Background
I have always known that my grandfather was an artist. I don't remember
him, but I do remember his powerful self-portrait in oil on wood. His
name was Robert Sivell, but he was known to friends and family, including
my mother, as Bob. His portrait shows him as very striking: lean, hawk-nosed,
and olive skinned, with a shock of black hair which is stark white in
later photographs. I believe he claimed an Italian heritage, although
more recently his family was thought to have moved to Paisley, Scotland
as part of a migration of Flemish weavers in the mid-nineteenth century.
In 1998 or 1999, my brother Harold visited the small town in Scotland
where my mother, my brother, and my sister were born (I was born during
my parents stay in Alexandria, Egypt). While there, Harold acquired a
copy of an art student's recent graduate thesis on my grandfather's work.
The paper makes claim for a new recognition of my grandfather's artistic
influence, through the work of several of his students, more than through
his own work.
When Harold returned and shared this thesis paper with my mother and
the rest of the family, it caused much flurry and excitement. My mother
felt compelled to write to the author to set the record straight on some
misstatements or gaps in the work. In doing so, she involved my sister
and brother, and excavated great piles of papers from her past. I received
a phone call in which they reported, amid a scene of much hilarity,
that there were now two versions of my mother's letter; the one to be
mailed to the art student, and a second, more amusing one, for family
eyes only (unfortunately I have yet to see the second version).
So we are embarking on a (long, slow) expedition to document some of
my grandfathers history, and possibly to locate some of his work. My brother,
sister, and I now have several pieces of Bob's work, and my mother retains
her favorite paintings. However, many works that were still in the family
at the time of Bob's death were left in Great Britain, in the care of
two of his skilled students. Many of these have since been donated to
the Aberdeen Art Museum, by a bequest from Albert Morrocco. No complete
listing of his work exists, but the Aberdeen Museum now stores 120 paintings
(a mix of completed works and studies). At least one larger work has been
carefully cleaned and restored, and several of these have been occasionally
displayed.
Status
I took many photos of Bob's paintings using my brother's camera while
on a 2003 visit to my mother in Florida. An exploration of my mother's
closets unearthed at least 12 long forgotten portraits, in addition to
those we knew about already. Many of these are posted to the site now.
I found out about the large bequest of Bob's paintings to the Aberdeen
Art Gallery on my recent trip to the United Kingdom, and was able
to see a few of these paintings which were readily accessible in the off-site
storage facility in Kittybrewster. I was also able to see Bob's large
murals in Sivells, a student pub managed by the Aberdeen University student
association, inside their student union (located on Gallowgate, only a
few blocks from the Art Gallery). The murals were cleaned and restored
some time in the past ten years, and are in fairly good condition. We
did take photographs, bu unfortunately the lighting and our limited facility
with an automatic digital camera combined to make the photos pretty marginal.
I am hoping to obtain copies of better photos from the Aberdeen Art Gallery
and/or the University.
I found two more of Bob's paintings in the possession of the Kirkcudbright
Stewartry Museum. A painting of young lady (possibly my mother) hangs
currently hangs in the museum, and a commissioned portrait entitled "The
Provost" hangs in the The
Tolbooth Art Centre, now an art center and education center. Another
painting, called "The Drawing Book" is listed in the catalogue
of the McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Inverclyde, and has been exhibited
a number of times over the past few decades. I now have a photo &
more information on one of the paintings
pages.
Previously heard from some cousins in Canada and the U.S., who may have
some paintings, and also from a buyer who acquired one of Bob's paintings
in an auction (early in 2003). A 2004 auction "sighting" from
Artnet indicates that a Sivell painting titled "Washing day, Corrie,
Isle of Arran" sold for $2,000. I believe the family may have a study/sketch
for this painting.
I have some old family photos, some of which have a few of Bob's
paintings in them. Most recently my mother has decided to let go of
those paintings that she has not framed or hung in her home recently.
My sister, brother, and I used a round-robin approach to choose those
paintings we wanted most, and I shipped some of my selections to my home
address before leaving Tallahassee on August 19th. Much to my relief,
I received them safely. I now have a lovely, though somber, portrait of
my great grandfather hanging in my living room, a small head of my grandmother
(Belle) hung in family portrait gallery (a.k.a. the stairwell), and two
other painting hung also. Another portrait of Bell needs to be framed
before I can hang it. The other paintings that I selected, including a
set of two small portraits of my great-grandparents, will remain hanging
in my mother's home for now. The old family photos from my mother's childhood
and youth have also arrived; I have scanned these for reprinting, but
many are in very poor condition and will need to be improved by (careful)
digital enhancemnt and repair.
I have just purchased a used copy of the memoir of Benno Schotz, a well
known sculptor in Scotland and a friend of Bob's from early Glasgow days.
The book is "Bronze is in my Blood", and the copy is signed
by the author/sculptor and is in good condition. The sad part is it a
withdrawn book from a Scottish library; apparently there was not much
interest. I am enjoying reading it, and have found a photo of Bob with
Benno Schotz and other friends (unfortunately unrecognizable in costume
and masked :-), and a brief discussion about him and his art.
I have some written history, memories from my Mother consisting of a
combination of direct recollections, second hand stories, and gleanings
from old articles, letters and notes. She has unearthed some articles
and receipts specifically dealing with several of his paintings. I need
to collect and copy these the Kirkcudbright Stewartry Museum. We have
record of one painting that was purchased by the IBM corporation for a
show of some kind in New York. I have attempted to trace this painting,
however IBM no longer maintains an art collection and I have no contact
or information about when or where paintings may have been sold. So this
seems to be a dead end.
A letter from the art student, Duncan Comrie, suggests that there have
been plans for an art show which would include some of Bob's work. He
was seeking more information about Bob, and had many questions for my
mother a few years ago..
Another item of news is that theplaster bust of my grandfather
by sculptor Benno Schotz still exists, and was owned by Alberto Morrocco,
Bob's former art student who was a well known painter who died in 2002.
Benno Schotz was a well known sculptor, and a good friend & of Bob
in the 1920's; the bust was exhibited in the Paisley Art Gallery in 1923,
along with three of Bob's paintings. The letter from Duncan Comrie implied that
the bust might be available to the family, however we have not located
the bust.
Robert Sivell, 1888 - 1958
Bob's interest in an art career started early, however he was not able
to pursue art full time for many years. He did enter the Glasgow School
of Art in 1908, but left early, in 1910, due to financial pressures. Between
the need to help pay for his younger brother's education, and the advent
of the first World War, he was sidetracked away from art for several years.
He returned full time to the pursuit of art in 1916, and there is
apparently a fairly tempestuous history in Glasgow, as he and his peers
struggled with the local art establishment, and among themselves. He and
several artist friends founded a group to organize shows of their work,
called the Glasgow Society of Painters & Sculptors.
Bob's art was always realistic, and he followed the traditions of Renaissance
art; he never adopted popular European styles. This direction put him
at odds with the prevalent Glasgow academic and Impressionist traditions.
Over time he identified more with the trends in art originating from Edinburgh,
which was a center of Scottish art and culture, where he joined the Royal
Scottish Academy.
Bob certainly sold many works of art, and painted a number of commissioned
portraits. He also taught art, first as head of drawing and painting at
Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen, in order to earn a living, and earned some acclaim as an instructor. It is through
the work of his students that his ideas and ideals may have continued
on beyond his death in 1958. His work is known only among a small circle
of Scottish art historians, and art students. The most well known work
is probably a series of murals that still grace the student union of Aberdeen
University, on Gallowgate.
The murals at Aberdeen University student union are in the large student
pub named after him: Sivells. These have been restored, and can still
be seen today. They were started in 1938, initially to be works of senior
local art students. After problems, Robert Sivell took over the project,
and directed its completion over the course of many years. The conception
and designs were his, although much of the actual painting was done by
his students from tracings of his drawings. Some of the completed studies
for the mural, now in the possession of the Aberdeen Art Gallery, show
more finished detail than the actual murals.
Most of his work is done in oil on wood. He did many portraits or studies
of people, which he seems to have preferred over landscape painting. His
works are very lifelike, but he generally used a rather dark pallette,
and some are brooding and austere. They are not always comfortable to
be around. I did not particularly admire or enjoy them as a child, although
I certainly came to recognize the skill involved when I made a brief attempt
to paint with oils while I was in high school. I have seen more of his
work now, and find more variety of mood. However he is described by some
as a difficult, often sarcastic man with a temper. I have one a sketch,
in oil, of my mother as a young child, asleep. It captures a child's sweetness
in a way that touches the heart. A more finished portrait of my aged great
grandfather nodding off in his chair, is entitled "Twilight".
It captures a quiet moment that seems to represent acceptance of life's
end, with a kind of subtle beauty.
My sister, a nurse practitioner/midwife, has the charcoal and crayon
portrait of the nurse which my mother held onto through immigration to the
United States. It is a portrait of Nurse Violet Reed very similar to the one commissioned
by the Imperial War Museum to capture the spirit and dedication of
nurses during World War II.
We have a few small landscapes. I have a small relatively bright watercolor;
it is a Scottish landscape, with fields and a stone wall. There is oil
of the burn near his home (The Hollow, Stell, Kirkcudbright). My brother
has an accurately dark and gloomy oil painting of Greyfriars Churchyard
and Edinburgh Castle (painted as a frontspiece of an out of print book
on Scotish buildings entitled "The Stones of Scotland", by George
Scott-Moncrieff), but another small ocean scene may have been painted
in the Mediteranean, with its turquoise see and bright coastline.
My father, long divorced from my mother, currently has a painting of
my sister as a child, which was held by his sister, my Aunt Marjorie,
until her death several years ago. My mother still has several works,
including a large painting of her own mother, Isobel Sivell, nee Sayers,
and, I think, Bob's own self portrait which I remember so vividly. I seem
to remember a small painting of the house with studio
which he built in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, where she grew up, and known
as the The Hollow, Stell, but it was not found in a recent review of paintings
in my Mother's house.
All of the paintings we own have suffered in the hot, humid Florida climate,
and several really need restoration. more photographs are now posted,
and new information about paintings continues to trickle in!
 Information
Wanted: various family members are interested in specific paintings,
or information about the family. Photos of any works by Robert Sivell
are always wanted. If you can help, please email
me with the information!
1) Wanted: information about, photos of,
and location of a painting by Bob of wartime evacuees. Jack and Bill Hunter
the twins) posed for this picture, and Bill Hunter would like to see it
again.
2) Wanted: family tree for both Sivell
& Sayers,
3) Wanted: location of bust of Robert Sivell
by Benno Schotz, also a better photo of this work. |
