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Despatch Rider
Despatch Rider
Despatch Rider

Despatch Rider

Artist (Glasgow, Scotland, 1919 - 1970)
Sitter
Date1942
Mediumoil on canvas
ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings
DimensionsOverall: Height: 128.1 cm, Width: 102.1 cm
Frame: Height: 146.3 cm, Width: 120.9 cm
AcquisitionPurchased in 1995 with assistance from the National Fund for Acquisitions.
Copyright© Janey Blyth (2006)
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG004529
About MeScottish painter Robert Henderson Blyth (1919-1970) attended Glasgow School of Art from 1934-39 and the Hospitalfield Art College, Arbroath, in 1938. He was a landscape, portrait and watercolour painter. Blyth later joined the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War II and continued to paint using a special lamp with which he was able to paint in complete darkness while on the battlefield. Blyth's work was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy for many years and he was later appointed the Head of Drawing and Painting at Gray's School of Art.

This portrait of the artist's friend and comrade Douglas Nicolson was painted the year after Blyth joined the armed forces and is a perfect display of his broad sweeps of tightly controlled brushstrokes and garish use of colour used to express emotion. It also depicts the sombre effect that war had on the young painter who was in his early-20s at the time. Despatch riders were often used in World War II as an alternative to traditional delivery courier services to transport messages, letters, legal documents or packages quickly and discreetly.





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Blyth's friend and army comrade Douglas Nicholson here painted in broad sweeps of tightly controlled brushstrokes alongside garish use of colour to express emotion.