Based on an area near Nethy Bridge on Speyside, Tree Stumps depicts a forest in the aftermath of a storm. The scene resembles a war zone, scattered with broken tree limbs and writhing forms, whilst two small stands of pines on the horizon mirror those in Awaiting Execution. Geissler’s brushwork is executed freely, yet with precision and careful observation. A high horizon brings the ground almost parallel to the picture plane, confronting the viewer with this unsettling scene.Tree Stumps was shown alongside Awaiting Execution, another Geissler painting in our collection, in exhibitions at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1946. It was also shown at the Scottish Gallery in 1993 in an ‘Edinburgh School’ exhibition that united many Edinburgh College of Art graduates and teachers including Crozier, Gillies, Maxwell, and MacTaggart.