LY O N & T U R N B U L L Scottish Contemporary and Post-War Art
Jane MacAllister-Justin Dukes Art Collection and Archive Richard Demarco O.B.E. is an Edinburgh artist and art promoter who has played a crucial role in placing Edinburgh on the map as an international arts hub, significantly contributing to the development of the Edinburgh Fringe festival. A co-founder of the Traverse Theatre in 1963, Demarco went on to run the Richard Demarco Gallery between the years 1969-1992. As well as nurturing young native talent including artists such as Damien Hirst, his most outstanding achievement has been the promotion of Eastern European artists during the Cold War; strengthening ties between the UK and countries like Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia. In particular, Demarco provided a Western European platform for the careers of the now internationally renowned and critically lauded avant-garde artists Joseph Beuys, Tadeusz Kantor, Paul Neagu and Marina Abramovich. Throughout the 70s and 80s Demarco hosted famously unorthodox ‘Summer Schools’, creating a melting pot of ideas and collaborations between local and international artists. The collection on show pertains to this important
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period in Scottish, and indeed, European art. Jane MacAllister, initially Demarco’s assistant and ultimately the Deputy Artistic Director of The Demarco Gallery in its latter phase, coorchestrated the exhibitions and events based around the gallery. In 1990 Jane married Justin Dukes, joint Managing Director of the FT Group and founding Managing Director of Channel 4. Before Justin’s tragically early death in 2008 the couple built up an extensive collection of contemporary art. The collection consists of over 150 paintings, works on paper, prints, posters and
sculptures, all of which reflect the energy and range of the Demarco Gallery’s activities, and represent a unique record of the exhibition programme during this period. Local heroes include works by Byrne, Crozier, Demarco, Douthwaite, Hamilton Finlay, Hanson, Howson, Knox, McCann, McNeish, Wyllie and Yule. The Internationalists include works by Beuys, Christo, Flanagan, Hambling, Neagu, Newcomb, Rabinowitch, Swan and Uecker. The collection Jane and Justin built up over the years with the guidance and support of Richard Demarco
Jane MacAllister and the poet Sorley Maclean.
is a unique cultural record of the latter part of the 20th Century. Because of its significance as a study and research resource, Lyon & Turnbull are offering the complete Collection and Archive for private treaty sale by negotiation so as to maintain the collection and archive as one. Otherwise, a significant body of the collection will be auctioned in multiple lots as part of this sale. We are grateful to William Jackson, Proprietor and Managing Director of Aitken Dott, Edinburgh, 1975-1992, for his assistance in collating and promoting the archive.