Scottish Art News Issue 11

Scottish Art News

ISSUE 11 SPRING 2009 £3

VICTORIA CROWE: A SHEPHERD’S LIFE » NEW ART SPACES » INSPIRED II: WORKS FROM THE FLEMING COLLECTION » HELEN MACALISTER » REVIEWS/PREVIEWS » LISTINGS »

Contents

Spring/Summer 2009 THE FLEMING COLLECTION 4 News from The Fleming Collection What’s in store in 2009 at The Fleming Collection

by Selina Skipwith

5 Picture in Focus: Love on the Costa del Sol, c.1983 by Alberto Morrocco by Bill Smith

10 Victoria Crowe’s A Shepherd’s Life: Paintings of Jenny Armstrong Julie Lawson revisits a remarkable series of drawings and paintings made over a 20 year period by artist Victoria Crowe, depicting her neighbour, the shepherd Jenny Armstrong

Sheep, Shepherdess and Harbour Craig, 1975, oil on board, 78.7 x 99 cm, Private Collection

16 Weaving Two Views: Victoria Crowe and Dovecot Studios Victoria Crowe’s series of paintings A Shepherd’s Life, showing in London for the first time in 2009 will include a new tapestry of the painting Two Views. Woven by Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, Briony Anderson takes a closer look at this collaborative project

21 Inspired part II: Works from The Fleming Collection Tim Cornwell and Lucia Lindsay invite writers, critics and film-makers, among others, to select their favourite work from the collection for the spring exhibition

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Boy Reading, 1957, oil on canvas, 46.3 x 57 cm, © The Artist’s Estate, FWAF

The French Riviera in the Footsteps of the Scottish Colourists: The first in a series of trips abroad arranged by The Fleming Collection in 2008

by Lucia Lindsay

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Cover Image

Events in 2009 at The Fleming Collection

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Victoria Crowe, Large Tree Group 1975, oil on board, 91.4 x 101.6 cm Private collection

The Fleming Collection is widely recognised as the finest collection of Scottish Art in private hands and was originally conceived as a corporate collection in 1968 for Robert Fleming Holdings Ltd in the City of London. Since 2000 the collection has belonged to The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation which aims to promote Scottish Art to a wider audience. The collection consists of works by many of Scotland’s most prominent artists, from 1770 to the present day, including works by early nineteenth century artists, the Glasgow Boys, the Scottish Colourists, the Edinburgh School and many contemporary Scottish names. Regular exhibitions drawn from the Collection as well as loans from public and private collections of Scottish art can be viewed in the specially designed gallery.

The Fleming Collection | 13 Berkeley Street | London | W1J 8DU TEL: +44( 0)20 7409 5730 FAX: +44( 0)20 7409 5601 flemingcollection.co.uk | flemingcollection@ffandp.com Opening Hours: Tues-Sat 10am-5.30pm

Photography: Antonia Reeve

Scottish Art News 2

Scottish Art News 32 Gossoprie: Scottish Art News round-up

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Ingleby Gallery Interior

NO LACK OF LAMENTATION | Helen MacAlister Rebecca Bell looks beyond the meticulously worked surfaces of MacAlister’s paintings to discover multiple layers of reference and meaning

37 Hamish Henderson: An extract from Alias Macalias: Writings on Songs, Folk and Literature, a collection of essays by the Scottish poet, singer and folklorist Hamish Henderson

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To subscribe to Scottish Art News, published twice a year in

10 Years of Changing Spaces: In place of ‘Location in Focus’, Evelyn Milligan looks at significant development projects which are changing the face of Scotland’s gallery and museum spaces

January and June, please contact The Fleming Collection T: 0207 409 5733 E: admin@scottishartnews.co.uk, or complete a subscription form online at scottishartnews.co.uk Scottish Art News Issue 11 is published by The Fleming Collection

43 Art Fund International: A Partnership between the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow and The Common Guild GoMA’s new international contemporary art acquisitions

by Ben Harman

To advertise in Scottish Art News please contact:

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and anything you would like us to feature. Email your comments and

The Silver Trust: The Silver Trust is a remarkable collection of silver for No 10 and includes pieces by a number of Scotland’s leading silversmiths by Christopher English

suggestions to editor@scottishartnews.co.uk

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Editor: Briony Anderson

John Houston Obituary by Guy Peploe

With contributions from:

Regulars

Evelyn Milligan, T: 020 7409 5784, E: evelyn.milligan@ffandp.com

We would like to know what you think about Scottish Art News

Behind Scottish Art News at The Fleming Collection:

Selina Skipwith, Keeper of Art

Gallery Interns:

Lucia Lindsay, Assistant Keeper of Art

Camilla Stafford-Deitsch

Evelyn Milligan, Gallery Assistant

Emma Hockley

Revised design concept by Flit (London) and Briony Anderson

52 Review 2008 Scottish Art Highlights of 2008 57 Preview 2009 What to see in 2009 60 Art Market Round-up by Will Bennett 62 News From The Rooms 64 Books 67 Listings 71 Scottish Art News: Project Space:

Issue 11 designed by Flit (London) | flitlondon.co.uk and Briony Anderson

Scottish Art News Issue 11 is kindly sponsored by:

In place of ‘Day in the Life’, Scottish Art News features a recent project by Mark I’Anson © Scottish Art News 2008. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Scottish Art News accepts no responsibility for loss or damage of unsolicited material submitted for publication. Scottish Art News is published by The Fleming Collection but is not the voice of the gallery or The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation.

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All images copyright of the artist or artist’s estate unless otherwise stated.

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Scottish Art News 3

News from

THE FLEMING COLLECTION

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ur exhibition programme for the year begins and ends with shows that have been curated in association with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. The Portrait gallery will close this April for a major refurbishment and The Fleming Collection is delighted to be working so closely with all those involved in this exciting project, more of which will be revealed in our next issue of Scottish Art News.

The New Year begins with A Shepherd’s Life, an extraordinary series of paintings

by Victoria Crowe beautifully chronicling the harsh, selfsufficient world of one of Britain’s few female shepherds and a way of life now vanished. A Shepherd’s Life was first shown at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2000 as part of their Millennium exhibition series, which celebrated the unsung heroism of everyday lives. The Fleming Collection show includes a remarkable new tapestry of one of Victoria Crowe’s paintings Two Views, which has

been commissioned by the Duke of Buccleuch, a longstanding admirer and collector of her work, and woven by Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh.

The second exhibition celebrates works from our permanent collection and follows on from the hugely successful Inspired exhibition last summer. Lucia Lindsay and Tim Cornwell, The Scotsman’s Art Correspondent have invited writers, critics and film-makers among others, to select their favourite work from the collection

I wish to thank all of those who have worked with and supported us as well as the contributors and advertisers in this edition; I would also like to express my gratitude to Lyon and Turnbull, Scotland’s oldest established auction house, for their continued support and generous sponsorship which has made this magazine possible.

Selina Skipwith Keeper of Art

Alberto Morrocco RSA, RSW, RP (1917-1998) Love on the Costa del Sol, c.1983, oil on board, 76.2 x 76.2 cm, © The Artist’s Estate, FWAF

FROM TOP Patrick Heron, Joseph Grimond, 1st Baron Grimond, 1913-1993, Liberal statesman and theorist, Scottish National Portrait Gallery Platon Antoniou, Gordon Brown, Scottish National Portrait Gallery Donald Maclellan, Ewan McGregor, Scottish National Portrait Gallery

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by Bill Smith Scottish Art News 5

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lthough born in Scotland, Alberto Morrocco considered himself first and foremost Italian. He had an Italian upbringing in Aberdeen, his parents being immigrants from Italy who had met and married in Scotland. Indeed the family name was ‘Marrocco’, but a signwriter made a mistake in the name above his father’s ice-creamery in Aberdeen and the incorrect spelling stuck!

Italy was very important to Morrocco. He commented ‘my Italian background was the main kind of influence because it all centred round actually making contact back to where

The intense light and vivid colours brought forth a multitude of colourful evocations of life, work and fun round the Mediterranean rim, worked-up from numerous sketchbook drawings

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I came from’. Because of his dual nationality he spent his war service during the Second World War at Edinburgh Castle, painting false wounds for training exercises, which delayed his first painting trip to Italy until 1950.

Two years later he was working in Spain. These two countries became an important painting ground for him. The intense light and vivid colours brought forth a multitude of colourful evocations of life, work and fun round the Mediterranean rim, worked-up from numerous sketchbook drawings of the people, their lifestyle and daily work. Love on the Costa del Sol is a graphic portrayal of a lazy day on a Spanish beach in the heat of the noonday sun. It was executed around 1983, when Morrocco was starting to push his use of colour to its ‘absolute limit of intensity

within its range’. The composition is perfectly balanced by the upper part of a multi-coloured deckchair right in the foreground.

Morrocco enrolled at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen in 1932 at the relatively young age of fourteen. There he received a rigorous traditional training. His principal tutors were James Cowie and then Robert Sivall. Under Cowie, drawing was at the very heart of the curriculum – a very tight, intellectual drawing. The early Flemish and French artists and the Italian Quattrocento painters were Cowie’s models.

Sivall’s teaching was based on the painters of the Italian Renaissance; he shunned contemporary art trends and believed in a very limited choice of colours. It was within this context that Morrocco tackled his early subjects, many developed from drawings executed on his travels in France and Switzerland in 1939 on scholarships awarded at the end of

Above Turcomania, 1976, oil on canvas, 106.7 x 96.5 cm, © The Artist’s Estate, FWAF OPPOSITE FROM TOP Boy Reading, 1957, oil on canvas, 46.3 x 57 cm, © The Artist’s Estate, FWAF Tay Bridge, Winter 1977, oil on board, 77.5 x 102.9 cm, © The Artist’s Estate, FWAF

No doubt motivated by the warmth of the colours he had seen in Italy and Spain, Morrocco adopted a more spontaneous and sensuous approach to colour Scottish Art News 7

his art training. They also included occasional self-portraits, portraits of Vera, whom he married in 1941, and the children, Leon and Laurie (their daughter Anna was not born until 1960), Aberdeen street scenes, portraits of soldiers and, at the end of the war, military hospital scenes. Boy Reading is a typical example of his style and subdued palette of the period.

Such intimate domestic interiors of the late 1940s and early ’50s may have been inspired by the exhibition of work by Vuillard and Bonnard at the Edinburgh Festival in 1948, which made a big impact on Morrocco.

In 1950 Morrocco was appointed Head of Painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, a post he was to hold until his retirement in 1982. By the mid-1950s his meticulous approach to painting and restricted palette had been overtaken by an urge to explore colour. No doubt motivated by the warmth of the colours he had seen in Italy and Spain, Morrocco adopted a more spontaneous and sensuous approach to colour.

He also began to simplify his depiction of the human figure, particularly in the treatment of women, adopting a rounded, sculptural form, which may have been influenced by Picasso, whom Morrocco admired greatly, and possibly also by the Italian painter, Marino Marini, who died in 1966 and with whose work Morrocco must have been familiar.

However it was Matisse who had the greatest influence on the development of Morrocco’s style and his use of colour. Morrocco considered Matisse a greater painter than Picasso, attested by Matisse’s profound regard for the quality of paint, a characteristic 8

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that Morrocco could fully appreciate.

In addition to his figure paintings, Morrocco’s subject matter included still life, landscapes and commissioned portraits; he became a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1975, having been elected an Associate and then an Academician of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1951 and 1963 respectively. Morrocco had painted still life since his student days. His early work was really an extension of his intimate interiors, but by the early 1970s he had developed a solid, more sculptural style, similar to that seen in his figure subjects since the mid-’50s. His pictures became increasingly decorative over time and his use of colour more adventurous. Turcomania, painted in 1976, is a striking decorative piece, demonstrating impressive composition, assured handling and bold use of colour.

It is a forerunner of the saturated colours of his still life and Mediterranean scenes of the 1980s and ’90s.

Morrocco was always a figurative painter. However he did flirt with abstraction in a group of landscapes he painted in the early 1960s. He had been looking at the work of Jackson Pollock and similar artists and felt that ‘there was a kind of vivacity about them’. While working in the hills around Anticoli in Italy Morrocco began to see the ‘spotty’ landscape in terms of Pollock’s style, and executed a group of semi-abstract paintings of the rocky terrain.

He did not go further down this road, however. Indeed he did not consider himself a landscape painter, because he did the majority of his landscapes in the studio from drawings. An example

of the latter is Tay Bridge, Winter, painted in 1977, a view of the North British Railway’s second bridge spanning the Tay with the hills of Fife in the background.

It was the prospect Morrocco saw every day from his home at Magdalen Green in Dundee.

Bill Smith is a Trustee of The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation. A banker by profession, he was Keeper of Art at Flemings, the London investment bank, from 1985 to 1997.

In October 2008 Atelier Books, Edinburgh published a second edition of Morrocco’s biography

by Clara Young and Victoria Keller, first issued by Mainstream in 1993. The new edition has 79 plates (76 in colour); many of the original illustrations have been replaced by new ones. Copies are available from The Fleming Collection or any good bookshop hardback £30 ISBN 978-1-873830-07-9 paperback £20 ISBN 978-1-873830-08-6

Arthur Melville ARSA RWS RSW (1855-1904), Orange Market, Puerta de los Pasajes, 1892, watercolour on paper, © FWAF

PAT RO N S O F

T H E F L EMING C OL L EC T ION engage with artists, curators and museum directors at special gatherings

TO JOIN cONTacT:

Lucia Lindsay The PATRONS OFFice Ely House, 37 Dover Street London, W1S 4NJ tel: 020 7409 5735 email: fwafpatrons@ffandp.com We are delighted to announce that the 2009 Patrons Insights trip will be to Madrid 1 to 4 October 2009

Scottish Art News 9

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t was in the run-up to the year 2000, while debating the possibilities for how the Scottish National Portrait Gallery should mark the millennium that Victoria Crowe told us of an idea that had been mooted for an exhibition of a body of her own work. Over a 20 year period she had been making drawings and paintings observing her neighbour, a shepherd called Jenny Armstrong.

Victoria Crowe is one of the leading artists working in Scotland and the painter of several outstanding portraits in the national collections in both Edinburgh and London. The prospect of working with her on such an exhibition struck us as timely: and here was a subject truly to celebrate.

The idea had originated with art historian Mary Taubman who was a friend of both artist and sitter. Jenny Armstrong herself was born in 1903 at the farm at Fairliehope, near the village of Carlops in the lower Pentland Hills. There she lived and worked all her life. Victoria Winter at Kittleybrig, 1974, oil on board, 121.9 x 91.4 cm, Private Collection OPPOSITE PAGE FROM TOP Large Tree Group, 1975, oil on board, 91.4 x 101.6 cm, Private collection December 25th, 1982, oil on board, 91.4 x 71.1 cm, Private Collection

With Victoria Crowe’s A Shepherd’s Life: Paintings of Jenny Armstrong showing at The Fleming Collection in early 2009, Julie Lawson, Senior Curator at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, revisits this 20 year long project 10

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Crowe, originally from the south of England, had come to live in the cottage next door to the shepherd, when she took up the post of Lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art in the early 1970s.

This was her home for the next twenty years, where her son Ben and daughter Gemma were born, and where a very special bond was forged between artist and shepherd. Mary Taubman described the paintings and drawings of Jenny Armstrong made over this period as not only a cumulative portrait of this stalwart individual, but as a record of a rural way of life, once common, but now changing so fast that is was passing beyond recognition and virtually disappearing. Crowe’s paintings depicted the shepherd, the daily rituals of her life, her animals and the landscape – but also recorded her stoicism in the face of old age and infirmity, her death and, of course, the artist’s own response to it.

My colleagues at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and I felt strongly that the millennium presented the occasion for the Portrait Gallery to focus attention not on ‘the great and the good’ – those prominent in public life and celebrated for their achievements – but on what I came to think of (pace Baudelaire) as ‘the heroism of everyday life’.

It was eventually decided that we would start the year with Victoria Crowe’s A Shepherd’s Life, and finish it an exhibition of Stanley Spencer’s Second World War depictions of the Glasgow shipyards. Both exhibitions were to have – subliminally in the case of A Shepherd’s Life and more overtly in the Spencer – an appropriately ‘millennial’ theme.

While the Spencer exhibition would demonstrate the essentially religious nature of the shipyard pictures, A Shepherd’s Life would disclose, in the shadow of its purely secular context, the allegory of ‘the good shepherd’.

Many of the paintings we wished to include were landscapes or still lifes. How the public was going to respond to the Portrait Gallery exhibiting work that was not portraiture in the traditional sense we could not predict. But the risk proved to be one that paid off more handsomely than we could ever have anticipated. The public response to the exhibition was quite overwhelming, and visitors

wrote of how moved they had been by the works and the story they told. The history of this individual seemed to resonate with everyone, irrespective of their degree of familiarity with the realities of rural life. The reason for such a warm response, I am sure, was that the exhibition was about life and loss, death and the coming to terms with it, and how painting, and the act of memory that it embodies, was able not just to see, but to celebrate and commemorate an individual’s life. It had a universal theme – one that we had only felt intuitively as we were preparing the exhibition.

When Crowe first settled in Scotland, as Mary Taubman wrote, ‘The landscape of broken moorland and hills surrounding her home Scottish Art News 11

was to have a major impact on her … the sky, the ever-present wind, long winters, and hills bitten into with snow and ice, and the long light of summer days and nights.’ Crowe’s approach to landscape was more than ‘a mere prosaic investigative exercise’; her paintings were ‘filled with that spirit of place that means so much to her… and her pictures began to include signs of the animal and human life which contribute so much to its form and texture.’ The shepherd appears in the paintings at first infrequently. At the beginning, we see the traces of her presence – footsteps in the snow as in Winter at Kittleybrig (1974), her hut in the frozen field, the light from the windows of her house at night. Then she is sighted, a distant figure, in Large Tree Group (1975); and at last we observe her from close up as she goes about her ‘daily rituals.’

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ABOVE Looking Out, First Light (detail), 1981 Oil on board 121.9 x 60.9 cm Collection of the artist

She is depicted gazing out of the window at the land where she had lived and worked all her life – now a landscape of memories – or sitting in meditation before an open fire

It was when Jenny Armstrong became infirm that the paintings ‘moved indoors’.

She is depicted gazing out of the window at the land where she had lived and worked all her life – now a landscape of memories – or sitting in meditation before an open fire. Pictures like Looking Out, First Light are a kind of ‘annunciation’, containing the first inkling of the imminence of her death. Then, finally, in an eloquent and at the same time hushed series of still life paintings made after the shepherd’s death, we see close-up details of the room itself, and the objects and possessions within it.

Crowe says of these paintings: ‘I was interested in the way context changed the meaning of objects. The familiar landscape reflected in Jenny’s mirror, or seen with startling clarity, as though through the wrong end of a telescope, isolated by a window or doorway became powerful within the setting of the room.

Family Circle biscuit tins vied with evocative, iconic images such as favourite photographs, baler twine, Brilliantine and Farmyard Friends’ calendars. Incongruous arrangements and juxtapositions, while fascinating in themselves, also provided a further layer of meaning which referred to different aspects of Jenny’s life.’

The still life paintings from this time became powerful evocations of a person who is physically absent but still powerfully present in the mementos of her life. The picture fulfils the end of still-life, to become a memorial, conveying the artist’s own sense of loss – but also keeping the essence of her friend alive through art: here, an affirmation of a life lived well.

What the exhibition gave Victoria Crowe – although this was not in her mind when we embarked on the project – was the opportunity to look back over two decades of work, brought together,for the first time, from collections both public and private (including work from The Fleming Collection). She was able to see not only how her style and approach to subject matter, her artistic preoccupations, had grown and matured, but also how a clear line of development could be traced through the work.

This was something she had not anticipated.

As she wrote at the time: ‘One of the real pleasures of getting the work together for this exhibition has been the opportunity to see the threads of ideas that began then and which continue into my present work. I realise that the practice of observing, over a long time, of recording and remembering, which I learned then, has provided me with the ways of working which I use today.’ That early period was ‘…a time of information gathering, of personal discovery and growth – a seedbed of ideas – an apprenticeship in a way of distilling the objective into the significantly personal.’

Crowe is an artist who thinks of painting in terms of the learning and mastering of a craft, and of drawing, in particular, as a language to be worked at until it becomes a mode of personal communication through which those things that cannot be articulated in words find their perfect expression. So she had not expected to see such a strong continuum or connection between her present and past work. ‘I am surprised’ she wrote at the time ‘at

how much, in terms of compositional devices and structure, notions of time and sequence, juxtaposition and memory which I am concerned with today are there – albeit sometimes germinal – in the work from the 70s and 80s of Kittleyknowe and Jenny Armstrong’s way of life.’

In particular, the artist has spoken movingly about how the paintings she made in response to Jenny Armstrong’s death were to prove a strange kind of ‘rehearsal’ for her own tragic loss – that of her son Ben who died of a cruel illness at the age of 22. She had already formulated the language that would enable her to ‘speak of ’ this devastating tragedy in painting.

The opportunity of revisiting this exhibition now, a decade on from its first conception, gives us another occasion for reflecting upon the evolution of this remarkable artist.

ABOVE Sheep, Shepherdess and Harbour Craig, 1975 Oil on board 78.7 x 99 cm Private Collection

Victoria Crowe Victoria Crowe has continued to develop. Her work has been particularly informed by her discovery and increasing interest in Italy, particularly Venice, where she now has a studio. This city full of memories, of the co-mingling of the present and the past, this ‘ghost upon the sands of the sea’, this painfully beautiful and quietly decaying palimpsest of

The history of this individual seemed to resonate with everyone, irrespective of their degree of familiarity with the realities of rural life

a city seems so perfect a spiritual home for Crowe. Her paintings are now many-layered, both physically and thematically. Her method often involves the super-imposition of objects and surfaces, perhaps a metaphor for the way in which things exist in space and time, mysteriously and perpetually rather than in logical and linear sequence.

More and more, her paintings have become akin to that reading of a poem whereby the meaning, on one level, clear, is accompanied by something else something defying rational analysis and explanation, and remaining just beyond reach.

It is as if they are not meant to be ‘understood’ in a literal or circumscribed way, but more intuitively sensed, caught briefly or scarcely through strong sensual reaction like the sudden evocation

of a long-forgotten memory, or the clear recall of a moment from a dream.

Victoria Crowe was born in 1945 and studied at Kingston School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London, before being invited to join Edinburgh College of Art in 1968, where she taught drawing and painting until 1998. Her work is represented in a large number of public and private collections. She lives and works in the Scottish Borders.

Julie Lawson is Chief Curator of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh where she has curated numerous exhibitions. Her publications include ‘Visions of the Ottoman Empire’; Men of the Clyde: Stanley Spencer’s Port Glasgow and Women in White: Photographs by Clementina, Lady Hawarden.

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Related Publications

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery When the great 19th-century Scottish writer and historian Thomas Carlyle first advocated the setting up of a National Portrait Gallery in the 1850s, he was concerned with ideas of national heroism and the need for role models in society. These ideas were the foundation stones of both the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, and have remained at the core of the philosophy of both our institutions. However, 150 years later, it is both possible and desirable to broaden the definition and understanding of what we mean by the ‘heroic’.

At the dawn of the new century and a new millennium, the late Donald Dewar – the first First Minister for Scotland – stated that the aim and aspiration for a newly-devolved Scotland should be the creation of a society ‘in which everyone matters’. It was in this spirit that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery elected to celebrate ‘the heroism of everyday life’ in a series of exhibitions and publications of which Victoria Crowe’s A Shepherd’s Life was the first. Since then, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery has gone on to redefine its role – and after a two-and-a-half year closure for refurbishment it will reopen in the autumn of 2011 as the Gallery that sees itself, in the broadest possible sense, as presenting ‘The Portrait of the Nation’.

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OPPOSITE FROM TOP

FROM TOP

Private View with Tulips, 1987

Dominance of the Moon, 2007

Oil on board

Oil on linen

106.6 x 86.3 cm

152.5cm x 152.5cm

Collection of the artist Being In Italy, 1993/94 Future Remembered, 1988

Oil on board

Watercolour on paper

80 x 120 cm

36.7 x 93.9 cm

Private Collection

Private Collection

Victoria Crowe: A Shepherd’s Life Julie Lawson and Mary Taubman, National Galleries of Scotland, 2000

Victoria Crowe: Painted Insights Victoria Crowe and Michael Walton, Antique Collectors’ Club, 2001

Published by The National Galleries of Scotland Victoria Crowe: A Shepherd’s Life was originally produced on the occasion of the exhibition in 2000 at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. It has been reprinted and updated in association with FWAF to celebrate the 2009 exhibition at the Fleming Collection. Providing a valuable introduction to the work of Victoria Crowe and the complexities of her relationship with her subject, the shepherd Jenny Armstrong, Mary Taubman charts the history of Crowe’s project and her documentation of the way of life of the shepherd, an ancient tradition now very much lost in our modern age. Often a hard life, Crowe’s admiration and respect for Jenny is explored in the text.

(Camilla Stafford-Deitsch)

Victoria Crowe: Painted Insights offers a fascinating overview of the work of this artist, covering her full range of painting, from still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, to interiors and exteriors. Following an engaging introduction by the art historian and critic Dr Colin J. Bailey, the work is discussed by Crowe herself throughout the rest of the book. She writes about her work chronologically, giving the reader a personal insight into the many influences and inspiration behind the work. Crowe discusses her origins and childhood, and thence on, the direction that her work led her in. Her experiences in Kittleyknowe, in the Scottish Borders, painting the shepherd Jenny Armstrong are discussed as are her travels in Italy, through to commentary on her most recent work.

(Camilla Stafford-Deitsch)

A Shepherd’s Life: Paintings of Jenny Armstrong by Victoria Crowe 13 Jan – 21 March 2009 The Fleming Collection, 13 Berkeley Street, London, W1J 8DU Open: Tues – Sat 10-5.30pm Nearest tube: Green Park www.flemingcollection.co.uk

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Two Views, Tapestry (detail), © Design: Victoria Crowe/Tapestry: Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, Collection of Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch

I Victoria Crowe’s series of paintings A Shepherd’s Life, showing in London for the first time in 2009 will include a new tapestry of the painting Two Views.

Woven by Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, Briony Anderson takes a closer look at this collaborative project 16

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n late November 2007, the tapestry, commissioned by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch was unveiled at Dovecot Studios, the result of a seven-month long collaboration between painter and weavers.

The series of works to which this painting belongs records in paint, over a period of 20 years, the life and work of Jenny Armstrong, a shepherd who lived and worked all her life in the lower Pentland hills of Southern Scotland. In 1970 Crowe moved to Kittleyknowe (next door to Jenny) in the Pentlands with her husband Michael Walton, and painted

Jenny both at home, within a domestic setting and at work in the landscape. While the works can be divided into ‘interior’ and ‘exterior’ paintings, Two Views (1980-81) perhaps more strongly than any other in the series, brings together both views: the interior of Jenny’s cottage and the winter landscape seen through the window, framing Jenny herself immersed in her work.

Within the painting Crowe has made a clear division between the interior and exterior – the warm, rich and homely shades of the patterned wallpaper and rose motif curtains and the colder, luminous hues of the snowcovered fields. But the baler twine pinned to the wall links the two spaces, marking Jenny’s presence and defining this as her home.

Crowe has observed the two spaces together within a single frame – Jenny’s home life and professional life intertwined.

Both views are intimate.

The private interior space and the glimpse of Jenny seen through the curtains, oblivious to being watched seem almost voyeuristic as the viewer looks out from within, just as Crowe had depicted her from the warm confines of Jenny’s home. This contrast between the security and warmth of her home and the cold, bleak outlook serves to emphasise the long, hard Scottish winter and human toil. The work had always to be carried out, regardless of the weather. Furthermore, the photograph of Jenny’s father hanging on the wall – springtime, lambing, bag, crook and dog – contrasts the reality of Jenny and her work against the more romantic, idealised view of the shepherd.

Crowe has spoken of her

Tapestry and painting with small sample Installation view: Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh © Design: Victoria Crowe/ Tapestry: Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh

long-term ambition of creating a tapestry from this series and upon confirmation of the exhibition at The Fleming Collection, saw the gallery and its dark mahogany wall as the ideal context. In 2007 the opportunity arose to fulfil this ambition with a commission from a longtime collector of Crowe’s work, The Duke of Buccleuch. On visiting Crowe’s studio to select the work from which the tapestry would be made, it was the subject matter of Two Views: the home, its environs, the family and a sense of a continuum in time and tradition, which led to this final choice, and a long and intensive collaboration with weavers Douglas Grierson, Naomi Robertson and David Cochrane, at Dovecot.

Interestingly, Two Views was also the work chosen by weaver Douglas Grierson who recognised that the warm, rich tones used in the painting would translate well into a tapestry. The work selected, the project developed apace with Crowe’s involvement fundamental to the completed work.

The weavers were invited to Kittleyknowe to see the paintings (and subsequently had Two Views with them throughout the weaving process) to gain a sense of the landscape, the quality of light, and in particular, to see the moorland and reed beds under snow. Wool was collected from the surrounding fields and was subsequently spun into strands. With this wool one of the weavers, David Cochrane began a small sample of another of Crowe’s paintings from A Shepherd’s Life, Large Tree Group (1975) which was displayed alongside Two Views (painting and tapestry) at Dovecot Studios after the project was complete. Although not used to weave Two Views, the inherent qualities of natural, local, undyed wool – for example, the colours never fade, is something Crowe is keen to exploit in a future project.

Influenced by William Morris, the fourth Marquess of Bute established the Dovecot Studios at Corstorphine in Edinburgh in 1912 and it was from Morris’ workshop at Merton

Scottish Art News 17

Abbey near London that the first two master weavers came.1 Morris attacked the separation of fine art from craft and the artist from the artisan which had taken place during the 18th century when the concept of art was spilt apart, generating the new category fine arts (poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, music) as opposed to crafts and popular arts (shoemaking, embroidery, popular songs, etc).2 In The Invention of Art, Larry Shiner credits Morris, along with Ruskin, as posing the most thoroughly worked out challenge to the fine art-versuscraft split with their ideas finding institutional embodiment in the Arts and Crafts movement in the last decades of the 19th century – this historical separation ‘ruinous’ to both.3 Albeit full of inconsistency and failing to match its ideals, this attitude to the dichotomies of the modern fine art system, ‘a modern invention’, and demotion of the crafts and popular arts, fed directly into Dovecot and there evolved a firm belief in the co-operation between artist and craftsman.4

Historically, the role of artist as designer of tapestry without experience or skills and practice of weaving has only existed over the last 450 years and for the artist, this new territory opens up new ways of approach.

Crowe’s involvement in the transposition of the painting into a tapestry was most marked at the beginning of the project. Once the painting (design) was selected, a cartoon (full-scale linear design for the tapestry) was made.

Measuring four feet by eight feet – twice the size of the original painting – the cartoon was then ‘inked-on’ to the warp. Crowe had made certain alterations 18

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to the original composition, such as lowering the horizon to bring Jenny’s hand in line with the houses. The work was not copied (‘painting by numbers’) but translated and interpreted – a much more subtle and complex process during which new and unexpected possibilites for the work can arise. The quality of line is reassessed and the range of colour expanded, for example, the colour of the curtains enlivened.

Woven in 1912 Dovecot stock wool, the weft (horizontal threads woven in and out of the warp) was mixed for each area of colour as a painter mixes paint on a palette, demonstrating not only a flexibility in the handling of

materials but in the weaving itself.

Depending on the composition of the tapestry, it can be woven upright or on its side, which dictates how many weavers can work on it at any one time. Two Views was woven on its side allowing for two weavers to work alongside.

Crowe has remarked on the shift in her understanding of the work that took place as the tapestry was unveiled during the ‘Cutting off Ceremony’. As the tension on the warp threads has to remain constant throughout the weaving and the structural integrity of the fabric demands that no one part be allowed to develop more than a few inches Two Views, Tapestry, © Design: Victoria Crowe/Tapestry: Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, Collection of Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch

FROM TOP Two Views (detail), 1980-81 Oil on board 60.9 x 121.9 cm Collection of the artist

Two Views, Tapestry (detail) © Design: Victoria Crowe/ Tapestry: Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh Image: Ken Gray

ahead of the rest, only a small section was visible at any one time.

For a painter, used to working freely across a whole surface, seeing the work in its entirety for the very first time in such a way was a novel experience. As a tapestry is cut off, the tension goes and the tapestry sags. This transition from a solid, unmoving surface to something which could be unfurled, rolled up and held under one’s arm, and the tapestry’s absorption of light rather than its reflection, brought about a significant shift in her perception.

She has likened the unveiling to her experience of seeing her work removed from the studio and reconfigured in a new context in A Shepherd’s Life, first shown at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2000.

In explaining the process of transposition from painting

This contrast between the security and warmth of her home and the cold, bleak outlook serves to emphasise the long, hard Scottish winter and human toil

to tapestry, Archie Brennan, who became Director of the Dovecot Studios in 1963 and who was instrumental in Dovecot’s development and progress, has emphasised the importance of collaboration.5 For Brennan, the principal tenet is that a tapestry must be an ‘extension’ of the work; it should not be some variation on the original, but have an identity of its own, which is the ‘heart of the approach’.6 There needs to be an informed understanding of the original work, a reciprocal respect between painter and weaver and a sensitivity to each medium where the limits and potential of each are recognised. He explains that there is no ‘system’ of interpretation or transposition, the success of a tapestry never guaranteed.

For Dovecot and Crowe, this collaboration does not challenge the ‘holy status’ of

the individual or diminish the individual authority over that individual’s particular part of the project; these collaborators are individuals involved in a shared project, each benefiting from the other’s specialist knowledge. However, there is a level of engagement within this collaboration that departs from a view held of contemporary art that a certain degree of detachment of the artist has symptomatically led to ‘the idea of an externalised system or agent that makes the work (on the artist’s behalf ) becoming normalised within contemporary art production’.7 With artists utilising others to make the work on the artist’s behalf, ‘the conversation of the collaboration can easily become the object that believes, in place of the unbelieving individual.’ 8

The issues of underlying Scottish Art News 19

Morris attacked the separation of fine art from craft and the artist from the artisan which had taken place during the 18th century

polarities of the fine art system questioned by Morris and Co. were addressed by Dovecot Studios, allowing for an engaged form of collaboration – one that moved across divisions, doing much to raise its profile. The ability of weavers to translate the work of artists in such a way that allows for creativity in both parties, to ultimately find the best solution and to build a relationship of mutual confidence is one which both Crowe and Dovecot feel was achieved in this commission.

1 Maureen Hodge, ‘A History of the Dovecot Studios’ in Master Weavers: Tapestry from the Dovecot Studios 1912-1980, Canongate, Edinburgh, 1980 2 After the 19th century usage dropped the adjective ‘fine’, Larry Shiner, The Invention of Art: A Cultural History, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001 3 Ibid., p.138 4 Ibid.

5 Archie Brennan, ‘The Transposition of a Painting

Briony Anderson is editor of Scottish Art News

into a Tapestry’ in Master Weavers: Tapestry from the Dovecot Studios 1912-1980, Canongate, Edinburgh, 1980, pp.33-6 6 Ibid.

7 Dave Beech, Mark Hutchinson and John Timberlake, Analysis (Transmission: the Rules of Engagement), Artwords Press, p.12

Alison Watt (b. 1965), The Bathers, c.1988, oil on canvas, Purchased 1989 © The Artist/FWAF

8 Ibid.

T

FROM TOP Weavers visiting Kittleyknowe Image: Ken Gray

Weavers visiting Kittleyknowe Image: Ken Gray

Inking-on to the warp Image: Ken Gray

Weaving in progress Image: Ken Gray

Weaving in progress Image: Ken Gray

RIGHT Duke of Buccleuch cutting the tapestry off the loom at the ‘Cutting off Ceremony’ Image: Ken Gray

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Works from The Fleming Collection This spring’s Inspired: Part II exhibition at The Fleming Collection invites writers, critics and film-makers, among others, to select their favourite work from the collection

by Tim Cornwell

he power of art to inspire – to amuse, provoke, enrage, or even simply annoy – was on show in Scotland in 2008 as almost never before.

On the grand national scale, the attempt to purchase Titian’s Diana and Actaeon for £50 million – still underway as this edition went to press – inspired, or rather demanded, a public and political debate on the value of art.

But in the inspiring intimacy of a single artist’s show, like that of Alison Watt’s exhibition at the National Gallery in London, or Charles Avery’s at Parasol Unit in London, it was also an extraordinary year for Scottish Scottish Art News 21

visual art, and Scottish artists.

Given the current economic climate we may not easily see its like again.

In early 2008 The Fleming Collection invited a number of art-lovers, mostly from the world of museums and galleries but including artists themselves, to select works from the permanent collection that inspired them. Guy Peploe, director of the Scottish Gallery, wrote about about Lady in a White Dress by his grandfather, SJ Peploe; the former Python, Michael Palin, chose Charles Lees’ 1857 painting Skaters: Duddingston Loch by Moonlight.

With thoughtful choices from others who generously gave up their time, the selected works were displayed in the gallery in summer 2008 in its exhibition, Inspired.

For Inspired: Part II, as the arts correspondent for The Scotsman, I am lucky enough

to join Lucia Lindsay, Assistant Keeper of Art at The Fleming Collection in inviting writers, critics and film-makers among others to select a painting that has inspired them. As a long time admirer who has written frequently about the Fleming Collection, I am excited to be approaching the collection from a new angle.

From an arts journalist’s point of view, The Fleming Collection and its Keeper Selina Skipwith have proved an invaluable, independent resource on the Scottish art scene. It comes with no agenda, no politics, and as a London-based institution takes the long view of Scottish art. Its original guidelines of collecting Scottish scenes, or the work of Scottish artists, has given it an increasingly broad reach, particularly in the expanding world of Scottish contemporary art.

BELOW Charles Lees RSA (1800-80) Skaters: Duddingston Loch

by Moonlight, 1857 Oil on canvas © FWAF Purchased 1980 Selected by Michael Palin for Inspired I: Forty Years of Collecting Scottish Art at The Fleming Collection 8 July – 30 August 2008

OPPOSITE Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935) Lady in a White Dress Oil on panel © FWAF Selected by John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland for Inspired I: Forty Years of Collecting Scottish Art at The Fleming Collection 8 July – 30 August 2008

How does art inspire? Last spring Alison Watt opened her exhibition, Phantom, at the National Gallery. Her darkened swirls of white fabric, beckoning to dark places, were inspired she said, by the works she encountered in her two years’ residency at the gallery, and by one in particular, Francisco de Zurbarán’s St Francis in Meditation, where the saint with his deeply shadowed face seems to wrestle with the darkness surrounding him.

Watt came to the National Gallery as its youngest artist in residence to date, and paintings 22

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from Phantom were rapidly snapped up by the Bank of Scotland, and the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, which bought the title work for £45,000.

She also received another accolade, a recognition of her rising place: a savaging from London art critic Brian Sewell. Watt is represented in The Fleming Collection by an early work, The Bathers, bought in 1989, when she was only 24, so it is possible that one of our participants in Inspired: Part II may be inspired in turn, by her work.

Scotland’s extraordinary art

year began in February when the National Galleries of Scotland jointly secured with the Tate Gallery one of the biggest art donations in history, of 725 works from the collection of the dealer Anthony D’Offay, by artists from Andy Warhol to Ron Mueck and Damien Hirst. The works were purchased at cost price of £26.5 million rather than their estimated worth of £125 million, and at a stroke transformed Scotland’s contemporary art collection.

Not content, the galleries in August announced a joint bid with the National Gallery to buy Scottish Art News 23

Titian’s Diana and Actaeon for twice that sum – £50 million – from the Duke of Sutherland.

This effort at time of printing appeared on the crest of success, amid media reports of a done deal, but others questioning the cost to the taxpayer, or even the quality of the painting itself. Even visual artists such as Hirst, and Tracey Emin, who have thrived on bucking convention, rallied to the cause of art historians and curators by urging the public purchase of a Renaissance masterpiece completed in 1559.

My beat writing both news and feature articles for The Scotsman covers the artforms from film to literature to theatre, and people often ask where my particular passion lies. It would be hard, particularly this inspiring year, to answer anything but visual art. In the past, reforms (or rows) surrounding Scottish Opera or Scottish Ballet, or the emergence of the National Theatre of Scotland, still forging ahead might dominate the news, but of late visual art has taken precedence.

In Edinburgh this summer, two important new gallery spaces opened: one is the private Ingleby Gallery’s new space for contemporary art. The other is the Dovecot, an extraordinary space devoted to tapestry, at a time when the new head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is a British tapestry specialist, Thomas Campbell. If that was not enough, the £17 million overhaul of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery is also underway.

The Edinburgh art world has even inspired the writer Ian Rankin’s latest novel, Doors Open, in which a computer millionaire and an art professor plan an art heist to ‘liberate’ 24

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little-seen paintings from the National Galleries’ store near the waterfront. While the book, his first follow-up to the Rebus series, introduces some vicious crime bosses, it is also strewn with slide asides about the world of art, suggesting the author has spent no little time at local auctions.

The D’Offay and Titian campaigns have underlined that Scotland, in the twin hubs of Glasgow and Edinburgh, supply after London the strongest centre for art collections in Britain. At the same time they show, in the links with both the Tate and the National Gallery, the connections between the Scottish and British art world. The Fleming Collection, acting as a London ambassador for Scottish art, both bringing Scottish artists south and lending from the collection back to Scotland, plays an important part in this connection.

Will this Scottish art boom survive the credit crunch? With art prices weakening as buyers’ fortunes dwindle, there are predictions that in the inflated contemporary market the chaff will be winnowed from the grain. Spiralling debt and falling portfolios has undoubtedly made fundraising for the Titians harder, from both private donors and the government. Sponsorship deals like that which helped bring the stunning Gerhard Richter exhibition to Edinburgh will be even harder to find. The tragic downturn in the fortunes of the two major Scottish banks has raised questions over the future of their own corporate collections, as resources and local ownership weaken. But for institutions like the Fleming Collection, with a long-term perspective and an independent outlook, there could

be opportunities in a weakening art market, with its role as a collector and exhibitor of Scottish art even more valuable in unsettled times than before.

Tim Cornwell is Arts Correspondent for The Scotsman.

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937) The Dunara Castle at Iona Oil on millboard © The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation

THE FLEM ING C OLLECT ION WE WISH TO THANK THE FOLLOWING FOR SUPPORTING OUR EXHIBITION PROGRAMME

Founder MeMber Fleming Family & Partners Ltd

Corporate MeMbers

aLso

Bird & Bird International Law Firm Evercore Partners Limited Eton College Evercore Partners Limited Hamilton & Inches Ltd Highland Star Group RFIB Group Limited Ridgeway Partners LLP Rothschild Banking & Trust RWC Partners Ltd Standard Chartered PLC

Patrons of The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation Friends of The Fleming Collection

For information on ways to get involved contact Lucia Lindsay:

THE FLEMING COLLECTION

13 Berkeley Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8DU 020 7409 5784 │ flemingcollection@ffandp.com │ www.flemingcollection.co.uk Scottish Art News 25

The French Riviera in the Footsteps of the Scottish Colourists: The first in a series of trips abroad arranged by The Fleming Collection

by Lucia Lindsay SJ Peploe, Harbour Cassis, 1913, 13.5 x 16 ins, Courtesy of The Scottish Gallery

O

n Friday 31st October 2008 Andrew Marr gave the BP British Art Lecture at Tate Britain addressing the issue of what makes art British. Spoken without so much as a bulletin point in hand he guided us through some of his favourite paintings and subjects, from 18th and 19th century royal commissions to consumerism and contemporary art today with reference to Damian Hirst.

Following the talk a member of the audience posed the question of whether English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh Art are distinguishable from each other. His response was that from the 1870s to the 1930s, the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists overshadowed English artists in stylistic verve.

It is indeed true that these two groups, connected by the bond of friendship rather than through any institution, achieved high merit. Paintings from continental Europe could be seen in exhibitions in Glasgow and a number of artists enjoyed visiting France where they encountered like-minded communities of 26

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international artists and French painters and developed new styles. Roger Billcliffe’s book The Glasgow Boys reminds us that while in London the market was for Pre-Raphaelite, contemporary Scottish and local artists, the art market in Glasgow differed.

In the 1890s the Glasgow and later London based art dealer Alexander Reid, who knew Vincent van Gogh in Paris; and Craibe Angus during the previous two decades, supplied wealthy Glaswegian magnates with continental paintings while also nurturing the careers of local painters. Billcliffe cites the collection of James Donald which was bequeathed to Glasgow Art Gallery in 1905 as an indicator of Glaswegian taste, the collection including works by Jacob Maris, Corot, Millet, Daubigny, Mauve, Frère, Dupré, Pettie and Orchardson.1

To some artists the art institutions of Glasgow and Edinburgh seemed impenetrable and many enjoyed the freedom they found in London and France. James Patterson, Joseph Crawhall and John Lavery studied

in the salons in Paris. William Kennedy, Alexander Roche and Thomas Mille Dow enjoyed the artistic community just south of Fontainebleau at the village of Grez-sur-Loing with Lavery in the 1880s. Though none of the artists met Jules Bastian-Lepage (1848-1884) his depictions of rural people in the landscape in earthy tones became a popular subject, influencing their work.

Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935), George Leslie Hunter (1877-1931) and Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (18831937) were described in print

by TJ Honeyman as the ‘Three Scottish Colourists’ in 1950 and subsequently John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961) became accepted as part of this talented group of artists, all of whom lived in France for a time. At the start of their career they enjoyed trips to elegant resorts in Brittany, as well as studying and later exhibiting in Paris. They were influenced by the paintings of Edouard Manet (1832–1883), Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), Henri Matisse (1869–1954) and the Fauves. The south of France had

great appeal to Fergusson who lived in the Alpes Maritime with his partner the dancer Margaret Morris from 1914 until the First World War, returning to Paris and the French Riviera again on regular visits until the Second World War. As described in Intimate Friends: Scottish Colourists from the Hunterian Art Gallery and The Fleming Collection he was joined by his colleagues on trips to their own favourite spots such as Cassis for Peploe and Cadell or St Paul de Vence for Hunter who stayed there 1926-7 and 1929.2

Celebrating these links with France Robert Fergusson, Director of Pollok House, Glasgow and Lucia Lindsay, Assistant Keeper of Art of The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation spent six days visiting The French Riviera in the footsteps of the Scottish Colourists with twenty two Fleming Collection gallery visitors. Based in Nice and Aix en Provence, views of the towns of St Paul de Vence and Cassis that were enjoyed and painted by the Colourists, were seen by the group bathed in warm autumnal light.

There was an introduction to three collections, firstly that of Beatrice de Rothschild including Italian Renaissance painting, sculpture and furniture, Sèvres porcelain, rare Chinese screens and many more items housed at the belle époque style Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild overlooking the glorious coastline of Cap Ferrat.

In the 1920s the nucleus of the collection that can be found at the Musée de l’Annonciade was given by Henri Person and André Turin. With the support of Paul Signac it grew with the intention of representing artists who enjoyed the Côte d’Azur. Under

the patronage of the industrialist Georges Grammont an early 16th century chapel by the old port in San Tropez was converted and has remained its picturesque home since 1955. The collection brings one in touch with the artistic milieu that proceeded or was contemporary to the Scottish Colourists. A few subjects that can be appreciated there are local views by Neo-Impressionists Georges Seurat (1859-1891) and Paul Signac (1863-1935); interiors with figures by the Nabis3 Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) and Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940); and landscapes by the Fauvist dating from 1905-7 including Charles Camoin (1879-1965), Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958), André Derain (1880-1954) and George Braque (1882-1963).

The third collection that was visited was the The Marguerite and Aimé Maeght Foundation which opened in 1964 bearing the name of the pioneering art dealership. Set in grounds overlooking the Mediterranean the main building was designed by the Catalan architect Josep Luis Sert (19021983). It is surrounded by a maze of terraces with sculpture by Joan Miró (1893-1983), a single terrace with a dozen or so figure sculptures by Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) and a pool by Braque.

There was an opportunity to contemplate works by Matisse and Cézanne in the place in which they were conceived. Matisse designed the The Chapelle du Rosaire (19461951) in its entirety, from the bright stained glass and white wall tiles with simple line sketches of the Virgin Mary and the Stations

of the Cross, to brass candlesticks and the cross on the altar. An insight into the work of Cézanne was gained through a visit to his studio on the outskirts of Aix en Provence and to La Montagne Sainte-Victoire, a landscape which he painted repeatedly from 1885.

Only too briefly guests came in touch with Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance architecture during the trip as well as the magnificence of the Roman era at the Amphitheatre and Roman Theatre at Arles. The high concentration of museums, galleries and views made it impossible for the trip to provide the group with anything but a taste for the area, inspiration for further reading and perhaps another visit in the not too distant future!

1 Roger Billcliffe, The Glasgow Boys, First edition, John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, 1985, Revised edition, First Frances Lincoln Edition, 2008, p.13 2 Intimate Friends: Scottish Colourists from the Hunterian Art Gallery and The Fleming Collection by Anne Dulau and Selina Skipwith published

by The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation in association with Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow in 2003 3 The Nabis were given their name by the poet Cazalis: the word means ‘prophets’ in Hebrew. Musée de l’Annonciade guidebook, p.49

The French Riviera in the Footsteps of the Scottish Colourists was the first of a series of trips abroad arranged by The Fleming Collection to compliment the well established Behind The Scenes Trips which focus on towns in Scotland and elsewhere within the UK. The next will be to Madrid, 6 to 11 October 2009. For details of events and trips please see www.flemingcollection.co.uk.

Lucia Lindsay is Assistant Keeper of Art at The Fleming Collection.

View of Saint-Paul de Vence

Scottish Art News 27

Artist’s tour of A Shepherd’s Life at The Fleming Collection and ‘Overview’ at The Fine Art Society Thursday 15 January Meet at The Fleming Collection then at The Fine Art Society, 148 New Bond Street Tour 11–11.45pm, coffee 12pm, walk to FAS 12.15, Overview 12.30–1pm Tickets: £15; £10 Friends and Corporate Members; Patrons Free Tour both exhibitions in the company of the artist, Victoria Crowe, and exhibition organisers, Selina Skipwith, Keeper of Art at The Fleming Collection and Patrick Bourne, Managing Director of The Fine Art Society.

The Foundling Museum visit Tuesday 10 February 4.30–6pm, 4.30pm talk followed by drinks The Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AZ Tickets: £25; £20 Friends and Corporate Members; Patrons Free

A fun-filled hands on introductory print workshop in the magnificent surrounds of Eton College. The so called ‘Beak’ (the Etonian word for teacher dating back to the 15th century), Ian Burke, who trained at Goldsmith’s College, London is delighted to make the Print Room and Presses available to Friends of The Fleming Collection. You will learn about relief printing and silkscreen and produce your own special design.

Image: Printmaking

Olivia Rickman, former intern at The Fleming Collection and now Head of Press at The Foundling Museum, invites Friends for a tour of this remarkable collection founded by the philanthropist Thomas Coram, the artist William Hogarth and the composer George Frideric Handel.

There will be a tour of the current Handel exhibition followed by drinks. Image: The Foundling Museum Ken Howard Studio visit Wednesday 25 February, 6–7.30pm Tickets: £20; £15 Friends and Corporate Members £15; Patrons Free

Image: Victoria Crowe, Jenny and the Faraway

Friends are invited on a guided tour of Spencer House, built in 1756-66 for the first Earl Spencer.

This magnificent private palace has regained the full splendour of its late-18th century appearance after a painstaking ten-year restoration. The state rooms were designed by John Vardy and James Stuart.

Image: Spencer House

Two People, Two Perspectives - A Husband and Wife Talk Tuesday 17 March Victoria Crowe 11–12pm, short break 12–1.10pm, Michael Walton 1.10–2.10pm The Fleming Collection Tickets: Admission Free Victoria Crowe will give an introduction to the techniques used in painting and tapestry starting from sketchbooks, looking at the development of intermediary works and final paintings and tapestry. Michael Walton will give a witty account of the life and community of the area including the shepherdess Jenny Armstrong. Image: Victoria Crowe Jenny at Home,

Hens, 1975, Private Collection

Printmaking Day at Eton College Saturday 14 February 2.30-5.30pm Eton College, Eton, Berkshire, SL4 6DU Tickets: £40; £32 Friends, Patrons and Corporate Members

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Come and join the Friends for an evening drink and studio tour with leading Royal Academician Ken Howard. Howard studied at the Royal Academy from 1955-1958.

Having won the British Council Scholarship, Howard went on a study trip to Florence. He was elected a member of the New English Art Club in 1962 and has regular exhibitions in London.

Image: Ken Howard, The Salute

Save the Date – Behind the Scenes July 2009 Friends of The Fleming Collection are invited to the latest Behind the Scenes trip to Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire in July 2009.

Broken into two halves, the first half (1–3 July) will look at the sculptures of Andy Goldsworthy and Henry Moore. These will be viewed on foot so it is only suitable for the really fit and able.

There will also be an opportunity to visit Goldsworthy’s studio.

The second half (3–5 July) will be for everyone and will start with a private view of Home Again in Kirkcudbright, to which The Fleming Collection are loaning some paintings. Sights to be seen during this half will include Kirkcudbright, Broughton House (home and studio of EA Hornel), Dumfries House and Culzean Castle.

If you are interested in coming on this trip please let us know and we will send you the programme as soon as it becomes available.

Spencer House visit Monday 30 March 11–12pm Spencer House, 27 St James’s Place, London, SW1 Tickets: £20; £15 Friends and Corporate Members; Patrons Free Scottish Art News 29

BOOKING FORM This form can be filled in and sent to us in the Freepost envelope enclosed OR if you prefer please fax it to us on 020 7409 5601 or ring 020 7409 5733.

NAME:_________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS:_______________________________________________________________________________ POSTCODE:_______________________________TEL:_________________________________________

EVENTS Event

Date

Tour of London Art Fair

13th January

The Foundling Museum Visit

10th February

Printmaking day at Eton

14th February

Ken Howard Studio Visit

25th February

Spencer House Visit

30th March

Ticket Price Friends / Non Friends

No.

Cost

Total:

PAYMENT DETAILS I enclose a cheque for £_______made payable to The Fleming Collection Ltd OR I would like to pay by Visa/Mastercard/Switch/Delta/Maestro Card No: ________/________/_________/________/

EntErtain your cliEnts in ExquisitE surroundings

Expiry Date:__________ Issue No: ___________or Start Date___________ Security No:__________ Signed: ________________________________________Date: __________________________________

The Fleming Collection 13 Berkeley Street, London W1J 8DU Tel: 020 7409 5733 or Fax 020 7409 5601

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Please contact us for information on gallery hire for Corporate & Private Events The Fleming ColleCTion 13 Berkeley Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8DU 020 7409 5784 │ flemingcollection@ffandp.com │ www.flemingcollection.co.uk Scottish Art News 31

In September 2008 it was announced that visual artist Martin Boyce has been selected to represent Scotland at the 2009 Venice Biennale – the world’s largest and most prestigious international showcase for contemporary visual arts. Curated

by Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), it will be the first solo show to be presented. Following this the work will return to Scotland in December 2009 to be presented at a special exhibition at DCA. Boyce’s work relates to and transforms the space around it creating atmospheric, sculptural art inspired by modernist design history.

In November 2008 it was announced that the first major works of art bought through Art Fund International (the £5million collecting scheme from the UK’s leading independent art charity The Art Fund) were by Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art, one of five UK museums to win £1million to develop an outstanding collection of international contemporary art.

GoMA has bought 12 works by four cutting-edge artists from across the globe. (see p.43) Marking their commitment to emerging artists in Scotland, The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA), Edinburgh, is currently developing the former RSA Student Exhibition towards presenting a large-scale curated exhibition of the cream of emerging artists in Scotland. The inaugural RSA New Contemporaries exhibition will take place from 14–25 February 2009, encompassing all 12 of the magnificent RSA galleries.

Instead of exhibiting solo works in isolation, artists will have the opportunity to showcase a selection of new work including painting, sculpture, film making, photography, printmaking, architecture and installation. Artists have been selected from the 2008 Degree Shows by members of the RSA (led by Prof.

Will Maclean RSA).

In September 2008, The Herat Room, a historically important portrait by Scottish portrait painter Brendan Kelly signifying Headquarters Allied Rapid reaction Corps’ contribution to the NATO International Security Force mission in Afghanistan was unveiled. It has long been military custom to commission works of art to record moments of historic importance and for this commission, the artist travelled to Kabul where he spent two weeks putting together the structure and composition of the painting.

In October 2008, nearly 50 previously unknown drawings by Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), many apparently carrying the artist’s handwriting, went on sale quietly in a Cotswold art gallery, at prices of up to £20,000. The discovery has stunned experts, particularly as it was previously thought that he rarely made drawings. One expert has called them the ‘most significant single discovery in Raeburn scholarship’. The 32

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collection, which has been verified by Dr David Mackie, one of the world’s foremost Raeburn authorities, was taken from an album of sketches that belonged to the artist’s patron, the 13th Lord Gray. It ranges from images of the Sistine Chapel to portraits of famous figures.

Andy Goldsworthy has just completed a two year project in Presidio, San Francisco. The Spire, a wooden spire of felled mature trees, planted in a clearing of a forest where unhealthy Monterey cypress trees have been felled, celebrates the history and natural rhythms of the forest and welcomes the next generation of trees as new young trees grow up to meet the sculpture.

NO LACK OF LAMENTATION | Helen MacAlister Helen MacAlister prepares a forthcoming solo exhibition for An Lanntair, Stornoway, a section of which will be platformed in London in 2009. Rebecca Bell looks beyond the meticulously worked surfaces of the works to discover multiple layers of reference and meaning

H-I-C-A (the Highland Institute for Contemporary Art), an artist-run gallery, located near Inverness opened in August 2008. A programme of exhibitions and publications are currently being planned for 2009 with particular emphasis on exploring the history and current influence of ‘Concrete Art’. www.h-i-c-a.org The Aspect Prize, generously supported by Aspect Capital, is one of the largest prizes for painting in the UK with a total prize fund of £34,000. It is awarded each year to four Scottish painters. The prize is supported by the Paisley Art Institute which hosts the exhibition each year. The 2008/9 finalists, Alistair Pender, Janet Melrose, Toby Messenger and Rory Mclauchlan will battle it out for the top prize in London in March 2009 at The Gallery, 28 Cork Street. www.theaspectprize.com The Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture in Moscow (opened in September 2008) will present its first off-site project with a giant video installation on the top of Moscow’s Mosenergo building opposite the Kremlin. The video installation, Moscow on the Move will showcase works by leading Russian and international artists, including Scottish artist Douglas Gordon, 24 hours a day on one of Moscow’s largest plasma screens. The project is a collaboration with London’s Serpentine Gallery and is curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine. Moscow on the Move at the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture on view until March 2009. www.gagosian.com

Mol, shingle praise oil on canvas, 2008, 210 x 148cm

Gossoprie Scottish Art News 33

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new exhibition of Helen MacAlister’s work, No Lack of Lamentation, will take place at Art First, London in March 2009. In many ways a platform for what is to come, the exhibition will include a combination of new and old pieces. Several are works which MacAlister is creating for her forthcoming major solo exhibition at An Lanntair Art Centre, Stornoway, and others were previously shown as part of MacAlister’s exhibition The Roar o’ Human Shingle.

The works shown in The Roar o’Human Shingle explored ‘ideas of cultural

resilience: the resonance of language and place’.1 The title, taken from MacDiarmid’s Prayer for a Second Flood, comes from a poem concerned with what Duncan Macmillan calls ‘the human shingle... dragged by the waves of revolution’. Each pebble is individual but moved as one by the tide: ‘it is... a phrase that gives a sense of the tangibility of collective experience’.2 ‘At the Foot o’ Yon Excellin’ Brae’ is the suggested title for the forthcoming Stornoway show.

Taken from Hamish Henderson’s writings Alias MacAlias, the phrase is used as an illustration in Henderson’s discussion of Scots-Gaelic bilingualism.

As the title of the Stornoway exhibition demonstrates, the use of bilingualism is never purely colloquial: it is also a selfconscious art form and therefore stylised. Just like the shingle which figures in both exhibitions, language is licked into shape.

To her, the common sense of it all demands to be painted.

As her interest in Henderson demonstrates, MacAlister is concerned with those people who have kept community and linguistic heritage alive. She questions who has recorded information, archived it, and kept it breathing.

MacAlister’s works are possibly best described

A Participant Observer pencil on paper, 2007, 42 x 59.4 cm

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A Participant Observer detail

as ‘documents’. She looks at landscape, history, sociology, and the evolution of language, particularly within the context of Scotland. However the themes aim to be universal, applicable to the sociological and linguistic history of many nations. She herself is a learner of Gaelic, and the process of unravelling meaning is pivotal to her work which is testament to the shared meanings and structures of linguistic binaries. Binary interest is frequently made literal in MacAlister’s use of a dual palette.

MacAlister’s new works will depart from those shown in The Roar o’Human Shingle while solidifying explorations of the themes which motivated previous pieces. A central difference is that the new works telescope outwards, shifting from close-up botanical studies and details to the wider landscape. An example of this is Glen Urquhart, one starting point for which was Duncan Macmillan’s exploration of the site in his essay for The Roar o’Human Shingle catalogue.

In discussing paintings of church interiors included in The Roar o’Human Shingle, Macmillian mentions the Free Kirk in Glen Urquhart, around which the grassy banks were

‘stepped like an ancient theatre’.3 The congregations were often so heavily numbered that they would spill out of the church on to the surrounding banks. Macmillan discusses the major role that the institution of the kirk played in shaping modern Scotland.

MacAlister has since discovered that the kirk congregations were allegedly divided by language: English speakers on the inside, and Gaelic speakers outside. The kirk thus acts as a retainer of social history. Further to this, Sorley MacLean commented that Glen Urquhart and Glen Moriston were alone in being untouched by the Clearances. The landscape therefore is both retainer of what has happened, and what has not – the absence made this scene of even greater appeal to MacAlister as a subject.

Duality in all forms is a key element which arises in MacAlister’s thinking and formal values. The first duality which must be kept in mind is the visual weight borne by her pieces, which can be appreciated as autonomous works of art. However, parallel to this is an unfolding of texts and references, a ‘semantic build-up’ (Clare Cooper, Director Art First), which inspire but also act as a basis of continued motivation.

The latter is vital: MacAlister’s application of intensely detailed pencil and oil is time consuming – the first oil on canvas created for Stornoway which will be shown at Art First, Mol, shingle praise, took a year to complete.

Mol is a Gaelic word for beach or shingle, but also means to praise or commend. The double meaning of this term is explored in MacAlister’s work of this title, which shows a raised beach, based on a shingle beach in Rhum. In

the same way that the meaning of the word mol changes, so does the shingle shift and move with the tide. Together the title and subject of the work serve as a metaphor for the fact that speech is never a fixed standard: it is a force of life and action. MacAlister explores the unfolding association and play of the term mol, and the work aims to be a simple celebration of articulation and changing meaning. Gaelic scholar John MacInnes has discussed in his writings the ‘extending’ of a word: ‘When an author succeeds in transmitting his individual perception of a word – its sound, its appearance on a page, or a latent meaning – to the public context of his work, a hitherto unrealised potential is made available.’4 The author makes an ‘impress’ on a word when using it. In this way language has a historical baggage, the role of which is fundamental to MacAlister’s work. Interesting in this context is MacAlister’s inclusion of the title of the work within the painting itself. Among the intricate shades and lines on the canvas are the letters M-O-L, thus exploring the literal form of the word from which the themes and subtexts of the piece stem.

New drawing A Participant Observer also has a phrase embedded in the surface. This time, ‘a participant observer’ can be read within the myriad of marks on the paper.

The term comes from a phrase relating to great Scottish poet and folklore revivalist Hamish Henderson. Henderson was largely responsible for bringing about the ‘People’s Ceilidhs’, celebrations of traditional Scottish culture that foreshadowed the modern Edinburgh Fringe Scottish Art News 35

Festival. His role as researcher of Scottish identity was two-fold: the definition of participantobserver is a researcher who is skilled enough to both participate in group work and also observe group process simultaneously.

In many ways while MacAlister celebrates the act of observing and learning, she also participates in Gaelic language. Her approach to subject is empirical but farreaching: texts and associations unfold in an apparent infinity (MacDiarmid’s ‘inexhaustible quarry’). And while notions of community, culture, song and landscape, can veer towards Romantic nostalgia, this is not the intention or result of MacAlister’s clean, often monochrome works.

Henderson was conscious that

he should be ‘a remembrancer’, a poet of his highland people and of Scotland, but he also keeps the life of his subject going, and evolving, through recording and researching. MacAlister adopts a similarly self-aware role.

The Art First exhibition, No Lack of Lamentation, will contain several more drawings, including minimal text drawings, alongside large paintings among which Mol, shingle praise will figure. The drawings and paintings are equally weighted as documents of research, toil, thought – and there is a key relationship between the two mediums. Colour is also attended to as thoroughly as every other aspect of the process. The resulting works take their part in a constant evolving narrative, a

history, a celebration of human creation and research.

1 Helen MacAlister, The

Alias Macalias: Writings

Roar o’ Human Shingle,

on Songs, Folk and

exhibition catalogue, An

Literature

Tuireann, Isle of Skye 2006

Hamish Henderson

(touring exhibition, also

Edited by Alec Finlay

shown at Art First

Polygon, 2004, £14.99

17 April – 17 May 2007)

www.birlinn.co.uk

2 Duncan Macmillan, Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 John MacInnes, Dùthchas nan Gàidheal: Selected Essays

Edited by Selina Skipwith with Helen MacAlister.

of John MacInnes, Edinburgh, Birlinn, 2006

No Lack of Lamentation 17 February – 19 March Art First 9 Cork Street, London, W1S 3LL Tel: 0207 734 0386 www.artfirst.co.uk

THESCOTTISHGALLERY CONTEMPORARY ART SINCE 1842

EXHIBITIONS 2009 7 - 31 January Gordon Bryce

S. J. Peploe Cassis, 1913 oil on panel 32 x 40.5 cms

4 February - 4 March Frances MacDonald 9 March - 4 April John Brown 8 April - 2 May William Crozier

Hamish Henderson: Writings on Songs, Folk & Literature

Hamish Scott Henderson was one of the most significant figures in the cultural life of 20th-century Scotland. He was a man of extraordinary intellectual versatility, a committed Republican and socialist, and, as the pioneer of the great post-war Scottish folk revival, he made an important contribution to Scotland’s culture and to the growth of a national consciousness. He was continually drawn to the North-East and its folk art heritage, in particular, the tinker-gypsies, whose contribution to folk culture he gave full recognition. He was a scholarly song and folktale collector, a songwriter, a serious political fighter who rejected Margaret Thatcher’s offer of an OBE, and a poet whose sequence of war poems ‘Elegies for the Dead Cyrenaica’ won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1949.

Born in Blairgowrie, Perthshire in 1919, Henderson spent his early years in Glenshee before moving to Ireland and then Devon. He won a scholarship to Dulwich College and went on to study Modern Languages at Cambridge. During the Second World War he served in North Africa and Italy with the 51st Highland Division, and personally accepted the surrender of Italy from Marshall Graziani. He was a founder of the School of Scottish Studies in 1951 and, during his time there, made distinguished contributions to folk scholarship, remaining an honorary fellow of the school for the rest of his life. He died in March 2002.

The following extract is from Alec Finlay’s introductory essay to Alias Macalias: Writings on Songs, Folk and Literature, a collection of essays by the Scottish poet, singer and folklorist Hamish Henderson, reproduced with kind permission of the publisher. The collection has been extensively expanded by friend and editor Alec Finlay and ranges from humorous autobiographical reminiscences, wartime memoirs, flytings, chatty reviews to scholarly critiques of songs and tales. Subjects include Hugh MacDiarmid, Lorca, the tinker-gypsies, ballads, the burgeoning folk scene and the Clearances. Completing the volume are tributes to individuals such as Jeannie Robertson, Ewan McCall and Roy Williamson.

3 - 27 June George Devlin

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16 Dundas Street Edinburgh EH3 6HZ tel. 0131 558 1200

mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk

www.scottish-gallery.co.uk

Scottish Art News 37

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he role of collector was one for which Hamish was phenomenally suited. I have never met anyone who had his ability to cut through people’s differences. This gift was born of his unique interweaving of the social fabric of Europe: illegitimate son of a Highland serving woman and an Irish soldier; taken under the wing of the Duke of Atholl as a boy; educated in two of the finest public schools in England; distinguished service in the Intelligence Corps; and wanderings through the cultures of pre- and post-war Europe. Hamish thrived on crossing and recrossing borders of all kinds. The tale of how he escaped Nazi Germany on one of the last trains to leave before war was declared, spiriting away a young Jewish lad, Karl Heinz Gerson, was one I heard him tell many times. The leitmotif was repeated when he found himself on a motorbike riding through Sicily, the first Allied soldier on occupied European soil.

songs and stories back to the archives of the School, passing them on to the young apprentice singers in the cities through folk clubs, records and radio programmes. Norman Buchan summed up the importance of this:

‘It’s difficult for me to imagine how the Folk Revival could have taken off without Hamish and Hamish’s work. First, there was the keel of the School of Scottish Studies, which said: This is important; this matters; this must be collected! Then, curiously enough, you had a collector who was interested in the living thing, that also songs had to be made, who wrote songs himself. This is a great distinction, that he recognised it wasn’t an archaic, an antiquarian ploy that he was on. It was something that was living…

He knew the task of collecting was to dredge, was to trawl, and

wrote for the LPs The Muckle Sangs and The Berry-Fields of Blair.

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you took everything up…whether they mattered a good deal or not, the body was incomplete without them…He had both the quality approach, as it were, understanding the importance of a big ballad, understanding the importance of a living tradition, but also knowing that the squibs were part of the process. He understood the process as well.

And this, I think, was quite remarkable.’27

Hamish’s faith in the value of live performance shines through in the sleeve notes he

YEARS OF CHANGING SPACES As 2009 marks the 10th anniversary of Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), Evelyn Milligan looks at significant developments which are changing the face of Scotland’s gallery and museum spaces

26 Ailie Munro, The Folk Music Revival in Scotland, 215.

27 ‘Norman Buchan on Hamish’, Tocher 43, 1991, 14.

28 Reprinted in Chapbook, III.6, 1967.

tHe singEr siNgs anD thE caRrying Stream flOws oN*

In the mid-1950s Hamish made another crucial crossing, entering into the tight-knit clannish world of the Scottish travellers or ‘summer walkers’, who had preserved the finest examples of the traditional arts. His affinity for their way of life allowed him to win their respect, as Ailie Munro records: ‘Hamish took time to fraternise, to win confidence and trust, to sleep in rough tents. In the early fifties, to be on such friendly equal terms with social utcasts was hardly the way to win friends and influence people of the Establishment, academic or otherwise.’26

He carried a steady flow of

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To succeed the Revival needed an urban platform, so he set about organising The People’s Festival Ceilidhs of the early 1950s. In his program notes for the 1952 Festival Hamish made his aims clear:

‘If the Ceilidh succeeds in its purpose, it will perform something of a tremendous cultural significance for Scotland. It our cities the folk tradition has never completely disappeared, in spite of all the inroads made upon it, and it is still possible to graft these flowering branches from the North and West upon a living tree. We are convinced that it is possible to restore Scottish folksong to the ordinary people in Scotland, not merely as a bobbysoxer vogue, but deeply and integrally.’ 28

* Mesostic Interleaved: Alec Finlay, as part of a commission for Edinburgh University Library, 2008-09 Henderson, Hamish (1919–2002), folklorist, poet Alec Finlay is an artist, poet & publisher based in Newcastle upon Tyne. www.alecfinlay.com

S

ince the opening of DCA in Dundee 10 years ago, art in Scotland has taken a dramatic turn. Millions have been invested in the redevelopment and building of galleries, museums and art centres throughout Scotland to ensure the future of both contemporary art and historic collections.

The Scottish Arts Council (SAC) has invested over £26.5 million in grants towards major visual arts infrastructure projects. Other funding bodies include Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Historic Scotland as well as more localised council funding. Since 1995, SAC has assisted DCA, Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Pier Visual Arts in Orkney, the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), The Lighthouse and Tramway in Glasgow among many others. There has also been a surge of redevelopment that has been funded independently.

A new awareness of art in Scotland has encouraged organisations to cater to a wider audience by revamping old structures, building cafes and shops and providing educational facilities for all ages.

FROM LEFT DCA Exterior Tramway: Entrance Kelvingrove Interior Mackintosh Room: Kelvingrove Pier Arts Centre Dovecot Studios Interior Ingleby Gallery Interior

FIRST OPENINGS Dundee Contemporary Arts 152 Nethergate, Dundee Dundee Contemporary Arts opened in March 1999 as an arts complex. It houses a contemporary art gallery, two-screen cinema, print studio, visual arts research facility and a cafe and bar. The project was conceived as a means to nurture students and graduates of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (now part of the University of Dundee).

Dundee City Council, in partnership with the University of Dundee, created a company called Dundee Contemporary Arts. In March 1995 they came across 152 Nethergate (then a skate park), which was favoured for its proximity to the University and Dundee Repertory Theatre. An international design competition was held and in June 1998 Richard Murphy Architects were announced the winner. The new building was instantly hailed an ‘innovative modern space.’

The development was awarded a total of £5,380,756 by the SAC and has gone from strength to strength, quickly becoming internationally renowned and receiving 300,000 visitors a year.

Tramway 25 Albert Drive, Glasgow In the 1990s Tramway became one of the leading spaces for contemporary art in Europe. In 1988 the building, originally a tramshed, was brought to the attention of theatre director, Peter Brook, who required a venue for his momentous production of Mahabharata. The following year Andy Goldsworthy staged his Snowball project in what would become Tramway’s principal gallery space. Its new function as an exciting venue for visual and performing arts led to a £2.3 million donation from the SAC National Lottery to redevelop the vast building. By 2000 the venue reopened with better equipped gallery and theatre spaces as well as a cafe, rehearsal and workshop area.

It is the second biggest art space in Britain after the Turbine Hall at Tate. ‘The brightest legacy of Glasgow’s year as City of Culture is surely the survival of Tramway.’

(The Independent, 1991) Artists such as David Mach, Douglas Gordon and Kenny Hunter have exhibited at Tramway.

Workshop and Artists’s Studio Provision Scotland Ltd (WASPS) WASPS is a company and recognised charity which over the past 30 years has devoted its Scottish Art News 39

resources to ensuring studio spaces for artists in Scotland. Having raised £15 million through the private and public sector, WASPS has been able to buy and redevelop six studio buildings to house 300 artists on a short or long-term basis. There are now 17 WASPS locations throughout Scotland.

Mackintosh room, and the label wording limited to 30 words, which provide basic descriptions of each picture, artist and relevant theme.

Following the redevelopment, Kelvingrove has become one of the most visited tourist sites in Britain.

RECENT OPENINGS

The Pier Arts Centre Victoria Street, Stromness, Orkney The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney was established in 1979 to provide a home for an important collection of British art donated (and to ‘be held in trust for Orkney’) by the author, peace activist and philanthropist Margaret Gardiner (1904-2005).

Among the 116 works in the permanent collection are pieces

by Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Alfred Wallis.

The Pier Arts Centre re-emerged in July 2007 following a £4.5m redevelopment with Lottery funding from sources including the Scottish Arts Council and the HLF. The original listed buildings and pier have been sympathetically extended by Reiach and Hall Architects who created a stunning new building at the harbour’s edge. It was recognised as the ‘Best Building in Scotland 2007’.

With the completion

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Argyll Street, Glasgow Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum reopened in April 2006, following major restoration work and the restructuring of displays and layout. A key focus was education and bringing the collection to a wider audience (with the help of a public survey).

The £27.9 million funding for refurbishment was donated by the HLF, Historic Scotland, Glasgow City Council and the European Regional Development Fund. The Kelvingrove Refurbishment Appeal Trust (chaired by Lord Macfarlane) was set up to raise £5 million through sponsorship.

Previously, the first floor art collection had been visited less than the artefacts on the ground floor, therefore the collections were realigned east west. Each room is themed, such as the 40

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of the redevelopment, full access to the centre’s facilities has been achieved and the necessary environmental conditions are in place in order to preserve its valuable collection.

2008 OPENINGS Dovecot Studios 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh The Dovecot enterprise, influenced by William Morris, was established in 1912 by the 4th Marquess of Bute and over the years has become renowned for producing tapestries of individual character through collaboration with many international artists such as David Hockney, Frank Stella and Elizabeth Blackadder.

In 2000 Alastair and Elizabeth Salvesen, together with Director David Weir, undertook a year-long negotiation with the Butes to re-employ the weavers after threat of closure. The current chairman and backer of this privately funded project, Salvesen, was determined to find a permanent home for the studios, which had been located behind Donaldson’s College in Edinburgh for eight years. In 2006, after much searching, the old Victorian

Baths on Infirmary Street were identified as being perfect for redevelopment. The public baths, built between 1885-87, were previously owned by Edinburgh City Council who were keen to prevent them from being carved up by developers.

The new weaving space of 600 square metres houses a balcony exhibition area as well as a dedicated studio for the weavers.

Two further exhibition spaces have been built at ground level (beneath the former pools) and the workshop is housed above, spectacularly lit by skylights, which cover the ceiling. As well as the exhibition and workshop space, there are two floors of offices and a small development of five flats.

Dovecot Studios opened to the public in August 2008. With the new exhibition space and studios, the vision of establishing a high quality international platform for tapestry has finally been realised.

Ingleby Gallery 5 Calton Road, Edinburgh The Ingleby Gallery, established in 1998 was originally based in a Georgian townhouse, owned by the Inglebys, on Calton Terrace.

Although the rooms were large and bright, wall space was limited and because of traditional features,

exhibitions were becoming less exciting to install. The new space overlooking Waverley Station was formerly a music venue, and the size and light instantly created the perfect vibe.

Redesigned by Helen Lucas Architects, the building was transformed into an accessible three-floored art gallery. The offices and print area in the basement are connected by an internal staircase to the new gallery spaces on the first and second floors.

With three floors, works by a number of artists in a range of media can be shown at one time and while the development of the new gallery departs in scope and scale from its previous traditional Georgian interior, the gallery’s exhibition ethos continues and work is shown by both new and previously exhibited artists.

it for the future. The galleries themselves were then opened up to lighten the rooms and to allow for more wall space to hang the collection.

One of the aims of the redevelopment is to improve visitor numbers by having a new reception area, cafe and shop and by making the gallery more accessible through a south entrance from the new plaza. As with Kelvingrove, attention has been paid to improving interactive and creative learning spaces to encourage the return of the one time visitor.

After completion of the work in October 2008, The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum will open in late 2009 after the displays are reinstated.

REOPENING SOON

Kirkcudbright St Marys Street, Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway The town of Kirkcudbright, with its long history of attracting artists, has recently been offered the former site of the Johnston School for a new permanent gallery. Kirkcudbright 2000, an organisation set up to support culture in Kirkcudbright, is now working closely with the local council to finalise a business plan that will be the basis for a fundraising appeal. Being a Grade B listed building, the Italianate façade will remain, and the more modern rooms to the rear converted into a gallery space.

The architectural plans include a gallery for exhibiting a permanent collection, another for travelling exhibitions, workspace facilities for workshops, storage space and

The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum Albert Square, Dundee The McManus Galleries and Museum was built to house the city’s art collection. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1867 as a commemoration to Prince Albert. Following an extension in the mid eighties to include the library, it was renamed the McManus Galleries in commemoration of the Lord Provost Maurice McManus OBE.

In 2004 Dundee City Council were offered financial support from the HLF, European Funds, Historic Scotland and Dundee City Council for redevelopment. The roofs and stonework required restoration and the building needed to be underpinned in order to safeguard

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Scottish Art News 41

cafe and shop.

The project is backed by the National Galleries of Scotland, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and other art institutions, all of which recognise the unique place Kirkcudbright holds in the history and development of Scottish art.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh On the 5th April 2009 the Scottish National Portrait Gallery closes until November 2011 for a multimillion pound redevelopment project. In March 2007 a programme of redevelopment was put forward for funding to the HLF who initially rejected the proposal. The proposal was then reassessed with more emphasis

on attention to the audience. It was resubmitted and accepted in December 2007 and a donation of £4.8 million was given by HLF. The Scottish Government also donated £5.1 million bringing the total to £9.9 million. Fundraising is now underway for the remaining £7.7 million.

The Portrait Gallery was purpose-built during the 1880s to house the national collection of portraits. The Victorian building was also used to store work not being shown and currently only ten per cent of the collection is on display. Following the redevelopment it is hoped that four times more space will be available.

When it reopens, there will be 18 chronological exhibitions covering five key areas of Scottish genres as well as touring exhibitions. The

Art Fund International: A Partnership between the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow and The Common Guild

by Ben Harman

architectural plans also include workspace facilities for children, storage space and a cafe and shop.

The new, more straightforward layout will hopefully entice even more visitors to one of Scotland’s best loved collections.

Evelyn Milligan is Gallery Assistant at The Fleming Collection

Matthew Buckingham, Everything I Need (2007), installation view, 2 channel video projection with sound, Courtesy the artist and Murray Guy, New York

I

flitlondon.co.uk DESIGN ADVERTISING BESPOKE PUBLISHING INTERNET

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n November 2007, a partnership between the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow and The Common Guild was accepted on to the Art Fund International scheme. The Art Fund, London awarded us £1million to spend on international contemporary art over the next five years, which has resulted in GoMA’s first acquisitions of work by artists based outwith the UK in over ten years. One of the most important and ambitious schemes The Art Fund has ever launched, it aims to encourage a radical change in the scale and ambition of contemporary art collecting in the UK. The Art Fund International application process required museums to form partnerships with contemporary art organisations for the first time.

GoMA is the collecting institution in this partnership while The Common Guild has an advisory/mentoring role.

The Common Guild is an organisation established in 2006

The Art Fund International application process required museums to form partnerships with contemporary art organisations for the first time

Scottish Art News 43

dedicated to producing a dynamic international programme of contemporary visual art projects, exhibitions, and events. Its Director, Katrina Brown, an internationally renowned curator with an established reputation in the visual arts brings essential expertise, knowledge and existing international connections to the partnership.

Our vision is to build a world-class collection through the acquisition of significant international works of art and to present them alongside work by artists from the UK. We will highlight the interests, influences and working methods that artists from around the world share with those from Glasgow, creating an international context for GoMA’s recent acquisitions of Scottish art.

In 2008 we made our first purchases – 12 in total – with Art Fund International funding. One of the gallery’s key collecting aims is to buy works using documentary media such as photography and film, building a collection of international contemporary art that can bear

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ABOVE Peter Hujar Girl in My Hallway (1976) Gelatin sliver print The Peter Hujar Archive, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

BELOW Emily Jacir Crossing Surda (a record of going to and from work) (2002) 2 channel video installation Courtesy the artist and Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London

comparison with those on show in other parts of Europe.

The first of these new acquisitions is Everything I Need (2007), a two-channel video projection with sound

by American artist Matthew Buckingham. Born in Nevada, USA in 1963, his work combines historical fact and information taken from first-hand sources with his own film/video footage and written or narrated texts.

Everything I Need is a moving video narrative, the subject of which is Charlotte Wolff (1897-1986), a writer and psychologist who wrote seminal studies of bisexuality, homosexuality and lesbianism. In the 1970s Wolff returned to postNazi Berlin for the first time since she fled from Germany in the 1930s. Buckingham’s installation focuses on Wolff ’s return and combines text from her memoir with images of the interior of a 1970s aircraft.

GoMA’s second purchase is a series of seven photographic prints by American artist Peter Hujar (1934-87), a photographer and a key figure in the downtown New York scene of the 70s and 80s. His photographs of friends, acquaintances and night time scenes of the city are among the most iconic of that time. His photographs are unique – historic documentary records of New York City and its inhabitants, artists and ‘underground’ characters, at a time of physical and social change.

Our selection of photographs includes iconic images such as,

Girl in my Hallway, and David Lighting Up, an intimate portrait of Hujar’s lover, the artist David Wojnarowicz.

A further acquisition comprises three video works

by Emily Jacir. Jacir was born in Saudi Arabia in 1970 and currently divides her time between New York and Ramallah. She works in a variety of media but is best known for video installations or works comprising photography and text. She has become known for work that often highlights the restrictions, such as freedom of movement, faced by Palestinians.

Although her practice focuses on particular social and political issues it is often infused with humour and retains a high intellectual and artistic quality.

In the first of these

A key collecting aim is to buy works using documentary media such as photography and film, building a collection of international contemporary art that can bear comparison with those on show in other parts of Europe

video works, Crossing Surda (a record of going to and from work) (2002), Jacir documented, with a hidden camera, the everyday effects of living in a restricted and administered territory. She filmed her commute to work for eight days which included her passage through the Israeli checkpoint.

For From Texas with Love (2002) Jacir asked friends and acquaintances in Palestine what music they would choose if there was the freedom to drive non-stop across their country for one hour. She compiled their

suggestions on a soundtrack and played it during an uninterrupted journey across Texas. The resulting film is a view through the car’s windscreen accompanied by the musical compilation.

Lastly, Ramallah/New York (2004) is a two-channel video informed by the artist’s experience of living in Ramallah and New York. This work is documentarylike, interweaving images of travel agencies, hairdressers and delis in both places. It exposes the similarities and subtle differences in daily life in Ramallah and

Scottish Art News 45

New York and questions official representations of both places as they are commonly portrayed in the mass media.

Ben Harman is Curator of Contemporary Art at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow Collected: Matthew Buckingham and Peter Hujar – Art Fund International acquisitions Until 26 April 2009 Gallery of Modern Art Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow, G1 3AH Tel: 0141 287 3062 www.glasgowmuseums.com

The Silver Trust

The Silver Trust is a remarkable collection of silver for No 10 and includes pieces by a number of Scotland’s leading silversmiths

by Christopher English ABOVE Emily Jacir From Texas with Love (2002), Interactive video installation, Courtesy the artist and Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London PREVIOUS PAGE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Peter Hujar, Boy in Plastic Pants (1978) Gelatin sliver print , The Peter Hujar Archive, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York Peter Hujar, David Lighting Up (1985) Gelatin sliver print, The Peter Hujar Archive, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, Emily Jacir, Ramallah/New York (2004), Two-channel video installation, Courtesy the artist and Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London

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ince man first began working in precious metals, the art of the goldsmith has been used to enhance the standing of kings and rulers.

However 10 Downing Street has never been the beneficiary of any such embellishment until the advent of The Silver Trust. Until about the middle of the last century the incumbents who resided at No 10 furnished and equipped the house themselves.

In 1982 President Reagan was accompanied by the then British Ambassador to Washington, Sir Nicholas Henderson and his wife Mary. During a state dinner to mark the occasion, a chance remark that none of the silver on the table belonged to No 10 set Mary Henderson’s mind working.

In 1985 on the Hendersons’ return to London, Mary contacted friend Jean Muir and the two met with Professor Gerald Benney at the Goldsmiths’ Hall to discuss how a collection of silver could be assembled to ensure that Downing Street had silver for its own use.

In the early 1980s the activities of speculators had greatly inflated the price of silver, at the same endangering the livelihood of many of Britain’s

FROM TOP State Dining Room, 10 Downing Street, showing The Silver Trust silver in use for a state dinner Photo by Nick Taylor

The Silver Trust silver in use

Scottish Art News 47

silversmiths who were finding commissions difficult to come by.

This inspired Mary Henderson into commissioning a number of leading British silversmiths to make pieces for a collection that would decorate and enhance the table at No 10.

The idea was simple.

The problem was how to finance the enterprise. Mary Henderson and Jean Muir persuaded Rupert Hambro to establish a charitable trust to commission and own the silver, which would be lent to No 10 for use by the Prime Minister.

And so in 1987 The Silver Trust was founded. At the same time, Lady Falkender, the former political secretary of Harold Wilson joined as a trustee, and was later followed by others.

Initially funding was extremely difficult as many potential donors felt that the government should resolve the problem. In the first five years of fundraising only £25,000 was raised. It was through Marcia Falkender that The Silver Trust was introduced to a generous benefactor who gave the Trust sufficient funds to commission 17 of Britain’s leading silversmiths to create the foundation pieces of the collection and subsequently establish a capital fund to finance new commissions and the annual exhibitions of the collection.

The only condition attached to this very generous gift was the anonymity of the donor.

As a result an 18 month period in mid 1991-92 was a time of intense activity. The brief for the Trustees was straightforward: to commission silver from British silversmiths to furnish the state dining table at No 10 for a full complement of 64 guests and the Prime Minister.

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Underplates designed for No 10 through an open submission call for designs (1991)

Flower Bowls by Michael Lloyd (1997)

Fruit Bowls by Michael Lloyd (1997)

Candelabra by Hamilton & Inches Limited (2005)

The four founder trustees formed a commissioning committee and it was their judgement that informed the design style of the collection. In the words of John Russell Taylor of The Times, when reviewing the collection ‘The happiest aspect of the work on display is its stylistic harmony.

Each silversmith has his or her own style, but the thin line is miraculously trodden between something so traditional as to become pastiche, and something determinedly modern as to stick out like a sore thumb.’ So not to inhibit this, instructions given to the silversmiths were simple: which piece was required, its size, and the value for the commission.

Any decoration should also somehow reflect aspects of the United Kingdom.

The size of the pieces commissioned was important as there are three formats for government entertaining at No 10: the full state banquet for 65 people, the state dining table for up to 30 people and a more domestic-size dining table for the small dining room. These three formats had to be carefully considered particularly for state banquets where the table is narrow. Sightlines of the guests to the Prime Minister should not be restricted by any of the pieces which had to be taken into account when commissions were given.

At the same time as commissions were being given, the then Chairman of the Trust, Sir Jocelyn Stevens suggested that to draw the collection together, Trustees should consider commissioning silver underplates that would remain in front of the guests throughout dinner.

Furthermore each plate should

Cruet Set by Malcolm Appleby (1987)

Scottish Art News 49

depicts the story of Adam and Eve with Eve handing Adam an atomic bomb instead of an apple, and the salt shaker is engraved with sea creatures – the pierced areas revealing the handmade glass liners and inlay.

Jon Hunt, H&I workshop manager, hammering candelabra arms into shape

have a different design. It was agreed to organise a public competition through open submission.

The Plate Competition as it became known was held in conjunction with The Royal College of Art and all colleges in Britain that provided metalwork as a course. With the help of Drusilla Beyfus it was publicised through the Daily Telegraph. The cost of the competition was underwritten

by Sir Jocelyn Stevens and Dame Vivien Duffield and it successfully attracted over 500 entries from both amateur and professional designers. From this, 72 designs were selected and produced.

The three piece cruet set was the first commission for the collection (1987) by Scottish silversmith, Malcolm Appleby.

They are excellent examples of his superb engraving technique – as if a tapestry had been made from silver. The designs of each individual piece reflects their contents: the mustard pot design (with its heat assocations) has wonderful cut work on the base representing the cockatrice, its hot, poisonous breath creating deserts. Other elements of the design show the tree of life wilting – Appleby was aware of global warming long before it became fashionable. The pepper grinder 50

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Another Scottish silversmith represented in the collection is Michael Lloyd who was commissioned to make a pair of flower bowls and fruit stands, both showpieces of the chasing technique for which he is renowned. Chased with roses and thistles in light relief they are wholly practical and present the decoration in the simplest fashion but to great effect, reflecting Michael’s love of nature and the countryside surrounding his remote house on the Kirkcubrightshire coast.

Two very handsome commissions from the workshops of the Edinburgh Silversmiths and Jewellers Hamilton & Inches also grace the table. The pieces were designed by Nicola Williams and made in the company’s workshop by their craftsmen under the guidance of Jon Hunt. The first of these, two covered quaiches were set with amethyst, the cutwork lids decorated with the floral emblems of the United Kingdom and for the chased border, the Saltire.

The second, a fine four branch candelabra was commissioned to stand in front of the pier glasses in the state dining room and were inlaid with amethyst, their simplicity elegantly emphasising the skill of Jon Hunt.

These notable examples of the skill of Scottish silversmiths enhance a superb collection. They have been seen and used by many of the world’s leading statesmen and leaders and with the great diversity of visitors to Downing

Street, No 10 has proved to be a remarkable showcase for these silversmiths who are among the best in the world. The collection is also a lasting tribute to Mary Henderson and the founding Trustees and those she gathered round to create this unique organisation.

Christopher English OBE is secretary to the Trustees of the Silver Trust.

The Silver Trust holds exhibitions during the summer Parliamentary recess, alternating the yearly exhibition between the United Kingdom and a venue abroad.

This has ensured that work of The Silver Trust has become better known and many of the silversmiths represented in the collection have received commissions as a result of these annual exhibitions. The exhibitions also allow the Trust to show new pieces that have been commissioned into The Silver Trust National Collection.

For further information on the silversmiths and The Silver Trust exhibition programme visit www.silvertrust.co.uk.

Malcolm Appleby and Michael Lloyd regularly exhibit with The Scottish

Obituary

John Houston Guy Peploe I have always known John Houston. He was a colleague of my father Denis Peploe at Edinburgh College of Art and he and his wife Elizabeth lived in Queen’s Crescent, across the park from our home in McLaren Road. I remember a benign, sprightly person, rotund but athletically light on his feet and recall hearing his cackling laugh at grown-ups parties. It was only when I came to The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, almost exactly 25 years ago that I began to know him better. He treated me with great kindness as I tried to rebuild bridges with many of Scotland’s senior painters after some difficult years at the gallery. His support and advice served me well and helped me develop an affection and regard for John which has only grown since.

He had his first one-man show with us in 1960 as a late sub for Gillies and his first Festival show in 1962 when he sold over 100 paintings, a feat I am happy to say we matched in his triumphant Festival show of 2003. In all he had 12 shows with us and was of considerable importance to the commercial success of the gallery. But it was as much the constancy of his support and good counsel which made the relationship so important. The next show would be arranged over a meal in ‘The Kweilin’, John a familiar figure there and prawns in light batter his invariable order. A note was put in the calendar: no contracts required.

He was not very good at small talk but his reticence and occasional awkwardness concealed an intense interest in others, particularly when they shared his passions: art, food and golf. He had strong views on many things and not always from the most orthodox point of view.

The life he shared with Elizabeth was happy and deeply fulfilled, almost monastic in its regularity but in no way ascetic. They kept a very good table and John had a great knowledge and love of the good things in life. Among friends he was never far from laughter.

John had a superb mind and his recollection of many things important in the last 50 years of the art world in Scotland was unparalleled: a living oracle who could be consulted regularly and relied on wholly.

Visits to the studio were met with a forest of

easels, a painter’s table piled with paint scrapings, stretched canvasses, some roughed out with the beginnings of a seascape, others worked on over years into a thick impasto. The bay window of his studio overlooks their garden which yielded so much wonderful still life subject matter for both of them; ‘I was painting poppies long before Robin Philipson’ he once reminded me. These visits and our conversations I shall never forget: his recollection of racing the trams up Dundas Street on his way to college, mindful of his fitness for the Saturday football match; John leading a deputation of younger artists to see Gillies to try and persuade him to put his prices up; he and Elizabeth lost somewhere in Kyoto trying to find handmade Japanese paper and eventually being conducted, as honoured guests, interminably, around a paper mill! I recall showing him a wonderful self-portrait by Elizabeth from the early seventies and him admiring the beautiful Jaeger woven jacket she was wearing that he had bought for her, and in a momentary lapse of gallantry, saying that she might have difficulty getting into it now, and how his lifelong loathing of pasta had its origins in his first meal in Italy, on his travelling scholarship with David Michie in 1954.

And his work. I wrote in the forward to his last exhibition in 2007:

‘Houston’s paintings have as many moods as landscape under an ever-changing sky; from the ecstatic to the sombre, from the vivid sunset to the gloom of the night sky over the sea. His emotional response to his subject is tempered by his painter’s experience; sometimes a thin watercolour wash enlivened with flecks of pastel will be perfectly sufficient to capture soft summer light over still water, in the best Oriental tradition. At other times he deploys an impasto as thick as Frank Auerbach to represent the weight of a cornfield after heavy rain. All responses are true to his experience, to the place and the day, made permanent in oil, watercolour and pastel. This is his legacy to us all.’

We will never forget one of Scotland’s finest sons: great artist, sportsman, and for me, friend.

John Houston, artist and educator: born Buckhaven, Fife 1 April 1930; staff, Edinburgh College of Art 1955-89, deputy head, School of Drawing and Painting 1983-89; OBE 1990; married 1956 Elizabeth Blackadder; died Edinburgh 27 September 2008.

Guy Peploe is Managing Director of The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Scottish Art News 51

Review 2008

to continue until his death and as such provided a suitably gothic

love of opposites and dark preoccupations with good and evil,

beginning.

innocence and guilt, his obsession with the instability of personality

and the terror of possession has more resonance in relation to the

These days the donning of a blonde wig as Kurt/Andy/

Cathy Wilkes: The Turner Prize 2008 Exhibition

Myra/Marilyn takes on a different tone now that Gordon has a

way he works than to content and theme. Recent work Blind Stars

Until 18 January 2009 Tate Britain, London

celebrity of his own as an international art star. It is hard to deflect

(2002-08), a series of photographs of French film stars with their

the idea of a fixed persona when a retrospective has sought to

eyes gouged out seems a hackneyed way of exploring the mask of

2008 saw Glasgow based artist Cathy Wilkes nominated for

establish the trajectory of your artistic identity. For an artist that has

celebrity, yet there is a mask of celebrity of sorts that is now a part of

the prestigious Turner prize, set up in 1984 to celebrate new

so successfully used other people’s work, Gordon himself has always

the slick production of a Douglas Gordon show. What happens when

developments in contemporary art. In November 2008, London based

featured quite heavily in his art, albeit enigmatically. A shell-shocked

an artist that has built a career on testing and pushing the boundaries

artist Mark Leckey was announced the winner, but with the Turner

man trying to stand up, De Niro’s Travis Bickle talking to De Niro’s

of authorship, in other words, consuming other people’s work, reaches

prize presentations on show from September 2008 until January

Travis Bickle...and then there’s Gordon’s foot standing on his own

the level of renown that Gordon has? The manipulation of the familiar

2009, Peter Simpson takes a look at Wilkes’ practice and Turner prize

hand. Now you see him, now you don’t. Of course he was always

in a Douglas Gordon show now extends as much to our experience of

presentation.

there offstage, quite literally in the video work Play Dead; Real Time

it and him as it does to other cultural references in his work. Repetition

(2003). Shown here on two large screens that share the gallery space

and recognition are features we’ve come to expect of his art but a visit

For her Turner prize show, Wilkes has presented a vast arrangement

with archived footage of hysterical patients, an elephant silently

to a Douglas Gordon show now involves a looping of Douglas Gordon

moves around an empty white gallery, lying down, getting up, lying

the Artist.

of what appear to be found objects (though not without tampering), which constitute one ‘installation’. Anchoring the show are two

Cathy Wilkes, I Give You All My Money, 2008, Mixed media installation, Dimensions variable, Exhibition: Turner Prize 2008, Tate Britain, London, 2008, Image Courtesy of the artist and The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd.

down again. Both moving and absurd, this piece manages to be strangely affecting in a way that skulls punched with a cookie cutter

supermarket tills placed horizontally across the length of the room

Katie Baker is an artist and writer based in London.

surrounded by numerous other objects: a ladder at the back, two

combinations are also paradoxically vague, as though promising a

just aren’t. It also goes some way to mitigating any suspicion that he

female mannequins – one with horseshoes dangling from her head,

quick passage to a meaningful experience, but delivering one so

is only as good as the material he borrows from (which forms the bulk

the other leaning on a till – plenty of piles of what appear to be bricks,

universally applicable, it beings to cloud its own authority.

of his more famous works). There was plenty of those here too, with

Craigie Aitchison: New and Recent Work

as well as jars of food (with remnants and sometimes batteries). This is

Dr. Jekyll slowly turning into Mr Hyde and 24 Hour Psycho (1993),

October – November 2008

of course, only half the list.

artists Mark Leckey and Goshka Macuga, both of whom work with

still torturously stretching out every frame, holding out the promise

Cyril Gerber and Compass Galleries in association with

warm and inventive strategies of institutional critique. While hardly

of one day catching it at one of the good bits. Almost impossible to

Waddington and Timothy Taylor Galleries, Glasgow

to do her master’s at the University of Ulster but eventually settled

emergent, the inclusive manner in which they work has seemed to

watch fully, this piece has always worked better at the level of an idea

in Glasgow, the city of her undergraduate studies, where she has

antiquate the inward looking auto-biographical brashness of the 90’s

than an experience. Meanwhile, the Devil and the Virgin Mary were

remained since. In 1989 she was one of the founding members of

Britart generation. If there is still currency to be mined in this manner

battling it out in Between Darkness and Light (after William Blake)

the Glasgow Women’s Library. Eight years ago Wilkes was included

from the self and subjective experience, it will have to not only hold its

(1997), Gordon’s simultaneous projection of The Song of Bernadette

in the first ever Becks futures competition at the ICA gallery. The

own in a show like the Turner prize, but like Wilkes’ work, continue to

and The Exorcist on to either side of a translucent screen. The effect

modesty and abject character of the components in her Turner prize

find new articulations to avoid being left behind.

is one of both films slipping in and out of each other in an uncanny

Wilkes was born in Belfast in 1966. She returned to Ireland

The Turner prize show posits Wilkes concerns alongside

and haunting synthesis. Over in the Palais des Papes there were more

presentation is present in earlier work, but despite being installations (as opposed to sculptures) there was an element of self-containment

Peter Simpson is an artist and writer based in London.

animals. Projected on to six large video screens in the Grand Chapel

about the parts in a show such as Our Misfortune, Transmission

were images of donkeys, scorpions and snake charmers, filmed in

Gallery (Glasgow, 2001) – the modernist sculptures of Caro are even

the same space – all very Old Testament with their heavy Christian

evoked in works from this period. Her work quite identifiably unfolds from this more self-contained concern with ‘objects’ and finds a

Selected by Bill Hare

Scottish Art Highlights of 2008 selected by arts writers and curators

iconography.

While the works as always reflect Gordon’s long standing

logical conclusion in the tableaux-like displays that have appeared in the TATE and Milton Keynes Gallery.

Douglas Gordon: Ou Se Trouvent Les Clefs?

Collection Lambert en Avignon, Musée d’Art Contemporain,

The ‘personal vocabulary’ apparent in more recent work

would appear to have emerged relatively recently, with a shedding

Avignon, July – November 2008

of self-consciousness regarding the treatment of found objects. She’s Pregnant Again, Non-Verbal and Most Women Never Experience

Selected by Katie Baker

(all 2005), unapologetically incorporate a disparate array of objects and ephemera from sources of consumerism alongside personal

The skulls weren’t diamond studded but there were plenty of them

collections. Although reliant on an apparent autobiographical impulse

at Ou Se Trouvent Les Clefs?, Douglas Gordon’s recent show at

(if ones believes the associated literatures of the TATE show and the

the Collection Lambert in Avignon. The museum transformed itself

Milton Keynes Gallery which got her the Turner prize nomination), it

with feebly filtered light, dark spaces and mirrors to exhibit many

is still an art concerned with attempts to communicate universal and

of Gordon’s past works, while a new installation was created for

shared experiences among human beings.

the Grand Chapel of the Palais des Papes. The skulls, pierced with

star shaped holes began the show. One skull created for each year

Douglas Gordon, Unnaturalhistorie, 2008, Installation view, Grande Chapelle

Craigie Aitchison, Sheep in Landscape, 2008,

of his life, they are intended to be read as an evolving self-portrait

du Palais des Papes, courtesy Yvon Lambert, Paris

Oil on canvas 12 x 10 inches

The manner in which Wilkes configures the various elements

of her work feels carefully considered and specific. However, these 52

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Scottish Art News 53

Even though the biographical approach to critical debate is hardly

Despite the fact that, for over a decade, Scottish Contemporary Art

as well as two essays was published by Deveron Arts in 2008.

approved by contemporary art theorists who advocate the ‘death of

(and artists) have been positioned among the very best internationally,

www.deveron-arts.com

the author’, I still hold with Freud and Wordsworth that ‘the child is the

there is still no established critical context for socially engaged

father of the man.’ For instance, like many successful Scottish artists,

practices in Scotland.

Nuno Sacramento has been the Shadow Curator of Claudia Zeiske at

Craigie Aitchison has worked most of his career outside the land of his

Deveron Arts since September 2006.

birth. Yet he still holds on to his important personal links with Scotland

at Deveron Arts in Huntly, after several failed attempts elsewhere to

going back to his childhood; and these, like his memories of early

organise a workshop on social practices.

Reproduced with permission of the publisher, first published in a-n in

family holidays on the beautiful Isle of Arran, remain a constant source

May 2008, www.a-n.co.uk

of inspiration for his painting. Furthermore, within his highly individual

primarily with socially engaged artists under the motto, ‘The Town is

art there is much else that could be traced to his Scottish upbringing.

the Venue’. Deveron Arts saw ‘Praktika’ as a great opportunity to be

His work for example, is frequently characterised as possessing serene

self-critical about its strategies, as well as to be involved in the genesis

simplicity and profound purity in design and decoration. The first of

of this critical discourse in Scotland. Its rural setting in the rolling hills

these qualities indicates an exceptional clarity of vision and the latter

of Aberdeenshire was the perfect backdrop for the activity of critical

Over a year ago, David Harding approached Claudia Zeiske

Deveron Arts runs international residencies and projects

a profound sense of the spiritual, which for many people, touches

backwards. On the other side of the room stands a glass-fronted box

retreat. Also the fact it is a town by now very used to the presence

on the mystical. That prevailing desire and quest on behalf of the

in which lie certain objects belonging to the artist.

of contemporary artists, made it the perfect place for ‘Praktika’ to

artist for clear order and balance in pictorial composition is also to

happen. In the words of one of the resident artists, the engagement

be found at the heart of the legal system which his father practised

drawn and framed, accumulated to form the artist’s statement: the

with the community of Huntly is clear: ‘There is the Butcher, and

as Lord Advocate of Scotland, and which he himself also studied

prior ‘I want’ and now ‘everything I make’, ‘to reflect my’, ‘whole

the Baker and the Artist, and every one has a clear role.’ This rather

before turning to painting after the war. The religious dimensions to

life’. In these reversed statements of drawing-text-drawing Davis

romantic notion has been truly assimilated by the community as

Jacques Coetzer, Room to Roam. His Room to Roam project took place between April

his art may also be traced back to his family ecumenical upbringing,

succinctly encapsulates the latent narcissism of the artistic endeavour,

most people realise that the artists are here to open new channels of

and July 2008, and involved developing a new brand for Huntly in collaboration with the

including, not only the example of his Revd grandfather who was a

and throws open a dialogue on the inclusion and reflection of self

discussion around relevant topics (windfarms, closing of traditional

community of the town.

towering presence in United Free Church, but also Craigie’s early

(intellectual and corporeal) in her own work, and, by extension,

commerce, car cruising, celebration of local writer etc). This presence

attraction to the visual dimensions of Catholic worship.

in that of all artists. It is teasing to come upon this statement of

often results in the establishment of forums of dialogue where even

intent latterly, after an inspection of the first vitrine has caused the

the police and the court’s remits falls short, as noted by one of the

Alex Hamilton: The Glenfinlas Cyanotypes

it was through Cyril Gerber that Craigie had his first show in Scotland

unconscious mental analysis of her belongings – clothes, utensils,

local councillors.

Edinburgh Festival 2008, touring 2009

in 1970. Following this exhibition which presented a rich array of work

books, CDs – all acting as signifiers to be automatically assessed and

with around 20 recent and new paintings and a selection of prints

judged to deduce personality, character and, essentially, ultimately,

Huntly is the fact that it was totally embedded in the local community.

was another major Print Exhibition at Abbott Hall, Kendal. Thankfully,

compatibility with the observer. A life in this consumer age becomes

Instead of staying in hotels, artists stayed with a range of local people:

despite recent poor health, there seems no decline in the creative

the accumulation of stuff, the assumed intellectual choices behind the

teachers, doctors, musicians, mums and dads. The event started with

Scottish artist Alex Hamilton’s 2008 Edinburgh Festival exhibition,

energy of one of Britain’s best loved and respected artists.

selection of possessions now standing for as much as did previously

a walk up the Clashmach Hill and ended with a ceilidh in the golf club.

The Glenfinlas Cyanotypes was a meeting point for many journeys

a personal philosophy, moral code or indeed faith. We see a hand

that he has taken both professionally and personally over the last

First published in the October 08 edition of GALLERIES

blender – she makes her own soup? Second hand books – she values

extraordinary. Two days non-stop talking about art and engagement,

40 years. Spread across two venues (the artist’s Edinburgh studio

www.galleries.co.uk

the content over the caché? Multivitamins, but not a known brand –

it was both formal and relaxed. The discussion group comprised 12

and Lawrie Thomson), the exhibition comprised a group of flora and

she buys into the legend of healthy living, yet is unswayed by brand

artists, three organisers, one writer and one assistant, which allowed

fauna cyanotypes taken from the banks of Glenfinlas Burn in the

Bill Hare is an art historian and Honorary Fellow of the History of

advertising? I see her, I see her now...

the discussion to remain focused on the strategies, methods and aims

Trossachs. The cyanotype, one of the oldest camera-less photographic

Art: School of Arts, Culture and Environment (ACE) Department at

of artists working with socially engaged practices. The selection of the

processes, uses light and oxidisation to create a deep blue (‘cyan’)

The University of Edinburgh and Lecturer at the Centre of Visual and

complemented by the Gi-commissioned publication of a dialogue

artists for ‘Praktika’ was made through an open call for submissions

Cultural Studies at Edinburgh College of Art. He is curator of The

between the artist and the grande dame of feminist art, Faith Wilding.

nationwide. The large majority of the artists came up from Glasgow

University of Edinburgh’s fine art collection and also works freelance

She aims to ask more questions than she answers, and this she does in

(8/9 out of 12) which prompts us to think in terms of demography in

as a curator and writer.

ways which continue to challenge long after you’ve exited the gallery

the critical context of socially engaged practices. Among the topics

doors.

addressed in the Huntly workshop were ‘public and context’ and the

The exhibition brought in another Scottish connection, for

In the other room, three more drawings, similarly pencil

In all, Davis creates an intriguing, meditative show,

One of the main reasons for ‘Praktika’ to take place in

‘Praktika’s’ group critique format was both simple and

Selected by Rebecca Bell

commissioning of socially engaged practices.

Kate Davis: Outsider

Rosamund West is Art Editor of ‘The Skinny’ magazine.

The critical context for the socially engaged practices

August – September 2008

in Scotland will not emerge overnight, or be the result of a single

Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow

workshop. Nevertheless we are aware of the positive contribution

Selected by Rosamund West

Praktika: Creating a Critical Context for Socially Engaged Practices

of ‘Praktika’ in this direction and hope this was but the first one in a

Workshop, Deveron Arts, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, 2007/08

number of systematically organised workshops on socially engaged practices to take place in Scotland.

A series of framed drawings runs across the two rooms of Sorcha

Selected by Nuno Sacramento

Dallas gallery. In the first, a drawing of a magazine page ground into gravel by a car tyre, the words ‘I want’ outlined upon the top, 54

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It will take some time until the title of this text becomes reality.

The workshop ‘Praktika’ was conceived by David Harding

and Rosie Gibson. A book with the proceedings of the workshop

Alexander Hamilton, Fine Weather July 28 1853: Plant – Wild Strawberry Glenfinlas,

including descriptions of the artists’ projects and subsequent critique,

Photogram/cyanotype – unique image, 50cm x 65 cm © Alexander Hamilton

Scottish Art News 55

coloured print. ‘Each image is unique’, says Hamilton, ‘you only get

combined with flat perspectives have about them an essence of

one chance.’

Craigie Aitchison although his compositions and subject matter are

more humourous.

Hamilton’s practice centres on viewing sites through the

evolving meaning of art historical association. Situated in a gorge

Preview 2009

Convener Richard McCready comments ‘Gillian and Mark are to be congratulated on their detailed research and the dedication with which they have approached this project.’

The Orchar Collection at Broughty Castle

Broughty Castle is owned by Historic Scotland and run

beneath Glenfinlas dam, the site, from which the plants were sourced,

Polly Bielecka is Gallery Director at Pangolin London and was editor of

Until November 2010

as a museum by Dundee City Council, Leisure and Communities

was chosen by Hamilton as it is here that critic John Ruskin and Pre-

Scottish Art News from 2003-07.

Castle Approach, Broughty Ferry, Dundee

Department. Please note that as a fortified and listed building,

Free admission

Broughty Castle has restricted access for people whose mobility is

Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais spent several months in 1853.

Ruskin sketched and prepared for the influential Edinburgh lectures he

limited.

would deliver in November, Millais working on his well-known portrait

Selected works from one of the most important collections of Scottish

of Ruskin, standing astride a rock by the water. The latter painting,

Victorian art in the country is now on display at Broughty Castle

which Hamilton labels a ‘conceptual landscape of Ruskin’s doctrine

Museum in Broughty Ferry, Dundee. The Orchar collection was built

of nature’ displays the empirical site-specific depiction promoted by

up by James Guthrie Orchar (1825-1898), a prominent businessman,

Ruskin.

great patron of the arts and a former Provost of Broughty Ferry.

Jewel-like in their intensity, The Glenfinlas Cyanotypes

www.dundeecity.gov.uk

An inventor, engineer and entrepreneur, James Guthrie

contain imprints of flora and fauna that fade in and out of the paper’s

Orchar was a highly successful businessman exporting locally

surface. The result is one of decay, Victoriana, and a sense of process

designed and manufactured textile machinery throughout the world.

and passing time. In 2009 Hamilton will undertaking an artsit’s

He was a great benefactor to the City of Dundee and to the burgh

residency at Ruskin’s former home, Brantwood.

of Broughty Ferry, but it is as a patron of the arts that he is best remembered today.

Rebecca Bell is a freelance writer based in London.

Orchar was one of a powerful art lobby whose legacy was

the establishment of the Albert Institute and Victoria Galleries in Dundee – now The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum Kenny Hunter: A Shout in the Street

Kenny Hunter, Tomb of the Unknown, 108 x 107 x 61cm, Resin, table

– constructed entirely as a result of private fundraising. He was

Tramway, Glasgow

Photo: Alan Dimmick

a pioneer in promoting contemporary Scottish art through his

July – August 2008

chairmanship of Dundee’s important Fine Art Exhibition Committee which organised highly successful selling exhibitions. Privately, he

Joseph Crawhall: The Masterpieces

Alasdair Wallace: Soluble City

amassed a considerable collection of oil paintings, watercolours

Until 8 February 2009

Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London

and prints. His obituarist stated that it ‘contained the best works

Pollok Country Park, 2060 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow

November 2008

of the best men’ and today is regarded as one of the finest private

Free admission

collections of Scottish Victorian art in the country.

Selected by Polly Bielecka

The Orchar Collection was displayed in the Orchar Gallery,

A treat for the Burrell Collection’s 25th birthday, this special display

Broughty Ferry from 1923-1979. The entire Orchar collection was

showcases Joseph Crawhall’s (1861-1913) greatest works. Crawhall

Two stand out exhibitions of 2008 – Kenny Hunter’s A Shout in

gifted to the City of Dundee in 1987, and in 1989 much of it was put

was born in Morpeth near Newcastle in 1861. He worked throughout

the Street and Alasdair Wallace’s show Soluble City – were, by

on permanent display within the refurbished Victoria Gallery within

Scotland until 1884 when he spent almost 10 years travelling

coincidence, from artists who happen to be Glasgow based and

The McManus.

frequently to Tangier in Morocco, and to Spain. The last years of

trained at Glasgow School of Art. Furthermore, both artists looked at

his life were spent in Yorkshire. He is traditionally grouped with

the relationship between animals and human city dwellers albeit with

permanently display in a newly refurbished gallery within Broughty

the artists known as the Glasgow Boys, who worked in and around

completely different approaches to subject matter.

Castle. It features work from Orchar’s original collection by artists of

Glasgow during the period 1880 to 1900. The Glasgow Boys reacted

the Scott Lauder Group, famed for their gestural brushwork and love

against the, then fashionable, highly detailed and minutely finished

resin surfaces integrated with everyday objects seemed to comment

of colour, alongside 20th-century paintings by Philip de Laszlo and

anecdotal pictures. For them, art was about light, colour, design and

on our loss of contact with city wildlife. However by placing them in

James McIntosh Patrick purchased by Orchar’s trustees.

composition, qualities which are the essence of Crawhall’s work.

a gallery context and depicting them in monumental sculptural form,

Hunter elevates these perceived vermin and highlights their ability to

staff fully occupied and in a new departure, this display was curated

specialised in painting animals and birds. Through patient observation

survive, adapt and challenge natural selection offering them a chance

by two of the department’s front-of-house team. Gillian Bennett and

and humour he was able to express both appearance and character.

to be noticed.

Mark Wade worked on the display as part of their Scottish Vocational

He also had the ability to capture an everyday scene with great

Hunter’s bold sculptures with their smooth jesmonite or

This exhibition returns some 30 of Orchar’s paintings to

The McManus redevelopment continues to keep curatorial

He was a brilliant and inventive water-colourist and

Wallace’s paintings on the other hand marvel at various

Qualification in Curatorial Operations. Both chose to concentrate

economy of line, so much so that Sir John Lavery once said of him,

creature’s interventions in a more fantastical way, often capturing

on works that have been little seen in recent years, but that reveal

‘No artist I have known could say more with fewer brush strokes.’

them mid-moment. His paintings are filled with flocks of myriad birds

something of their collector’s personality. Their studies highlighted

and wiry dogs timidly exploring ominously empty city streets while

two works that had been misattributed to Orchar’s son, James Steel

each other to purchase his works. Sir William Burrell (1861-1958), the

During Crawhall’s lifetime, private collectors vied with

verdant parkland is encroached upon by sprawling cities and random

Kenny Hunter, The Wasteland, 88 x 63 x 63 cm, Resin, oil can, jesmonite, paint

Orchar, for over 80 years, identifing the true artist of the Harbour of

Glasgow ship owner, was prepared to pay as much as £750 in 1928

human objects. His intimate brushstrokes and wide use of bold colour

Photo: Alan Dimmick

Dort and At Muthill as Orchar himself. Leisure, Arts and Communities

to secure a Crawhall gouache. This was at a time when he could

56

11

Scottish Art News 57

purchase a Degas pastel for a mere £400.

study.

New visitors will discover how gifted an artist Crawhall was,

The portrait miniature was the most intimate form of

while existing fans will have a chance to see such favourites as Girl on

portraiture. Before the invention of photography, they were popular

a Bicycle and The Aviary.

with the mercantile classes in the 18th century and were often

www.glasgowmuseums.com

My Heart’s in the Highland’s Until 14 Feb

worn against the body as jewellery, as a keepsake, indicating the

A display of 19th-century watercolour paintings by Scottish, English

importance placed upon such images of our loved ones. Painted on

and foreign artists who, through their understanding of romantic art

ivory and executed with the most delicate of brushwork, miniatures

and literature, especially Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott, developed

are a good example of the high quality of art being produced at this

an appreciation for the rugged and dramatic scenery of the Highlands.

The Intimate Portrait: Drawings, Miniatures and Pastels from

time. Portrait drawings, pastels and miniatures also had a role in the

Ramsay to Lawrence

public sphere. When exhibited at The Royal Academy, they were

John Bellany – Prints and Watercolours

Until 1 February 2009

shown, often contentiously, in the same room as oil paintings.

18 February 2009 – 23 May 2009

Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh

5 March – 31 May 2009

Art will address issues arising from this exhibition. The conference will

Prints and watercolours by the renowned Scottish artist John Bellany

British Museum, Prints and Drawings Gallery, London

begin with an evening walk through the exhibition with Kim Sloan,

range from his famous hospital scenes of the 1980s to examples from

Free admission

Curator of British Drawings and Watercolours before 1880 at the

suites of prints made at Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen.

A conference at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British

British Museum and Stephen Lloyd, Senior Curator at the Scottish

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1892)

Organised jointly by The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

National Portrait Gallery, followed by a reception at the Paul Mellon

www.homecomingscotland2009.com

and The British Museum, London, this is the first major exhibition in

Centre. The following day, speakers will address key questions relating

www.aagm.co.uk

Britain to focus on the little-studied genre of portraits. and includes

to the exhibition, such as the nature of intimate vision, the intimate

Homecoming 2009: A year long celebration of a unique

nearly 200 examples from both institutions’ collections. These

portrait and the erotic.

modern nation...

beautiful but seldom seen examples include works by Allan Ramsay,

A display of five works from the Portrait Gallery collection

Archibald Skirving, Sir David Wilkie and Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Ramsay to Lawrence – Private Viewing and Public Display

January – November

A Conference at the Paul Mellon Centre, 16 Bedford Square

Across Scotland

Georgian and Regency Britain. Such images were often displayed

London WC1B 3JA, 26 – 27 March 2009

www.homecomingscotland.com for further information

behind the scenes in the family home, in the sitting room, bedroom or

To register for the conference Tel: 020 7580 0311

Small, private portraits played an important role in everyday

The Intimate Portrait: Drawings, Miniatures and Pastels from

National Gallery of Scotland

2009 is the year of Homecoming Scotland 2009, a Scottish Government

or email: events@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk

initiative inspired by the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns’ birth, which www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk

will be celebrated with a year-long programme of themed exhibitions

www.nationalgalleries.org

and events to highlight Scotland’s great contributions to the world.

While the Scottish National Portrait Gallery building is

closed for renovation (April 2009 to October 2011) five paintings, Zig Zag: The Path of Robert Burns

chosen from the national collection to represent the five themes of

14 Feb – 11 April

Homecoming Scotland (Ancestry, The Enlightenment, Whisky, Golf

Aberdeen Art Gallery

and, of course, Robert Burns) will be exhibited at various venues

Schoolhill, Aberdeen

around Scotland, including Inverness, Banff, Kilmarnock and Perth.

Free admission

From January 2009 Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1892) by

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) on loan from the National Gallery of A series of exhibitions focusing on Scottish art and literature begin

Scotland, will be shown in The Great Drawing Room in Duff House,

Aberdeen Art Gallery’s 2009 exhibition programme.

Banff.

Andrew Noel Agnew, a barrister who had inherited the

This major touring exhibition celebrates the 250th anniversary of

baronetcy and estates of Lochnaw in Galloway commissioned this

the birth of our national bard. It brings together some of the 36,000

painting of his young wife, Gertrude Vernon in 1892 shortly after their

objects from Scotland’s national collections about Robert Burns, many

marriage. Lady Agnew’s direct gaze and informal pose, emphasised

of them on public show for the first time. Pictures, sound and the

by the flowing fabric and lilac sash of her dress ensure the portrait’s

poet’s own words combine to show how Burns consciously created his

striking impact. When exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1898 the painting made the American artist’s name and launched Lady

own myth, in particular through the famous autobiographical letter of 1787. In it Burns explored the course of his life until that time – its

Alexander Nasmyth, Robert Burns, 1787, Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Agnew as a society beauty. The sculptor, Rodin, described the artist as

influences, joys and changes of fortune which led him to state that:

‘the Van Dyck of our times’ and portrait commissions poured in, giving

‘… keen Sensibility and riotous Passions may still make him zig-zag

Sargent something of a cult following in Edwardian society.

in his future path of life.’ This exhibition is organised by the National Sir Thomas Lawrence, Mary Hamilton (detail), 1789, © The British Museum

58

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Burns Collection as part of Homecoming Scotland 2009.

www.nationalgalleries.org Scottish Art News 59

2008 Art Market Round-up

Unless estimates are realistic then the market will struggle to absorb such numbers with buyers cherry picking the best works and turning their noses up at others.

by Will Bennett

Such realism could be seen at Bonhams’ sale of Scottish

pictures in Edinburgh, which took place three days after Sotheby’s auction. Despite having few major pictures, more than three-quarters of the 150 lots sold for a total of £868,728. The highest price was £151,725 paid for Alexander Carse’s The Penny Wedding by the

Unfortunately for Christie’s its sale of Scottish pictures in Edinburgh

leading Edinburgh gallery Bourne Fine Art on behalf of the National

was held just as the world’s financial system was destabilised by the

Gallery of Scotland. This ensured the picture’s return to the National

biggest crisis since the Wall Street crash of 1929. Only just over half

Gallery where it had been on loan since 1972. But estimates at

the 174 lots found buyers and the auction total of almost £2.4 million

Bonhams were reasonable and paintings which might not have

was £400,000 short of Christie’s lower pre-sale estimate. But was this

otherwise sold found new homes. The economic backdrop was

purely the result of the international economic climate or were there

difficult for all these sales and for Christie’s, undoubtedly a factor. The

other factors involved?

selective, specialised market for Scottish art means that sales need to

be carefully edited and estimates trimmed.

The Christie’s sale at The Assembly Rooms on 23 October

was not all doom and gloom. The continuing appeal of the Scottish Colourists was demonstrated by the fact that three of the four highest

Will Bennett is the former Art Sales Correspondent of the

prices in the sale were paid for works by Samuel John Peploe and

Daily Telegraph who now works for the marketing and public relations

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell. All went to British private collectors,

consultants Cawdell Douglas.

Joan Eardley, Beggars in Venice, £200,000-300,000, Sold for £169,250

one of whom paid £529,250 for Peploe’s still life Roses. The picture had plenty going for it – skilled composition, bright colours and a good provenance having once been in the collection of J.W. Blyth, one of the Colourists’ most important patrons. All this helped it to a

price which was not only a world auction record for Peploe but also

for the Colourists as a whole.

PORTLAND GALLERY

The auction house must also have been pleased with the

£289,250 paid by a private buyer for Allan Ramsay’s 1749 Selfportrait, bust length in a red mantle, in a feigned oval. 18th-century portraits are not among the most fashionable sectors of today’s art market, but Ramsay’s stature as one of the most talented artists of his day and the painting’s rarity as one of only four known self-portraits,

Allan Ramsay (1713-1784), Portrait of the Artist, Sold for £289, 250

brought a good price within the £200,000 to £300,000 estimate.

The many casualties of the sale included not just low value

landscapes, still lifes and genre paintings that have been out of favour with the market for a while, but also works by some major names.

the sale had results to be pleased about with Sir John Lavery’s

Another far less subtle still life by Peploe failed to sell, as did two

My Studio Door, Tangier fetching £481,250 and it was particularly

indifferent works by Sir John Lavery and three out of six successive

heartening to see Joan Eardley, subject of a major exhibition at The

lots by Edward Atkinson Hornel, one of the Glasgow Boys. The latter

Fleming Collection in 2008, receive more well-deserved recognition.

proved to be rather too much sentimentality for the market to swallow

Beggars in Venice, inspired by Eardley’s trip to Italy on a travelling

in one gulp.

scholarship, sold for £169,250, more than doubling the previous

record for her work.

However Sotheby’s sale at Gleneagles two months earlier,

held long after the credit crunch had begun to bite but before the

financial gales turned into a hurricane, produced a very similar result.

£300,000 which was optimistic given that none of her works had got

Only 54.4 per cent of the lots were sold, a virtually identical figure to

near six figures at auction previously. Clearly Sotheby’s had made the

Christie’s. Although the sale total was almost £4.9 million, this was

sensible decision to drop the reserve before the sale and therein lies

achieved by putting more pictures on the block and was below the

a lesson amid today’s less than ideal market conditions. Like a number

estimate and more than 10% down on the figure at the same auction

of sectors of the international art market, that for Scottish pictures is

in 2007. Even the Scottish Colourists had mixed fortunes although

highly selective yet auctions often contain a number of pictures by

a new record for Cadell was set when his still life Carnations with

the same artist. The Sotheby’s auction had seven Cadells, 16 Russell

Wooded Landscape on the verso fetched £301,250. As at Christie’s,

Flints, 12 Archibald Thorburns, nine Eardleys and 15 Peter Howsons.

60

11

Yet the Eardley carried a pre-sale estimate of £200,000 to

Wish to trace paintings by

John Maclauchlan Milne Please contact us if you have works which you might be willing to sell or lend to a retrospective exhibition.

PORTLAND GALLERY

8 Bennet St, London, SW1A 1RP emily@portlandgallery.com 020 7493 1888 Scottish Art News 61

News from the Rooms Bonhams Scotland

Christie’s

Lyon & Turnbull

Sotheby’s

by Chris Brickley, Head

by Laura Lindsay,

by Elena

by André Zlattinger,

of Picture Department,

Director,

Ratcheva,

Head of Scottish Pictures

Bonhams, Scotland

British & Irish Art

Paintings and Prints Specialist

This year saw a number of rare and important paintings

This has been a momentous

Christie’s returned to

year for Bonhams in

the Assembly Rooms in

Lyon and

of historical Scottish subjects

Scotland. In August

Edinburgh with a sale

Turnbull’s

offered for sale with outstanding

we launched our new

dedicated to Scottish Art on

Fine Paintings

premises at 22 Queen St

23 October 2008. In spite

sale in May

with another successful

of the unsettled economic

provided many

Scottish Sale, achieving a

climate, the sale totalled

Samuel John Peploe, R.S.A. (1871-1935) Roses, Sold for £5529,250

satisfying selling rate of 75

Joan Eardley (1921-1963) Two Girls,

over £2 million with high

per cent. Top price on the

Estimate: £25,000-35,000.

success. Mary Queen of Scots Adam Frans Van Meulen (Dutch 1632-1690), Louis XIV at the

by the symbolist artist John

Sir John Lavery, My Studio Door,

Seige of Valenciennes, oil on canvas, 105 x 146 cm, £23,000

Duncan received a great deal of

Tangier, £400,000-600,000,

highlights, from

attention and performed well,

Sold for £481,250

an impressive 17th-century Dutch battle scene by Adam Frans van

achieving £120,500. Similarly,

prices for good quality

der Meulen which made £23,000, to a rare oil by Canadian artist

The Abdication of Mary Queen of Scots by Joseph Severn realised

day was Alexander Carse’s

material including a world auction record for a Scottish Colourist.

Cornelius Krieghoff, sourced in the Barras market in Glasgow 30

£115,250. The spectacular renewal of interest in the Glasgow Boys,

magnificent Penny Wedding, which sold for a mid-estimate £120,000.

years ago and sold with Lyon and Turnbull for £35,800. Also creating

perhaps generated by the upcoming 2010 Glasgow Boys exhibition

Other notable results were achieved for an early Sam Bough of

most important Scottish portraits to come up on the market was

a stir was the striking group portrait of the Queen Mother and her

at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, was reinforced in

Inchcolm, which reached £31,000, a Waller Paton of Arran at £24,000

competitively sought-after and sold for £289, 250. Strong prices for

two daughters Anne and Elizabeth by society portraitist Edmund

the Gleneagles Sale on 27 August 2008. A stunning painting entitled

and a Walton watercolour at £27,000. Of the modern period, work

other early Scottish pictures included David Wilkie’s oil sketch of The

Brock. This unusual and powerful composition exceeded pre-sale

My Studio Door, Tangier by Sir John Lavery, who spent his formative

by Redpath and Craigie Aitchison was eagerly contested.

Penny Wedding and a splendid highland panorama by John Knox,

expectation to sell in the room at £92,500 against an estimate of

years painting with the Glasgow Boys, sold for £481,250. Another

both of which sold for £97,250.

£30,000 to 50,000.

highlight was one of Joseph Crawhall’s most beautiful watercolours,

Signet Library and a selling rate of 94 per cent was particularly

gratifying. Stand-out lots included a wonderful cabinet picture by

Samuel John Peploe. The Ginger Jar (c.1926) sold for £349,250,

Modern and Contemporary London sale in September with ever

McTaggart which made £21,000, and a late Philipson of poppies at

while Roses (c.1922), which exceeded the top estimate at £529,250

popular Adrian Wiszniewski’s early large oil Curtain Call achieving

strong. Highlights included Carnations, an exceptional still life by

£37,000. Our autumn season includes a notable studio selection by

not only achieved a world auction record for the artist, but for a work

£21,500 and Jock McFadyen’s Roman Road fetching £9,800.

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell, which achieved a new world auction

husband and wife AE Haswell and Josephine Miller. Josephine Miller

by a Scottish Colourist .

record for the artist of £301,250. The Rocky Glen by John Duncan

was notable as the first woman elected an associate of the RSA and

group of Colourists works, including an exquisite Cadell landscape of

Fergusson sold after stiff competition for £127,250. There was greatly

her subject matter, still life and landscape, is relevant to modern

in London at King Street last year, Christie’s will take advantage of

Loch Long, and a superb MacLaughlan Milne view of Paris. Demand

increased demand for works by the wider Colourist group such as

tastes.

their elegant newly refurbished galleries to stage the next Scottish Art

for works by these artists continues to be strong despite an uncertain

John MacLauchlan Milne, Margaret Morris and Anne Estelle Rice who

sale. The auction is scheduled to take place on 25 November 2009

financial climate.

all achieved exceptional results this year.

The Spring season had been held off-site at the prestigious

The winter sales will feature excellent examples by Joan

Allan Ramsay’s self-portrait dated 1749, one of the

Further highlights included two exceptional still lifes by

Following the success of the first Scottish Art sale ever held

Eardley, SJ Peploe, Leslie Hunter, Joseph Farquharson, a large

within a season of British Art sales and will attract wide exposure and

selection of work by Robin Philipson and a fine late portrait by Robert

be accessible to collectors in the field.

Contemporary Scottish art continued to flourish in our

The forthcoming autumn Fine Paintings sale will include a

Circus, which achieved a new record price of £73,250.

www.lyonandturnbull.com

Colquhoun.

The demand for the Scottish Colourists continued to hold

The market for 20th Century and Contemporary Art is

extremely buoyant. Sir William Russell Flint has seen unprecedented growth in the last few years and one of his finest nudes ever to come

www.christies.com

onto the market, Nicollet sold for £301,250. The previous auction record for the artist was £120,500 (set in our Edinburgh sale this May).

www.bonhams.com

Joan Eardley’s Beggars in Venice, a rare painting within the body of her work and one of her most important paintings to be offered at auction was sold at Gleneagles for £169,250 setting a new world record.

It was also a good year for Jack Vettriano, with Narcissistic

Bathers and Amateur Philosophers, achieving £97,250 and £73,250

John Knox (1778-1784) View of Loch Lomond, Sold for £97,250 Adrian Wiszniewski (Scottish, 1958), Curtain Call, 1985, Signed and inscribed on verso, oil on

respectively. 2008 has been an extraordinary year for the Scottish

canvas, 160cm x 361.3 cm £21,500

art market, our most successful year to date, and we are eagerly anticipating our forthcoming sale on 23 April 2009.

Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935) Dumfries Farm Scene, Estimate: £40,000-60,000

62

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www.sothebys.com Scottish Art News 63

Books Arts of Resistance: Poets,

The Invention of Scotland:

Scottish Vernacular Furniture

that discuss the specifics of the work and the ideas it embodies. Craig

Portraits and Landscapes of

Myth and History

Bernard D. Cotton

Richardson, Principal Lecturer in the School of Arts and Humanities at

Modern Scotland

Hugh Trevor-Roper,

Thames & Hudson,

Oxford Brookes University and who has written extensively on Scottish

Alexander Moffat & Alan Riach

Ed. Jeremy J. Cater

2008, £48 hardback

art, begins with an analysis of the work and a discussion of recent

with contributions from Linda

Yale University Press, 2008,

MacDonald-Lewis, Luath Press

£18.99, hardback

2008, £29.99 hardback

museological developments which have seen artists adopting the

This lavishly illustrated

expanding bureaucratic role of curators, administrators and editors,

book (544 illus, 412 in colour)

reconditioning and transforming the museum environment. Artists

‘I believe that the whole history

not only offers a comprehensive

like Mackenna and Janssen have sought to ‘re-engage audiences

‘The role of art in the modern

of Scotland has been coloured

survey of the vernacular furniture

with explicit representations of Scottish identity and cultural history

world is to challenge and provoke,

by myth; and that myth, in

traditions of Scotland from the

through a juxtaposition of its contemporary representations with those

to resist stagnation and to question

Scotland, is never driven out by

end of the 17th century until early

historically more enduring’, enabling a cultural re-evaluation through

complacency. All art, whether poetry, painting or prose, represents

reality, or by reason, but lingers

20th century, it also provides an

the work’s embedded reinterpretation. Through a critical re-evaluation

and interprets the world. Its purpose is to bring new perspectives to

on until another myth has been

illuminating study into the social history from the life of the crofters to

of the institution, resident myths can be overturned and settings re-

what life can be’ – Alexander Moffat and Alan Riach

discovered, or elaborated, to replace it’ – Hugh Trevor-Roper

prosperous Lowland houses. Paintings and photographs are used to

energised.

tell the story showing the furniture in its domestic settings. Cotton, a

What is the value of art in today’s society? What role

Published posthumously, Hugh Trevor-Roper, the leading

Further texts by Emilie Gordenker, Senior Curator of Early

do artists play in reflecting the world back upon itself? In this

British historian of his generation, argues that while Anglo-Saxon

furniture historian and co-founder of the Regional Furniture Society,

Netherlandish, Dutch and Flemish Art at the National Gallery of

‘contemporary age of distraction’, how can poems, paintings and

culture has given rise to virtually no myths at all, myth has played a

travelled all over Scotland for his research including remote parts

Scotland, look at clothing and style in British Portraiture at the time

all the arts from the past, present and future be celebrated as an

central role in the historical development of Scottish identity. Trevor-

of the Highlands and Islands, discovering furniture in houses now

of the Union and Christopher Whatley, Professor of Scottish History at

affirming, crucial element in how we live our lives?

Roper examines three myths which lie at the heart of the character of

deserted and occupied only by sheep and seabirds.

the University of Dundee and author of the controversial but widely

acclaimed The Scots and the Union (Edinburgh University Press, 2006),

Scotland. He examines the ‘Political Myth’ of the ancient constitution

of art and poetry in modern Scotland at a time when its influence

of Scotland, before analysing the ‘Literary Myth’, including Ossian,

social historians but is also an invaluable companion and reference

discusses the Union, then and now. The final text, by James Holloway,

in our everyday life has been marginalised. In this highly illustrated

Walter Scott and ancient poetry. Finally, he looks at the ‘Sartorial

guide for identifying the finds of those who love ferreting around in

Director of the SNPG provides an interesting insight into the life of

book containing full colour reproductions of some of Scotland’s most

Myth’, the invention of the kilt, invented by an Englishman in

local auctions and junk shops.

Scottish artist, William Aikman in London at the time of the Union.

significant works of art, Alexander Moffat and Alan Riach

quite modern times. The book, containing defiant and challenging

critically review the last 120 years and the role of the arts in shaping

opinions shows myth to be invented by a culture to enshrine a view

the contemporary cultural and political scene in Scotland.

of its own identity, filling 400 years of history from the 16th to the

Shotgun Wedding

There will always be a need for the arts to provide forms of

21st century and continuing to shape perceptions of Scotland today.

Tracy Mackenna &

surprisingly comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the project, each

resistance to anything that dulls or numbs the intellect or the sensual

He unmasks these myths with historical evidence, exposing historical

Edwin Janssen

writer providing an interesting insight into the different areas the work

understanding of the world. The artists and writers of the 20th

truth as bearing little resemblance to commonly held perceptions.

Atopia Projects

addresses.

century had to contend with an era characterised by rapid change

2007, £10 hardback

in perspectives and technology, and the political force of their work

recognises the force of collective belief, showing how the ritualisation

informed, abraded and catalysed their contemporaries. Arguing that

and domestication of Scotland’s myths as local colour diverted the

Shotgun Wedding explores

to be truly international, you have to be national to begin with, the

Scottish intelligentsia from the path that led German intellectuals

the social, political and cultural

authors look at the power of nationhood to create roots from which

to a dangerous path of racial supremacy. Over time, the myths have

background to Tracy Mackenna

art can grow. Challenging the view that there is no Scottish Art, they

become intertwined with history, inseparable from literature.

and Edwin Janssen’s video

debate the contribution of poets, artists and others from the late

installation (six identical grey

19th century to the present day, including William McTaggart, Hugh

in 2003) is a daring and controversial account of Scottish myth and

painted bays, ‘virtual, chapel-

MacDiarmid, the Scottish Colourists and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

history and will interest and absorb any reader intrigued by the

like and duly hushed’) of the same title shown at the The Scottish

cultural history of Scotland.

National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) in 2007. Shotgun Wedding engages

Arts of Resistance is a unique exploration of the importance

Arts of Resistance includes: Hugh MacDiarmid; Sorley

While his treatment of Scottish myth is highly critical, he

Trevor-Roper’s final full book (left unpublished on his death

This book is of interest not only to furniture lovers and

Aikman was the favourite artist of the Scottish nobility in London, painting the Duke of Hamilton and the Earl of Stair for instance.

SCOTTISH ART NEWS has five copies of Shotgun Wedding to give

MacLean; William McTaggart; Charles Rennie Mackintosh; Patrick

the various conflicts that run through the history of Scotland and

Geddes; Sydney Goodsir Smith; Iain Crichton Smith; Edwin Morgan;

Britain, by re-presenting visual material relevant to the Union of 1707.

Norman MacCaig; Liz Lochhead; George Mackay Brown; Steven

The exhibition correlated with the tricentennial of the signing of the

Campbell; Ken Currie; Will MacLean; William Johnstone; Phoebe

Treaty of Union that joined Scotland and England, and was the year

Anna Traquair; Peter Howson; Robert MacBryde; Robert Colquhoun;

that the Scottish people elected for the first time a Nationalist as their

William Gillies; Alasdair Gray; Joan Eardley; John Bellany; William

First Minister.

Crozier; Douglas Gordon and many others.

64

11

For a small publication, Shotgun Wedding provides a

away to the first five subscribers to the magazine in 2009.

Following images of the installation are a series of texts Scottish Art News 65

Tam o’ Shanter by

The Western Seaboard: An

Robert Burns

Illustrated Architectural Guide

Illustrated by

Mary Miers

Alexander Goudie

The Rutland Press, 2008, £18.00

Listings

Birlinn Ltd

SCOTLAND

DUNDEE

2008

The Western Seaboard is a

£100

rich journey through the west

A special Limited Edition numbered run of 700

Highlands and Islands, describing

ABERDEEN

Broughty Castle Museum

and illustrating ruins, monuments

The Orchar Collection

Alexander Goudie (1933-2004), widely acclaimed as having been one

and buildings of historical and

Aberdeen Art Gallery

Until 27 November 2010

Dovecot

Simon Scott

of Scotland’s finest figurative painters described Tam o’ Shanter as

architectural interest. The area

My Heart’s in the

Castle Approach

Jerwood Contemporary

6 – 21 January

‘a gothic tale, strewn with vivid and awesome images’. Over several

encompasses Lochaber, Skye and

Highland’s

Broughty Ferry

Makers

Collin Black and

years he transcribed his imaginings onto canvas, creating a series

Lochalsh, as well as the Western Isles, giving a fully comprehensible

Until 14 February

dundeecity.gov.uk

Until 31 January

Alice McMurrough

of narrative paintings which ‘deserves to be ranked among the best

guide to the vast array of cultural sites in these areas. An introduction

Zig Zag: The Path of Robert

illustrative cycles in Scottish Art’ (Sir Timothy Clifford). Originally

is given by Andrew Bruce, president of the Inverness Architectural

Burns

planned to be bought as a cycle by the National Gallery, the bulk

Association, and thereafter every monument of interest is covered,

of the paintings now reside in Rozelle House in Ayrshire. This book brings together his definitive vision of Burns’ great poem.

Two specially commissioned essays by Professor Edward

J. Cowan and Professor Alan Riach of Glasgow University provide

EH1 3NT

Tel: 0131 624 6200

Tel: 0131 558 7110

nationalgalleries.org

doggerfisher.com Open Eye Gallery

10 Infirmary Street,

24 January – 11 February

Dundee Contemporary Arts

Edinburgh, EH1 1LT

Kristine Woodside and

14 February – 11 April

Time Code

Tel: 0131 550 3660

David Foster

accompanied by black and white illustrations. This is the ideal

John Bellany – Prints and

16 January – 8 March

dovecotstudios.com

14 February – 4 March

accompaniment for anyone wishing to visit some of the most

Watercolours

The Associates

haunting landscapes in the world and learn something of those who

18 February – 23 May

19 March – May

Edinburgh Printmakers

Kym Needle

inhabit them.

Schoolhill, AB10 1FQ

152 Nethergate, DD1 4DY

Anne Forte, Joyce Gunn

7 – 25 March

Tel: 01224 523 700

Tel: 01382 909 900

Cairns and Leena Nammari

Abercromby Place

aagm.co.uk

dca.org.uk

17 January – 7 March

EH3 6QE

23 Union Street, EH1 3LR

Tel: 0131 557 1020

Tel: 0131 557 2479

openeyegallery.co.uk

the literary, historical and folklore background to the work and its

John MacInnes and

relations to Alexander Goudie’s paintings, and the author’s son,

Doors Open

Lachlan Goudie, provides a biographical essay which sets the Tam o’

Ian Rankin

Shanter paintings within the context of his father’s career.

Orion Books,

Duff House

2008

In the Great Drawing

£18.99

Room: Homecoming 2009

Bourne Fine Art

co.uk

Royal Scottish Academy

.

The Face of Scotland:

EDINBURGH

edinburgh-printmakers.

Banff, Aberdeenshire

British and Continental

RSA at Sabhal Mor Ostaig

The Scottish National

A chance encounter at an Edinburgh

AB45 3SX

Marble Sculpture 1750-

Ingleby Gallery

Until 1 February

Portrait Gallery

art auction offers Mike Mackenzie an

Tel: 01261 818181

1850 (in association with

Luca Frei

A Lighter Touch:

at Kirkcudbright

opportunity to add some excitement

duffhouse.com

The Tomasso Brothers)

Until 28 January

Watercolours from the RSA

James Holloway

in to his life as he becomes embroiled

28 November – 23 January

Ellsworth Kelly

Until 1 February

National Galleries

in a plot to rob the National Gallery

Peacock Visual Arts

New Work by

Until 31 January

RSA New Contemporaries

of Scotland

of Scotland. A corrupt Principal of

Seripop

Charles Simpson

15 Calton Road, EH8 8DL

14 – 25 February

2008

Edinburgh College of Art, fake Cadell

14 February – 28 March

March

Tel: 0131 556 4441

Friends of the RSA Schools

£4.95

and Vettriano paintings, and an armed robbery at the National

Craig Barrowman

6 Dundas Street, EH3 6HZ

inglebygallery.com

competition

Galleries’ Granton store show Rankin at his best in this fast paced

14 February – 28 March

Tel: 0131 557 4050

new heist thriller.

James Furneaux

bournefineart.com

Published to accompany the exhibition The Face of Scotland, a

14 February – 30 March National Museum

Calum Colvin:

selection of portrait highlights on loan to the Town Hall, Kirkcudbright

18 April – 30 May

of Scotland

Natural Magic

in 2008, this book highlights some of the best works from the Scottish

21 Castle Street

Dean Gallery

Jean Muir: A Fashion Icon

6 March – 5 April

National Portrait Gallery.

AB11 5BQ

Barns-Graham, Bellany,

Until 15 March

RSA Lens

Tel: 01224 639 539

Davie and Redpath

Chambers Street, EH1 1JF

6 March – 5 April

peacockvisualarts.com

Until 28 June

Tel: 0131 225 7534

RSA Open exhibition

73 Belford Road,

nms.ac.uk

18 April – 20 May

46 colour images, from Robert Burns and to Robbie

Coltrane, are accompanied by short descriptive texts on the lives of the sitters. In the foreword, John Leighton, Director General of the

Lee O’Connor: RSA

National Galleries of Scotland, and James Holloway, Director of the

redbusart.com

Edinburgh, EH4 3DS

Scottish National Portrait Gallery give a history of the Portrait gallery

Ongoing exhibitions

Tel: 0131 624 6200

National Gallery

Salvesen Travel Award

and reveal the redevelopment programme which will transform the

including Peter Goodfellow

nationalgalleries.org

of Scotland

Winner 2008

gallery ready for its opening in 2011.

Newton, Glenbuchat,

Dutch Mannerism: Goltzius

5 June – 19 July

Strathdon, Aberdeenshire

doggerfisher

and His Contemporaries

The Mound, EH2 2EL

works, it represents the flavour of the collection at the Scottish

Tel: 01975 641 293

Johnathan Owen

Until 8 February

Tel: 0131 225 6671

National Portrait Gallery.

redbusart.com

Starts 5 February

National Gallery Complex

royalscottishacademy.org

11 Gayfield Square

The Mound, EH2 2EL

66

Although only representing a small percentage of the

11

Scottish Art News 67

Frances Macdonald

James McNeil Whistler

Winners’ Collection

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham:

25 May – 13 June

Scottish National Gallery

4 February – 4 March

23 January – 30 May

Sorcha Dallas

4 April – 17 November

Works from the 1960’s & 70’s

15-16 Brook’s Mews

of Modern Art

John Brown

82 Hillhead Street,

Jimmy Robert:

Marshall Place, PH2 8NS

Main Gallery

W1K 4DS

Charles Avery – The

9 March – 4 April

University of Glasgow

Grey Flannel Suits Any Man

Tel: 01738 783 425

24 March – 23 April

Tel: 020 7495 0069

COLLECT 2009

Islanders: An Introduction

William Crozier

G12 8QQ

20 February – 28 March

pkc.gov.uk/museums

Art First, First Floor, 9 Cork

sarahmyerscough.com

Craft Council Fair

Until 15 February

8 April – 2 May

Tel: 0141 330 5431

5-9 St Margaret’s Place

John Watson Prize 2008

John Houston – Memorial

hunterian.gla.ac.uk

G15 JY

Until 15 February

Exhibition, 6 – 30 May

75 Belford Road, EH4 3DR

George Devlin, 3 – 27 June

Kelvingrove Art Gallery

Tel: 0131 624 6200

16 Dundas Street, EH3 6HZ

and Museum

nationalgalleries.org

Tel: 0131 558 1200

Impressionism and Scotland

scottish-gallery.co.uk

Until 1 February

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

GLASGOW

The Intimate Portrait

Street, W1S 3LL ST ANDREWS

Tel: 0141 553 2662 sorchadallas.com

15 –17 May

Tel: 020 7734 0386

The Gallery in Cork Street

Saatchi Gallery

artfirst.co.uk

The Aspect Painting Prize

London

Finalist Exhibition 2009

craftscouncil.org.uk

St Andrews Museum Re-creation: artists & the

The Fleming Collection

23 – 28 March

The Modern Institute

animal kingdom

A Shepherd’s Life: Paintings

28 Cork Street, W1S 3NG

Glasgow Film Festival

Toby Paterson

17 January – 8 March

of Jenny Armstrong by

Tel: 020 7170 9654

12 – 22 February

Argyle Street, G3 8AG

14 February – 7 March

In Pursuit of Knowledge

Victoria Crowe

galleryincorkstreet.com

Venues across the city

Tel: 0141 276 9599

Floor 1 Suite 6, 73

21 March – 17 May

13 Jan – 21 March

glasgowmuseums.com

Robertson Street, G2 8QD

Ancestral Voices

Inspired II: Works from The

Tel: 0141 248 3711

24 May – August

Fleming Collection

themoderninstitute.com

Kinburn Park

6 April – 27 June 2009

Museum Boijmans

George Square

Doubledykes Road

13 Berkeley Street W1J 8DU

Van Beuningen

23 – 26 April 2009

flemingcollection.co.uk

Charles Avery – The

www.glasgowartfair.com

Until 1 February

Burrell Collection

1 Queen Street, Edinburgh

Joseph Crawhall: The

Lillie Art Gallery

EH2 1JD

Masterpieces

East Dunbartonshire in

Tel: 0131 624 6200

17 October – 8 February

Paint and Print IV

Tramway

Tel: 01334 659380

nationalgalleries.org

Pollok Country Park, 2060

10 February – 11 March

Artist Rooms

fcac.co.uk

Pollokshaws Road, G43 1AT

Trilogy, 21 March – 17 April

17 Apr – 31 May

The City Art Centre

Tel: 0141 287 2550

Bearsden Art Club

Albert Drive, G41 2PE

Visual Arts Scotland Annual

glasgowmuseums.com

25 April – 20 May

Tel: 0141 276 0950

Young People’s Art

tramway.org

Open Exhibition

FAIR FESTIVALS

glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk OTHER Glasgow Art Fair

Islanders: An Introduction AUCTIONS

Oakham Contemporary

28 February – 24 May

The Scottish Show:

Museumpark 18-20

A mixed exhibition of

3015 CX Rotterdam

Bonhams

Stirling Smith Art Gallery

contemporary Scottish Art

Tel: +31 (0)10 4419400

Whisky

and Museum

28 January – 27 February

Turning Point Textiles

27 Bury Street, St James’s,

46 Brookland Gardens

22 Queen St, Edinburgh www.bonhams.com

STIRLING

31 January – 19 March

Gallery of Modern Art

25 April – 20 May

2 Market Street

Echo & Transcend

Joan Eardley Drawings

Tel: 07979 924 744

Until 2010

Station Road, Milngavie

17 January – 1 March

SW1Y 6AL

Nathan Coley

visualartsscotland.org

Collected: Art Fund

G62 8BZ

Perth Museum

Artlink Central

Tel: 020 7839 8800

Until 1 February

International acquisitions

Tel: 0141 578 8847

& Art Gallery

24 January – 26 April

oakhamcontemporary.com

Brooklands estate

Christie’s

The Fruitmarket Gallery

Until 26 April

glasgowgalleries.co.uk

French Connections

Dumbarton Road, FK8 2RQ

Jaywick, Essex

The Scottish Sale

Claire Barclay

Royal Exchange Square

/lillie.htm

10 January – 24 October

Tel: 01786 471917

Panter & Hall

www.firstsite.uk.net

19 November

7 February – 12 April

G1 3AH

The Spirit of Burns

smithartgallery.demon.co.uk

Sandy Murphy and

45 Market Street, EH1 1DF

Tel: 0141 248 2891

Mary Mary Gallery

10 January – 17 October

Alberto Morrocco

Garage Centre for

Tel: 0131 225 2383

glasgowmuseums.org

Karla Black

Sea Pictures, Until 2 May

The Changing Room

21 January – 6 February

Contemporary Culture

PERTH

4 March

King St, London christies.com

10 January – 14 February

A Passion for Painting

Somebodyelse:

Charles MacQueen

Douglas Gordon

Lyon and Turnbull

Glasgow School of Art

Suite 2/1, 6 Dixon Street

Pattern – Raymond

Graham Fagen

25 March – 9 April

Moscow on the Move

The Ainslie Collection

Talbot Rice Gallery

Mackintosh Gallery

G1 4AX

Honeyman, 16 May – 4 July

14 February – 11 April

Simon Laurie

Until 22 March

14 January 11.00am

Desire Lines: Miranda

Awaken

Tel: 0141 226 2257

78 George Street, PH1 5LB

I Murder Hate

22 April – 15 May

Mosenergo, on Raushskaya

Antiques

Blennerhassett, Alec Finlay,

24 January – 28 February

marymarygallery.co.uk

Tel: 01738 632 488

From 14 March

Chris Bushe

Naberejnaya, d. 10

24 January

Oliver Godow, Iain Kettles,

Our Objects

pkc.gov.uk/museums

Tolbooth, Jail Wynd

20 May – 12 June

115035 Moscow, Russia

Books, Maps & Manuscripts

Chad McCail, Ellen Munro

7 March – 10 April

Roger Billcliffe Gallery

Tel: 01786 274 005

9 Shepherd Market W1J 7PF

gagosian.com

4 February

14 February – 20 June

Interim MFA

A Month in Collioure

The Fergusson Gallery

stirling.gov.uk/changingroom

Tel: 020 7399 9999

University of Edinburgh Old

16 – 23 May

January

‘A Democratic Show’ –

College, South Bridge

167 Renfrew Street, G3 6RQ

Postcards 2009, February

Fergusson and the New

EH8 9YL

Tel: 0141 353 4531

Gordon Mitchell

Scottish Group

Tel: 0131 650 2210

gsa.ac.uk

April – May

Until 29 March

Sheila McInnes, June

A Life in Sketch

Hunterian Museum

134 Blythswood Street

The Scottish Gallery

and Art Gallery

Gordon Bryce

The Glasgow Boys

7 – 31 January

Until 16 May

fruitmarket.co.uk

trg.ed.ac.uk

68

11

panterandhall.com LONDON

33 Broughton Place New Art Centre

Edinburgh

Kenny Hunter

lyonandturnbull.com

Sarah Myerscough Fine Art

21 February – 4 May

Art First

James Lumsden –

Roche Court

Sotheby’s

Margaret Hunter

Liquid Light

East Winterslow

Scottish Sale

Until 17 November

Main Gallery

6 – 28 February

Salisbury, Wiltshire SP5 1BG

19 April

G2 4EL

Fergusson, A Scottish

Helen MacAlister

Turning Wood into Art

Tel: 01980 862 244

34/35 New Bond St

Tel: 0141 332 4027

Colourist

Art First Projects

1 – 17 May

sculpture.uk.com

London

billcliffegallery.com

8 February – February 2010

17 February – 19 March

DLA Piper Graduate Award

sothebys.com Scottish Art News 69

Scottish Art News: Project Space Scottish Art News takes a looks at Mark I’Anson’s recent project HEYDAY

Red IV, acrylic on paper, 38 x 49 ins Courtesy of Thackery Gallery, London, in association with

HEYDAY, MARK I’ANSON

The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, 2008

heyday / n. 1. period of greatest vigour, strength, success. 2. the time when a particular person or thing had great importance and popularity.

Born in Glasgow in 1968, Mark I’Anson studied at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, from 19881992 and has since worked full time as a painter. Whether his source material is from life, found photographs or a combination of both, the starting point and foundation of all his pictures is drawing. Mixing pencil work with translucent glazes of paint he produces evocative and compelling paintings that provoke a response from the viewer.

CSB & LJS, acrylic on paper, 21 x 34 ins

Since 1994, Mark has had fourteen solo exhibitions in London, Scotland and Canada, including two solo touring exhibitions; The Dream Team with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2003/4 and Drifter with the Highland Council and the Scottish Fisheries Museum in 2006.

Courtesy of Thackery Gallery, London, in association with The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, 2008

In 2008 I’Anson embarked on a project, in conjunction with Thackeray Gallery and The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, entitled HEYDAY. A longtime football fan, I’Anson produced thirteen works which were exhibited in a private box at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal FC for the start of the 2008 season. The subject matter for all the works were the Arsenal players themselves both past and current, and as with much of I’Anson’s work, were inspired by old photographs he had collected over the years. For example, Heyday II has its origins in an old black and white photograph from 1931 of Arsenal players receiving sunlight treatment as part of their fitness programme.

I’Anson is currently working for a solo show with the Thackeray Gallery in 2009.

Player (IEW), acrylic on paper, 22 x 26 ins Courtesy of Thackery Gallery, London, in association with The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, 2008

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Scottish Art News 71

Heyday II (detail), acrylic on paper, 38 x 49 ins Courtesy of Thackery Gallery, London, in association with The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, 2008

Player (SCB), acrylic on paper, 22 x 26 ins Courtesy of Thackery Gallery, London, in association with The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, 2008

An invitation to consign Pictures We are currently consigning quality pictures for inclusion in our Scottish Sale to be held August 2009. For a free, confidential and realistic sale valuation, without obligation, please contact:

Illustrated: Robert Colquhoun (1914 - 1962) Portrait of Erica Pomerans; to be included in our December Fine Paintings sale.

Estimate: ÂŁ15,000 - 20,000

Chris Brickley 0131 240 2297 chris.brickley@bonhams.com

Bonhams 22 Queen Street Edinburgh EH2 1JX 0131 225 2266 0131 220 2547 fax www.bonhams.com/edinburgh

Colleen Bowen 0131 240 2292 colleen.bowen@bonhams.com 72

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Scottish Art News 73