwith Society of Arts. Early life Wilhelmina Barns-Grah ...

, from whom Lucas started renting a studio in 1939. Almost immediately he started painting Surrealist works, the first of which is dated August 1939, probably influenced by shows such as those mentioned above. He would later refer to this period as a brief "flirtation with Surrealism" but it had a great impact on his future career as he developed his own highly individual take on Surrealism and produced works that are said to be unprecedented in Scottish art of the period. His surrealist painting, Caley Station (1942), presented his own unique interpretation of the life in

Edinburgh Princes Street railway station Princes Street Station was a mainline railway station which stood at the west end of Princes Street, in Edinburgh, Scotland, for almost 100 years. Temporary stations were opened in 1848 and 1870, with construction of the main station commencin ...

Post-War work

Lucas was a committed pacifist and as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

he worked in hospitals at Killearn and Raigmore during the war. He returned to Edinburgh in 1944 and the immediate post-war years were a very creative and prolific time for him. He returned to work as a Civil Servant, in the Estate Duty Office, but also attended evening classes at

and saw himself as a serious painter who had a day job. Patrick Elliott, senior curator at the

, described the purchase in 2013 of some of Lucas's works of this period as follows:

They are impressive because they are inexplicable, I've not seen anything quite like them before in my 20 years at the Gallery of Modern Art: there's a bit of Picasso, but overall he's got nothing in common with anyone painting in Scotland at the time - or in fact anywhere else.

However, at the time they were painted Lucas's innovative works had little appeal to the Edinburgh art world. Unlike his landscapes, they were generally not accepted for exhibition. Lucas proceeded to hold solo shows at the New Gallery in Shandwick Place, Edinburgh, in 1950 and 1951 but these received little attention from the art establishment.

Later life

Lucas married Marjorie Eileen McCulloch in 1952. They bought a house in Ann Street in

Stockbridge, Edinburgh Stockbridge is a district of Edinburgh, located north of the city centre, bounded by the New Town, Edinburgh, New Town and by Comely Bank. The name is Scots ''stock brig'' from Anglic languages, Anglic ''stocc brycg'', meaning a timber bridge. ...

and had two sons, born in 1953 and 1957. He stopped painting after his marriage, except for a period in the 1980s. His painting was ended by deteriorating eyesight and he died of leukaemia in 1990.

Posthumous recognition

In 2009 his family started renting gallery space in Edinburgh to hold occasional exhibitions, but his work remained almost completely unknown until a letter to the

led to five paintings being acquired. They were hung beside works by Picasso and Miró in the "New Acquisitions" exhibition from October 2013 to May 2014.New Acquisitions Exhibition,

, October 2013 to May 2014. A number of newspapers published stories about the discovery of this "lost Surrealist", including

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

The Herald (Glasgow) ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

and the

. Subsequently, the City Art Centre in Edinburgh showed some of Lucas's work in two mixed exhibitions: "A Capital View - the Art of Edinburgh"A Capital View - the Art of Edinburgh, City Art Centre, Edinburgh, May to July 2014 and "Jagged Generation: William Gear’s Contemporaries and Influences".Jagged Generation: William Gear’s Contemporaries and Influences, City Art Centre, Edinburgh, October 2015 to February 2016 Also, two exhibitions devoted to his work were held at the

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society ...

,Edwin Lucas: Surrealist (1911-1990), Fine Art Society, Edinburgh, March to April 2014. and his work was represented in "A New Era: Scottish Modern Art 1900-1950" at the

. Recognition increased further with a high-profile solo exhibition "Edwin G. Lucas: An Individual Eye" at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh from August 2018 to February 2019. That exhibition then travelled to England and was shown at the

Beecroft Art Gallery Beecroft Art Gallery is an art gallery in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The gallery is housed in the former municipal central library that opened in 1974 in the brutalist style as part of Southend Civic Centre. The Beecroft Art Gallery has a ...

in Southend-on-Sea from June to September 2023.

References

External links

www.EdwinGLucas.com including digital photos of many of Lucas's works

Edwin Lucas works at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Edwin G 1990 deaths 1911 births People educated at George Heriot's School Scottish surrealist artists Artists from Edinburgh 20th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish conscientious objectors Scottish pacifists 20th-century Scottish male artists