Girl Reading, The Storyteller ranks as one of William Strang’s most successful and striking portraits. Seated upon a chair in profile, the sitter half-turns to us, momentarily distracted from the red book, a visual high note within the painting. It is a refined composition of balance and harmony, removed of superfluous details, yet retaining an enigmatic atmosphere. The background is painted sparingly, neatly divided by the horizontal line, against which the book, brightly painted, sits prominently between the picture and clock. The rich blue of the dress, a hint of decorative pattern to the collar and sleeve, is freely painted and counterbalanced by the vivid green seat of the chair.

The painting belongs to a series of portraits Strang painted in the 1910s, using the subject to explore compositional arrangements and formal harmonies rather than portraits in the conventional sense. In this manner, they carried on the Aesthetic principles of the late Victorian period seen notably in the work of Frederic Leighton (see nos. 6 and 9 in the current catalogue). Although the artist invites a degree of intrigue and speculation which engages the viewer, narrative detail takes second stage.

The Art Journal observed when reviewing Strang’s paintings at the time, that one of its most obvious qualities was ‘the simplicity of colour...and the almost indescribable effect of fine composition’ (Art Journal, 1910, p.49). Other notable examples of the period include Panchita Zorolla (1916, Manchester Art Gallery), Lady with a Red Hat (1918, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow – a portrait of Vita Sackville-West) and Girl with Fan (1912, Private Collection). His confident and spare use of colour distinguishes these works so prominently.

Strang was born in Dumbarton, Scotland in 1859, the son of a builder. He moved to London in 1875 and there briefly was taught by Edward Poynter, before studying at the Slade School of Fine Art under the French Realist Alphonse Legros. With a vigorous training in draughtsmanship and as an assistant to Legros’ printmaking, Strang devoted the first part of his career to etching. When he later turned more fully to painting, he concerned himself with various movements from Realism (in the manner of his teacher Legros) to Symbolism, drawing on Classical and Biblical subjects (The Temptation, 1899, Tate Collection). A significant voice within British art at the turn of the 20th century, Strang was elected President of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers in 1918, and in 1921 was elected an Engraver Member of the Royal Academy.