Saul Robertson RSW RGI : Idyll

Saul Robertson was born in 1978 and studied drawing and painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art between 1996 and 2000. During his time as a student he was nominated for the Scottish International Educational Trust Award and won The Ninewells MRI Imaging Purchase Prize.

Saul Robertson's idyllic scenes of peaceful, quiet places are inspired by memories of time spent in a variety of locations, both near and far, fragments of which are adapted and combined into an imaginary painted world.

'My paintings often depict idylls of sorts - more urban or village than countryside, but peaceful, quiet places, nevertheless. That which can be fleeting and hard to find in the course of everyday life becomes, in some senses, permanent and enduring when painted. This is related to my love of the pastoral tradition in European painting, in particular Giovanni Bellini and Jean-Antoine Watteau, who can be seen to bookend this tradition. Beyond painting, another influence on these paintings was all the Beatnik/road trip fiction I read when I was young: the restless passing through small towns and villages and the sense that the real journey took place within. Books and reading within these works have the same symbolic intent. The places depicted are imaginary but based (sometimes unconsciously at the time of painting) on memories of time spent in a variety of places near and far, both recently and long ago - a long list including Findhorn, Gullane, rural villages in France, Montenegro….fragments which are adapted and combined into an imaginary painted world.'

Soon after graduating Saul was voted Young Artist of the Year, at the The Hunting Art Prizes at the Royal College of Art in London. Since then he has won numerous awards including: The City of Glasgow Prize, The David Cargill Senior Award, The David Cargill Award, The Armour Award, and The James Torrance Memorial Award at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.

In 2005 he won second prize at the B.P Portrait award at the National Portrait Gallery, London for his painting "The Universe".
Saul was awarded an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award by The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation in Canada, was shortlisted for The Insight Investment Newcomers Prize at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London, and won both the James BS Curr Memorial Prize and the AB Prize at the Paisley Art Institute. In 2011 he was granted a second award by The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, and in 2012 was given The Bet Low Trust Award as well as being appointed a visiting lecturer in fine art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. In 2013 Saul won The Maclaurin Open Fine Art Exhibition. During 2019 Saul was given a place on the City of Ingolstadt artist residency programme in Germany, and was a prize winner at The Scottish Portrait Awards. In 2020 Saul was again a prize winner at The Scottish Portrait Awards, and won The Scottish Portrait Award in Fine Art in 2021. In 2022 he was elected as a member of The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, and was elected as a member of The Royal Glasgow Institute of The Fine Arts in 2023.
Saul has exhibited widely throughout the United Kingdom in venues such as The Fleming Collection, London; The Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; The Royal Academy, London; Paisley Art gallery; The National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh; The National Portrait Gallery, London; Sunderland Museum and Winter Garden; The Royal College of Art, London and Mall Galleries, London. His work was included in a major touring exhibition of self portraits entitled "Divided Selves - The Scottish Self-portrait from the 17th century to the present", and he has also held ten solo exhibitions to date.
Saul Robertson's work can be found in many collections, including; Art Review Magazine; University of Dundee Museum Collections; City of Glasgow College; Glasgow Museums; The Lillie Art Gallery; Tayside NHS and Walter Scott Global Investment, Edinburgh