THE LAIDLAW COLLECTION

David Laidlaw, youngest child of a middle class-family, was born in Scotland in 1930. His mother was English and his father Scottish. Though receiving education both in Scotland and England, he spent most of his youth in Ireland. He forms one of a rare brand of artists emerging from Eton College where he already showed significant aptitude. He was highly intelligent and had a scholarly interest in Classics.

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Between 1949 and 1954, David Laidlaw was a cavalry officer in the British Army in Germany and then in Malaysia. He had a fine career working in Military Intelligence. After leaving the army in 1954 he became a businessman and spent two years in Glasgow followed by two years in Bombay. Nevertheless, he could not avoid his vocation and in 1958 he left the business world in order to devote himself to Art.

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From that date, Laidlaw travelled extensively in Spain, Italy and France, visiting Museums and other places guided by an archaeological and artistic interest.

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During that period, he worked a lot in many free studios. However, his early activity as an "outdoor artist" made him paint landscapes most of the time, and especially the dryness of the Spanish landscape. He regarded this phase as "learning how to use his knife and fork - how to depict accurately what he was trying to!"

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Between 1963 and 1974, he worked and lived in the south of Ireland, as well as continuing his travels around Europe. But, the search for a deeper Art than the one he had been practicing until then brought him to take a close look at Oriental Art which has been a huge influence ever since. He remained a keen Sinologist and travelled China through maps and books.

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In 1974 David Laidlaw settled in Cordes in a beautiful house he tastefully restored and where he opened a studio where he could fully express himself in his own style, influenced by his longstanding great interest in China. He brought his formidable intellect to his work and created a wide range of paintings. He was appalled at contemporary attempts to sell as art' objects which relied more on vulgarity and notoriety than talent. He regarded it almost as his duty to help balance this nasty trend by creating intellectually stimulating but contemplative works.

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As Laidlaw was financially secure, he never painted to order. He was extremely private about his works; knowing and preferring that they would not be revealed until after his death in 2010. He left almost his entire life’s work to his godson and the collection from this highly intelligent, independent intellect is partly viewable on this website. In keeping with David Laidlaw's meticulous and precise approach to life he insisted on the style and size of the borders and frames for his works as being an essential setting for the work itself. The paintings are therefore seen with their frames included.