Philip Braham | Closer to Home

Philip Braham CLOSER TO HOME

Philip Braham CLOSER TO HOME 6–30 JANUARY 2021

FOREWORD Phil Braham has exhibited with The Scottish Gallery since

He has also quietly emerged as one of the great didacts of

1984. His first consigned works were violent, expressionist

Scottish art education leading a course on art and philosophy

paintings and monotypes examining personal history and

at Duncan of Jordanstone and encouraging generations

the real history of battle, imbued into place. In 1987 he was

of students to question the latest conventions of practice.

selected to participate in the seminal survey exhibition The

In this new body of work in oils and in archival prints

Vigorous Imagination, including two major oils Clearing,

he explores the landscape around his new home and studio

Battleground Pinkie, 1987 and Breach, Pinkie, 1987. The Battle

in the marches between Highland and Lowland: ancient

of Pinkie, the last between England and Scotland before

disputed lands, rich in human history: agricultural, religious

the Union of Crowns was evoked with forest and fire, the

and violent. The thin mantle of the earth bears witness to

conflagration of Scotland’s resistance to the Rough Wooing of

the human struggle, the beautiful indifference of the passing

Henry VIII. Since then Braham has mined some of the same

seasons dictating the rhythms of farming, social life, warfare

territory, looking at the remoteness of central Poland where

and death.

the final, awful event of the Holocaust took place; at the sad

We are delighted to showcase this haunting body

endroits of suicide; at light, reflected, obscured sometimes

of work from an artist deserving of particular contemplation.

reassuring sometimes ominous. He has used photography in short and long exposure, he has refined his technique as an

GUY PEPLOE

oil painter to negate the expressive power of the medium in

November 2020

favour of a cool, symbolically neutral equilibrium of surface.

Heavenly Turbulence, 2020 (cat. 20) (detail)

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Philip on Ben A’an, 2020

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CLOSER TO HOME Just before Christmas in 2017, my wife and I moved our

and photographs Closer to Home because I came to understand

family away from the vibrant capital city of Edinburgh to the

that the idea of ‘home’ need not be rooted in the impressions

quiet rural town of Crieff in Perthshire. There were several

imprinted during childhood, warm and strong though these

reasons for the move, but primarily, we felt that our lives were

are, but that the longing-to-return might instead be for a

always rushed, and we wanted to spend more time together

destination that still lies ahead: a horizon that has now come

as a family and a little less time working just to pay the bills.

into view.

We found a house in a quiet, leafy part of Crieff, but I had

As that year ended and 2018 began, the snow fell heavily

no studio, so painting had to cease for a while. This pause

in Strathearn, continuing well into April. Snow unifies the land

allowed me to explore our new and beautiful landscape

and sky, removing all the frivolous colours from the landscape.

through photography.

Trees are silhouettes, fences are dynamic lines and pylons are

A camera provides the best excuse for a walk, and

totems standing over the white emptiness. Everything had its

walking is the best way to learn about a place. Thus, I began

place, and all was wrapped in peaceful silence. I have tried to

to record the cyclical seasons of the Perthshire landscape like

capture that sense of serenity in a number of photographs and

a wide-eyed interloper filled with a newly rekindled sense of

paintings. The first of these were photographs taken very close

wonder and joy. Every outing yielded a photographic gift,

to our new home: Turret Burn, Snow (cat. 46); Snowfall on Lovers

whatever the weather or time of day. Time seemed to saunter

Walk (cat. 40); Copse by Culcrieff Wood (cat. 41) and March Snow

rather than to race as it used to, and the slower pace allowed

on the Knock (cat. 39). The period of intense immersion and

me to become more attentive to the world around me. I came

recording would later bear fruit in the paintings that followed.

to realise a sense of contentment and belonging that I could

It takes a while for me to be ready to paint; I am not an artist

not have anticipated. I have titled this exhibition of paintings

like the late, great James Morrison, who can just set up an easel

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in a field and begin to work. A distillation period is necessary

Whilst the winter paintings are meditations on the

first, so it was a full year later that I began to paint the winter

stillness and serenity of the snow-covered land, others hold a

landscapes in this exhibition. The first of these was the large

narrative meaning: Black Crow by a Stony Path (cat. 1) reflects

canvas Currochs Field, Winter (cat. 6), whose snow filled furrows

on the suicide of a close friend in 2019; in this work the

drive the eye to the tree line on the horizon. I wanted to capture

harvested field with its dried and broken stalks takes the eye

the luminosity of the snow against the blackened stalks left

to a point on the path where the crow has alighted. It is a small

from the previous summer’s harvest. You will notice that the

but not insignificant event that brings added poignancy to the

view is from the same location as the two photographs The Last

scene. Endless Path (cat. 12) also alludes to the path of life, but

Day of Summer (cat. 25) and The First Day of Autumn (cat. 26), so

the endlessness refers to the generations that came before us

I often revisit the same sites. First Snow of Winter (cat. 23) and

and to those who will follow into the future, and one cannot

Blue December, Torlum Hill (cat. 7) are just a few minutes’ walk

see very far ahead. One could be tempted to read this painting

from the house: one strolls up through the woods to the right in

as a response to the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic that has

the first painting to climb up to the vantage point in the second

held us in its grip throughout 2020, seemingly with no end in

that looks back down the hill. The treeline that rises from the

sight, but that is only an inflection on its meaning: there will

centre of Blue December, Torlum Hill, meeting the sloping hill

be an end to the pandemic and life will go on and perhaps

to the right is the same line of trees that features in Currochs

even be changed for the better.

Field, Winter, so these paintings map the vicinity of our home.

As an artist, one cannot help but be caught in the

I may not have gone very far but I wanted to go deep, to come

current of events in our time, but painting can sometimes

to understand the lie of the land and the agricultural usage

bear the weight of hope and despair and turn these emotions

that continuously changes its appearance. Winter Copse at Dusk

into images that will be relevant in the future, just as they

(cat. 5) features an island of trees that have self-seeded where

are now. First Light, Torlum Hill (cat. 19) was painted in the

rocks had been cleared from the fields many generations ago.

late summer of 2020, just as it seemed that the virus was

The sun goes down while the ploughed land sleeps through the

under control. Dawn breaks through the darkness as the sun

winter in readiness for spring.

appears on the horizon and a cluster of lights reciprocate in

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the distance. Writing this now, we are mired in a second wave

period and this long gestation enables particular perceptions,

of infections, yet this very day it has been announced that

reflections and aesthetic judgement to enter into the artwork.

a vaccine is ready for approval, and so hope returns again.

In reproduction, my paintings may look photographic, but

The day will soon dawn when we are free of fear. Heavenly

they do not feel like photographs when you stand before them.

Turbulence (cat. 20) depicts the extremely rare phenomenon

My particular sensibilities are inherent and visible in the

of asperatus clouds which suddenly formed over Auchterarder

material properties of the painting. The hand, eye and mind of

one evening last year as I dropped my daughter off to her

the artist conjures the painting, whereas the camera captures

gymnastics class. I was spellbound but I managed to capture

a photograph mechanically. The philosopher Roland Barthes

an image on my phone. In ancient times, such an event would

has said that one can love a painting, but one only admires a

have been understood as a harbinger of doom, and the arrival

photograph. We may disagree with him, but I think it is true

of the disease would have fulfilled that dread. We are not

that we experience paintings differently to photographs: the

so superstitious now because science has debunked these

durational conditions required of painting endows the work

fallacies, but perhaps with that we have lost something of our

with meanings that are not fixed; its significance changes for

sense of connectedness to nature.

each viewer and each viewing, but a photograph takes us back

I see painting and photography as two distinct parts

to what had been.

of my practice, although each influences the other. For

Closer to Home presents a holistic overview of my

me, the distinction is that photographs are indexical, and

practice that brings both facets together, entwined yet

painting is durational. Photographs are indexical because

different.

they relate to a specific time and place in the unfolding history of the world: Fallen Tree, Torlum Wood (cat. 33) was

PHILIP BRAHAM

taken after Storm Callum struck in 2018, and Flooded Fields

November 2020

by Templemill (cat. 37) recorded the floods in February this year, when the River Earn burst its banks. Paintings are durational inasmuch as they are resolved over an extended

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CAT. 1

BLACK CROW BY A STONY PATH, SOUTH FORR, 2019 oil on linen, 80 x 110 cm

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CAT. 2

FIELD OF THISTLES, 2020 oil on linen, 80 x 110 cm

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CAT. 3

LATE SUMMER ON THE MEADOW, 2020 oil on linen, 65 x 92 cm

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CAT. 4

THE SOMNOLENCE OF WINTER, 2020 oil on linen, 60 x 80 cm

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CAT. 5

WINTER COPSE AT DUSK, 2019 oil on linen, 89 x 116 cm

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CAT. 6

CURROCHS FIELD, WINTER, 2019 oil on linen, 97 x 130 cm

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CAT. 7

BLUE DECEMBER, TORLUM HILL, 2019 oil on linen, 81 x 101 cm

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CAT. 8

A QUIET ENDING, 2020 oil on linen, 65 x 92 cm

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CAT. 9

A PARTIAL ECLIPSE, 2020 oil on linen, 60 x 80 cm

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CAT. 10

RISING MIST, 2020 oil on paper, 15.5 x 22.5 cm

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CAT. 11

AFTER THE FLOOD, 2020 oil on paper, 15.5 x 22.5 cm

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CAT. 12

ENDLESS PATH, 2020 oil on linen, 89 x 130 cm

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CAT. 13

MOUNTAIN PATH II, 2019 oil on paper, 28 x 37.5 cm

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CAT. 14

MOUNTAIN PATH I, 2019 oil on paper, 30 x 40 cm

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CAT. 15

THE NORTH SEA I, 2019 oil on paper, 12.5 x 19 cm

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CAT. 16

CAT. 17

THE NORTH SEA II, 2019

THE NORTH SEA III, 2019

oil on paper, 12.5 x 19 cm

oil on paper, 12.5 x 19 cm

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CAT. 18

LIFTING CLOUD, BEINN GHLAS, 2019 oil on linen, 80 x 110 cm

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CAT. 19

FIRST LIGHT, TORLUM HILL, 2020 oil on linen, 150 x 225 cm

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CAT. 20

HEAVENLY TURBULENCE, 2020 oil on linen, 81 x 106 cm

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CAT. 21

WINTER LIGHT IN TORLUM WOOD, 2020 oil on linen, 60 x 80 cm

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CAT. 22

WINTER’S SILENCE, 2020 oil on linen, 65 x 92 cm

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CAT. 23

FIRST SNOW OF WINTER, 2019 oil on linen, 80 x 110 cm

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CAT. 24

A DISTANT HORIZON, 2020 oil on linen, 65 x 92 cm

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CAT. 25

THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER archival pigment print, 30.5 x 45.5 cm

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CAT. 26

THE FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN archival pigment print, 30.5 x 45.5 cm

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CAT. 27

HIGH SUMMER, CRIEFF archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 28

THROUGH THE BARLEY archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 29

FIELD OF PURPLE TANSY archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 30

FOG AT FOWLIS WESTER archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 31

PLOUGHED FIELD, SOUTH FORR archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 32

LOW CLOUD, MIDDLETON archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 33

FALLEN TREE, TORLUM WOOD archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 34

TARGET, TORLUM WOOD archival pigment print, 30.5 x 45.5 cm

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CAT. 35

HEAVY RAINFALL OVER STRATHEARN archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 36

STORM CLOUDS OVER BRACO archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 37

FLOODED FIELDS BY TEMPLEMILL archival pigment print, 30.5 x 45.5 cm

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CAT. 38

LOCH MEALLBRODDEN archival pigment print, 30.5 x 45.5 cm

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CAT. 39

MARCH SNOW ON THE KNOCK archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 40

SNOWFALL ON LOVERS WALK archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 41

COPSE BY CULCRIEFF WOOD archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 42

APRIL SNOW, MUIR OF ORD archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 43

THE SMA’ GLEN archival pigment print, 30.5 x 45.5 cm

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CAT. 44

DUN MOR archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 45

RIVER EARN archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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CAT. 46

TURRET BURN, SNOW archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm

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PHILIP BRAHAM Philip Braham graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College

collections hold examples of his paintings and photographs.

of Art in 1980, before completing a Postgraduate at the Royal

In 2010 he presented a solo exhibition at the Royal Scottish

Academy of Fine Art in Holland the following year. He then

Academy during the Edinburgh Festival. Awards include the

undertook a further year of research as visiting artist at the

prestigious RSA Guthrie Award for Painting in 1994 and the

University of California in Los Angeles. Braham first came to

RSA Morton Award for Lens Based Work, 2009.

prominence in the 1980’s with the rise of figurative painting

Braham works in both painting and photography, and

in Scotland that culminated in The Vigorous Imagination

his research investigates the differences and overlaps between

exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in

these two disciplines, acknowledging that both are supremely

1987. His first solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery was in

capable of authentic representations of Being. His practice

1985, then subsequently in 1988, 2005, 2014 and 2016.

is informed by his interest in continental aesthetics. Philip

Galleries in London, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Oslo

Braham is Programme Director for Art and Philosophy at the

have represented his work, and major public and private

University of Dundee.

Philip Braham in his Crieff studio, 2019

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PHILIP BRAHAM 1959

Born in Glasgow

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1976–80

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art,

2021

The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

Dundee. DA (Painting)

2018

The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

Royal Academy of Fine Art, The Hague,

2016

Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow

Holland (Postgraduate in Painting)

2014

The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

University of California at Los Angeles,

2011

Raab Gallery, Berlin

Visiting Artist

2011

Union Gallery, Edinburgh

0.5 FTE Senior Lecturer in Fine Art,

2010

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

DJCAD, University of Dundee

2006

Osborne Samuel, London

Programme Director for Art & Philosophy,

2005

The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

DJCAD, University of Dundee

2003

BCA Gallery, London

2000

Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh

2000

BCA Gallery, London

1999

Compass Gallery, Glasgow

1998

Galleri Christian Dam, Oslo

1997

BCA Gallery, London

1995

Raab Boukamel Gallery, London

1994

Galleri Christian Dam, Copenhagen

1994

Raab Boukamel Gallery, London

1993

Compass Gallery, Glasgow

1980–81 1981–82 2000–present 2013–present

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1992

Raab Gallery, London

1989

Raab Gallery, London

1988

The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2016

Flora Depicta, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

1987

The Glasgow Arts Centre

2016

Reunion, Union Gallery, Edinburgh

1985

The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2015

September Song, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow

1984

Main Fine Art, Glasgow

2014

Royal Scottish Academy 188th Exhibition,

2017

Critic’s Choice, Bohun Gallery, Henley upon Thames, London

Edinburgh SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2020

Great Scots, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2019

Confluence: Tradition in Contemporary Art,

2013

Museum, Alloway 2011

Montclair State University, New Jersey 2019 2019

The Miniaturists III, The Scottish Gallery,

2011

Surrealism versus the Sublime, Raab Gallery, Berlin

Edinburgh

2011

7 European Artists in Yemen, Royal Geographical

Fully Awake, Edinburgh College of Art for

Society, London 2011

Back to the Drawing Board, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow

2010

Through the Woods, Jagged Art, London

2017

The Vigorous Imagination Revisited, Roger Billcliffe

Public Image, Cooper Gallery, University of Dundee

Royal Scottish Academy 2017

7 European Artists in Yemen, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris

2017–18 Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art from 1540 to Now, 2010

8 European Artists in Yemen, Bab-al Yemen Gallery, Sana’a, Yemen

2009

Gallery, Glasgow 2017

DIY: Photographers & Books, Cleveland Art Museum, Ohio

Edinburgh Art Festival 2019

Tender and Savage, Robert Burns Birthplace

Royal Scottish Academy 183rd Exhibition: RSA Morton Award winner

The Vigorous Imagination: Then and Now, Fine Art

2009

Society, Edinburgh

Inspired, Homecoming Scotland exhibition; Mitchell Library, Glasgow

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2008

Royal Scottish Academy 182nd Exhibition

1994

Visions of Albion III, Collyer-Bristow, London

2008

Scottish Landscape, The Park Gallery, Falkirk

1994

The Glory of the Garden, Art Space, London

2007

Royal Scottish Academy 181st Exhibition

1993

Visions of Albion II, Collyer Bristow, London

2005

The Call of the Sea, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh

1992

150th anniversary exhibition, The Scottish Gallery,

2003

40th Anniversary Exhibition, Demarco European

Edinburgh

Art Foundation 2002

1992

Adapt, Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum,

Collyer-Bristow, London

Glasgow 2001

1991

New European Artists, exhibition and book launch, 1991

Mountain, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and

New Scottish Painting, Galerie Bureaux et Magazins, Ostend, Belgium

Museum 1998

20th Century Scottish Painting, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

Sotheby’s, Amsterdam 1999

Visions of Albion – Aspects of British Landscape,

1990

Art and Nature, The Botanic Gardens, Cagliari,

Philip Braham, Martin Kane, Barbara Rae – Midlands Contemporary Art

Sardinia

1989

Il Giocco Dell’Oca, Cagliari, Sardinia

1998

Scotland The Brave, Forbes Galleries, New York

1989

CITAC, Sala Parpallo/Deputation Ce Valencia, Spain

1997

International Kunst, Galleri Christian Dam,

1987

20th Century Scottish Masters, The Scottish Gallery,

Copenhagen, Denmark 1996

Endangered Spaces, Christies, London

1996

Liebe und Poesie, Galerie Tobias Hirschmann,

Edinburgh 1987

Gallery of Modern Art

Frankfurt, Germany 1996 1995

The Vigorous Imagination, Scottish National

1986

Die Kraft Der Bilder, Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin,

Scottish Art Today, Edinburgh International Festival

Germany

1986

The Human Touch, Fischer Fine Art, London

Royal Scottish Academy 169th exhibition: 1st Prize

1985

Portraits on Paper, Scottish Arts Council touring

RSA Guthrie Award

exhibition

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1985

Networking, O’Kane Gallery, Houston, Texas

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

1985

The Smith Biennial, Stirling

Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum BBC London

AWARDS 2009

Chichester University Collections Royal Scottish Academy Morton Award for lens-

The City Art Centre, Edinburgh

based work

Contemporary Art Society, London

Friends of the Royal Scottish Academy Research

Educational Institute of Scotland

Bursary

Fleming Collection, London

1994

Guthrie Award, Royal Scottish Academy

Gallant House Gallery, Chichester

1989

Scottish Arts Council Award

Life Association of Scotland

1985

Educational Institute of Scotland Award

Lillie Art Gallery, Glasgow

1981

Greenshields Award

McManus Art Gallery, Dundee

1980

British Council Scholarship

Perth Museum and Art Gallery

2003

The Richard Demarco Archive, Edinburgh Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh Standard Life, Edinburgh Stirling University Collections Sunderland Art Gallery University of Dundee Collections

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Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition Philip Braham CLOSER TO HOME 6–30 January 2021 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/philipbraham ISBN: 978 1 912900 29 9 Designed by Kenneth Gray Photography by the artist Printed by J Thomson Colour Printers All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.

Cover: First Light, Torlum Hill, 2020, oil on linen, 150 x 225 cm (cat. 19) (detail) Inside front cover: Currochs Field, Winter, 2019, oil on linen, 97 x 130 cm (cat. 6) (detail)

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CAT. 47

CURROCHS PATH, CRIEFF archival pigment print, 28 x 35.5 cm