Sweden

His obituaries suggest that he was invited to Sweden by King Gustaf V, who had likely heard of him from an exhibition in Dresden in 1906. Waterson contributed 10 of his etchings to the show and his genius in this medium had been recognised many years earlier by Sir Seymour Haden.

These skills would prove useful to the fledgling circle of Swedish printmakers (Anders Zorn, Axel Tallberg), congregating around the King’s youngest brother, Prince Eugen (1865-1947). The exchange seems to have been mutual, with Waterson’s Nordic-like landscapes produced after his return to Scotland showing a decided kinship to Prince Eugen’s. That such painters were once willing to pour their effort into printmaking, a now largely forgotten craft, reflects the changing tastes of time, and might also account for Waterson’s current obscurity.

It is also a shame that so little can found about his time in Sweden (c1907-1909), or about his brief periods in the French capital (1903, 1907, 1909 and 1912), where he remained long enough to reject the “business overtures” of two established dealers. Though the brevity of these visits suggest a longing for home, his works display numerous outside influences; the vivid colours of the post-impressionists, the heavy impasto of the pointillists. They also bear an uncanny resemblance to the riverscapes of Frits Thaulow (1847-1906), the Norwegian painter that lived in Paris in 1894, but like Waterson, preferred the peace of the river bank to the bustle of the city.

All of this would suggest that Waterson travelled for his own painterly ends, absorbing what he could in short periods, before returning home and applying these artistic developments in his hometown. These trips seem to have taught him nothing of the commercial side of being an artist; indeed Waterson’s career seems to have been one long evasion of the unfortunate fact, that artistic potential depends as much on business practice as it does on talent. Waterson’s mistrust of dealers and disdain for money, saw that he sold his works from a folder behind the counter of his local stationers. He was notoriously difficult to “get a price out of” and was famous for saying “get them to give me what they feel it is worth.”

His 1991 exhibition catalogue at Perth Museum, describes him as a “figure who had opportunities to move in broader artistic circles, but chose instead to live and work in a small city and even there developed a reputation for insularity.” It also suggests that “his own character seems at times almost to deliberately block attempts to build up his reputation.” Though renowned as a recluse, he retained a supreme self-confidence, possibly owing to his self-imposed isolation and the need to be self-sufficient (Waterson ground his own pigments and varnishes). It is also interesting that he lists just two artists as having influenced him: George Paul Chalmers (1833-1878), the short-lived, ‘Angus Rembrandt’ who was born just a few miles away, and Whistler, whose etchings were shown alongside Waterson’s during an exhibition in 1904.

A passage that could quite easily pass for his obituary, describes his daily routine:

He lived at Bridgend, River Street, a street with the river South Esk flowing right alongside. It is recorded that on leaving his home to walk into the town centre he always chose to cross the street and walk up the side of the road away from the houses. Whether he did this to avoid meeting people, or simply to look at the river which formed the subject for so much of his painting, the effect was the same, he walked alone and had few casual conversations.