Roland Vivian Pitchforth

Catalogue entry

T03160 LOCH AWE

Inscribed ‘Pitchforth’ bottom right
Watercolour on paper, 19 × 24 1/2 (48.3 × 63)
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1980
Prov: Purchased from the artist by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1980
Exh: RA, May–August 1980 (153)

Vivian Pitchforth painted in both oils and watercolour before the 1939–45 War. The contents of his studio, largely oil paintings, were completely destroyed after it was hit by an incendiary bomb during the war and afterwards he painted almost exclusively in watercolour. He often spent his summer holidays painting in Scotland.

A constant theme of Pitchforth's work was water, the sea, rivers and lakes. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1922 and later annually from 1942, the year he was elected an Associate. ‘Loch Awe’, the Tate's watercolour, has on the verso a view of a bridge over a river with boats and buildings nearby; it is inscribed in the artist's hand bottom right, ‘This was a commercial job’. Loch Awe is a freshwater loch, about 25 miles long, in north Argyll.

This catalogue entry has been written with the help of the artist's brother Gerald S. Pitchforth (conversation with the compiler 7 April 1983).

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1980-82: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1984

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