November booklet

The Scottish Gallery November Exhibitions

Adam Bruce Thomson Painting the Century Fully illustrated catalogue available on request www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/adambrucethomson Adam Bruce Thomson (1885 - 1976) was a painter of great integrity whose long, productive life tells the story of Scottish painting for the first three quarters of the 20th century. Writing for the journal Scottish Art and Letters in 1946, when JD Fergusson was Art Editor, T Elder Dickson describes the artist: “Thomson is a painter of uncompromising sincerity. Few artists contemplate a higher purpose or spare themselves less in striving after its fulfilment. Fastidious in all that pertains to his craft, he belongs by temperament and mental equipment to the central stream of European painting initiated by Giotto and revitalised by Seurat and Cézanne. In other respects, especially in his love of colour and fine craftsmanship he is thoroughly Scottish.”

The exhibition showcases the full span of Bruce Thomson’s oeuvre and includes pre-war etchings, drawings from the allied front, and sumptuous watercolours in the ‘Edinburgh School’ tradition. Included are many rarely seen or exhibited works which speaks of the artist’s modesty: he never sought advancement, but his work ethic, professionalism and long life has assured a significant artistic legacy. The Gallery is indebted to Margaret Thomson for her generous input and insight into her father’s work, which has informed the detailed catalogue produced for this exhibition reflecting Adam Bruce Thomson’s life achievements.

Front Cover: Benderloch, c.1930, oil on panel, 45.7 x 55.9 cms Right: Girl in a Red Tammy, c.1934, oil on canvas, 55.9 x 45.7 cms

James Morrison For Greer McKay - Move Him Into the Sun www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/jamesmorrison This exhibition of work by James Morrison (b.1932) may be unexpected to followers of his work. Absent are the billowing clouds, Hebridean vistas, or the rolling, sunlit farmland of Angus. Instead he presents a landscape imagined, as soldiers disappear towards their fate; the Somme battlefield is captured barren but strangely beautiful.

His decision to capture scenes of WWI has not come lightly. In his own words: “The reasons for making the paintings in this exhibition come from two remarkable women. My late wife, Dorothy, was a distinguished historian. In the nineteen eighties she was asked by Scottish Television to oversee their Schools series of programmes on the Great War, and to write a book to accompany the series. Ann Keddy and I became partners in 2006, she being in the same position as myself, having lost her much loved spouse Ken. In 2011 she felt her grandson, Rory, should be exposed to the realities of the 1914-18 conflict. She also wanted to visit the grave of her great uncle Greer. The whole experience was deeply moving and very sad. For me, it brought back to my mind Dorothy’s book and her work on the war. When I returned home I was moved to make light paintings, this time in oil paint, of the death and destruction of the landscape and the soldiers. This small exhibition is to honour all, on both sides, who died.”

James Morrison, 2013

Landscape 1 31.x.2011, oil on canvas, 98 x 140 cms

Akiko Hirai Still Life www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/akikohirai Akiko Hirai was born in Japan in 1970. She moved to London in 1999, studying ceramics at the University of Westminster and Central St. Martins. Akiko’s work is a cultural blend of both Japanese and British studio pottery traditions, resulting in asymmetrical, ‘imperfect’ organic forms. The exhibition includes several still life groups of bottle forms in white, black and grey, alongside sensitively rendered domestic pieces, in stoneware and porcelain.

“In this exhibition my still life pieces act as the core of the show. Classical painters transformed objects into a ‘view’. Tea masters discovered a ‘view’ from good chawan made by an anonymous potter. I find beauty in everyday objects and I try to create my own ‘view’ or still lifes. I work with different coloured clay, when these coloured clays are fired, I find that the true nature breaks through the surface, building up subtle areas of colour. The dark clay contains many impurities and when fired in the kiln, a chemical trace of events alters the clay body. White, on the other hand, is more stable because it has a purer clay body and the whiteness becomes more intense after firing. The finished surface is my main concern.”

Right: Still Life bottles, 2013, black clay, 14.5 to 31 cms high Overleaf: Still Life bottles, 2013, stoneware, 12.5 to 31 cms high

Anna Gordon Sketches www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/annagordon Anna Gordon graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1994 and since 2009 has been the Head of the Silversmithing and Jewellery Department at Glasgow School of Art. Anna works from her studio in Gullane, East Lothian.

“I have always made drawings and compositions, which is the foundation of my ongoing research and work. In this new collection, I took time to look back at my sketchbooks and samples and was liberated rediscovering samples from my ‘think box’…ideas that were ready to be transformed into finished work. By revisiting and engaging with these ideas, new pieces emerged with fresh forms. I have really enjoyed transforming these sketches into new brooches.”

Anna Gordon, September 2013 Public Collections include: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh The Crafts Council, London Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool Cleveland Crafts Centre, Middlesbrough Goldsmiths’ Hall, London The Woman’s Library, London Top Left: Twist and Turn, oxidised white metal, 6.5 x 6.5 x 0.5 cms Top Right: Oval on Oval, oxidised white metal and mother of pearl, 3.6 x 5 x 0.5 cms Bottom: Parallel Lines, mixed metals, 2.6 x 8.2 x 0.5 cms

Yusuke Yamamoto www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/yusukeyamamoto Yusuke Yamamoto was born in Kanagawa, Japan in 1979. He trained in silversmithing at the renowned Musashino Art University, Tokyo. In 2011 Yusuke met Anna Gordon (currently the Head of the Silversmithing and Jewellery at Glasgow School of Art) and she invited him to take up an academic research position at GSA in 2012. “In 2011 I visited Musashino Art University in Tokyo which has a world class reputation for metalwork, headed by Professor Hiroshi Suzuki.

Musashino has established a strong academic relationship with Glasgow School of Art and during this visit I was introduced to Yusuke Yamamoto and his work. His specialist knowledge in silversmithing and chasing has been particularly valuable both technically and culturally and he has been a great asset to GSA during his residency.”

Yusuke shapes metal by hammer raising and chasing techniques and draws inspiration from the natural world. In each stroke of the hammer he tries to evoke an expression, atmosphere and emotion. The Scottish Gallery had already recognised the special qualities of Yusuke’s work and is delighted to be showcasing this remarkable talent with works made in Scotland. This is his first solo show in the United Kingdom.

Frosty Alley Vessel, 2013, hammer-raised and chased fine silver, 17.3 x 7.5 cms

Frost Flake small cups, 2013, hammer-raised and chased fine silver, 7 x 6.5 cms

Frosty Lake Vessel, 2013, hammer-raised and chased fine silver, 11.5 x 11 cms

The Scottish Gallery November Exhibitions 6-30 November 2013 Private View Tuesday 5th November 6.30 - 8.30pm