'Unity in Diversity': Centralised British Identity in the Post-War Work of Robert Colquhoun and William Scott

Abstract

This paper examines how representations of British working-class cultures and identity were appropriated during the post-war period, and how this was undertaken in the pursuit of constructing a collective British identity. This is explored through the work and lives of painters Robert Colquhoun and William Scott, both born in Scotland in the 1910s to working-class families, and both of whom established themselves amongst the most prominent painters of the post-war generation. Through examining their work in the context of the post-war trope of ‘unity in diversity’, this paper shows how a romanticised image of the working-classes – seen as having a natural connection with the ‘ancient lands’ of the British Isles – contributed to a centralised image of the national character that all the while maintained more conventional class distinctions.Banner image: Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde (1951) Design for Second Scene for Donald of the Burthens [collage, watercolour, ink, and gouache on medium weight, slightly textured, light green paper, sheet], Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts. © Estate of Robert Colquhoun. All rights reserved 2022 / Bridgeman Images.