George Leslie Hunter (British, 1877-1931) Landscape in Fife 12.17 x 21.6 cm. (4 13/16 x 8 1/2 in.)THE LEYDEN COLLECTIONGeorge Leslie Hunter (British, 1877-1931)Landscape in Fife signed 'L Hunter' (lower right)oil on panel12.17 x 21.6 cm. (4 13/16 x 8 1/2 in.)ProvenanceArthur Leyden and thence by descentHunter's passion for the Fife landscape inspired him from 1919 until 1926. The rolling countryside, traditional buildings with red-tile roofs, distinctive east-coast villages and shores opened up real possibilities to express the colour sensations forming in his work and released a flurry of painting activity in him.Landscape in Fife dates from circa 1921-22 and it was a period when Hunter was making immense strides in his sense of colour and form. He wrote in December 1920 to his friend, Matthew Justice that he was concerned entirely with the animation of the landscape (Bill Smith and Jill Marriner, Hunter Revisited, the Life and Art of Leslie Hunter, Atelier Books, Edinburgh, 2012, p.84).By 1922, the work of French artist Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940) came under Hunter's scrutiny from a number of sources, including at art dealers and a number of examples that various friends had bought for their respective collections. Hunter was fascinated by Vuillard's sense of pattern to the point that the motif is no longer the focus.Colour chords and form animate the landscape, lively brushwork captures the textures inherent in Nature and along with his new-found sense of pattern that goes beyond the motif, these are the essentials that Hunter brings together in Landscape in Fife.Arthur most likely purchased this painting during his Scottish visit in 1924.