Oil painting, 'The Landing Stage', Thomas Alexander Ferguson Graham (1840-1906)

Bequeathed by Henry Spencer Ashbee

Bequeathed by Henry Spencer Ashbee, 1900

Historical significance: The Scottish genre painter Thomas Alexander Ferguson Graham (1840-1906) was born in Kirkwall, Orkney but moved to Edinburgh after the death of his father. In January 1855 he enrolled as a student at the Trustees' Academy where he was a pupil of Robert Scott Lauder (1803-1869). Fellow students included William McTaggart, William Quiller Orchardson, John Pettie, and George Paul Chalmers. Under Lauder they were taught the importance of tonal values - the use of light, shade and colour - rather than superficial 'finish'. Graham first exhibited at the Scottish Academy in 1859 and continued to do so regularly from 1867. In 1883 he was elected an honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy. He also showed at the British Institution and the Royal Academy after he settled in London in 1863.

From the age of twenty Graham undertook a series of trips abroad, often in the company of those he had studied with at the Trustee's Academy. However, in contrast to the more historicist genre work produced by his friends, Graham deliberately chose modern subjects for his paintings, often set in the fishing villages of the Scottish coast. The Landing Stage is a good example of Graham's work - relatively small scale, with subtle gradations of light and shade and using a limited range of colours. There is a larger version of this painting at Bradford City Art Gallery called Going to Sea.

A painting by Graham entitled The First Parting was lent by the artist to an exhibition at Earl's Court in 1897. What appears to be the V&A's painting The Landing Stage is reproduced in the Royal Academy Illustrated, 1893, but with the title Last Words, Tyneside.

This painting was no.198 at the Institute of Painters in Oil Colours in 1893-4.

1822-1900