The Blue Fan is a gun-tufted rug created in celebration of Dovecot’s 2025 exhibition: The Scottish Colourists: Radical Perspectives. It is an interpretation of Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell’s 1922 painting, The Blue Fan, which is in the National Galleries of Scotland collection. The piece was selected due to it's vibrancy and Cadell's use of flat colours, which lends itself well to tufting.
Cadell was a member of the Scottish Colourists, a group of artists in the early 20th century whose bold use of colour was inspired by new Modernist art coming out of France. The group of four, which also included John Duncan Fergusson, George Leslie Hunter, and Samuel John Peploe would later become one of the most celebrated in Scottish art history. The Blue Fan is characteristic of Cadell’s work after the First World War. He used bright, vivid colours in a colour-blocking technique that disregard shadows and shading. It portrays a still-life of a fan, a bowl, and pitcher on a table, with a red chair and china bowl in the background.
The rug has been created by Dovecot’s current apprentice, Sophie McCaffrey as part of a three-year weaving and tufting apprenticeship at Dovecot Studios. This was Sophie’s first solo rug, a significant milestone in her apprenticeship, and it presented the challenge of trusting her decisions and building confidence during the colour-matching process.
Sophie was lucky enough to visit National Galleries of Scotland archives, where she was able to see Cadell’s original painting up close. She noted how much more vibrant the colours were in the painting compared to the digital scans she had worked from previously. The depth of the painting and brushstrokes were far more apparent, providing Sophie with a clearer and more accurate appreciation for the piece.
Sophie particularly enjoyed working on the smaller details of the rug, such as the top-left section, where the subtle blending of coloured yarns (much like Cadell would blend his oil paint) was most rewarding. Throughout this project, Sophie also reflected on lessons learned from working on the Whitburgh Garden Carpet, particularly how tufted rugs tend to darken when light interacts with the fibers and the importance of factoring this into the colour mixing process.
The Blue Fan is available for purchase. To enquire about purchasing, or commissioning a new project please contact info@dovecotstudios.com
