A Shared Passion

‘Trio Relaxing Table’

Tatha Gallery is delighted to be exhibiting the exquisite works of Norman Gilbert and Margot Sandeman side by side. These incredible painters shared an irresistible passion and drive to create, continuing to work daily in their studios at home until the end of their long lives, leaving behind them substantial bodies of work. The exhibition weaves together significant paintings and drawings by the artists, identifying shared motifs and subject matter. We thank Norman’s family for the continuing support and are absolutely delighted to be collaborating with Gerber Fine Art to bring Margot’s work to Tatha.

‘By the Shore’ | Oil on Canvas | 54 x 156cm | 1981 | Sandeman

Margot Sandeman

drew on her family life and her garden and the Arran landscape which she had visited consistently since childhood and knew so well. She painted the things close to her, her family and the landscapes that she loved, the beauty of which she found pure and magical.

Like Norman Gilbert, despite early critical recognition, Sandeman’s work remained under the radar throughout much of her lifetime. However, in the past two decades she has gained the notice she deserves with several acquisitions into public collections. Her work has poetry embedded in it, sometimes quite literally. In later years boldly linear and imbued with philosophy, a shared interest led her

to collaborate with her art school friend and poet Ian Hamilton Finlay on several of her paintings.

Born in Glasgow, her father was an accomplished watercolourist and her mother an internationally famous embroiderer who trained with Jessie Newberry at Glasgow School of Art. Margot followed in her footsteps, also studying in Glasgow where she met and became a lifelong friend of fellow artist Joan Eardley. They made many painting trips together to Arran which was the Sandeman’s summer base, where Margot created many of the idyllic scenes of figures in nature.

Sandeman was a poet, for her the thought, the idea, the atmosphere of beautiful trees and shady lanes, sheep as part of the pattern and shape of the landscape were rare, pure and magical. Light, airy and colourful, the figures are romantically symbolic of her thoughts, philosophy and poetry. In her work there are echoes of Matisse, Seurat and a Japanese Master, tonal harmony and harnessed energy, lyrical and vibrant. Her paintings are instilled with an air of peaceful tranquillity.

We are absolutely delighted to be collaborating with Tatha Gallery on this exhibition.

— Jill Gerber

Gerber Fine Art

It’s wonderful to celebrate once again my Dad’s life and art at Tatha Gallery. This is his fourth exhibition at the gallery, where the passion and enthusiasm for his work provided a constant source of pleasure for him in his final years. The attention these Tatha shows nurtured gave Dad a valuable opportunity to reconsider and reflect upon his earlier works in a way he had been unable to manage before. Similarly, this show enables myself and my brothers, who grew up with the work, to witness the reactions to Dad’s work through fresh eyes, as many of these paintings are being exhibited publicly for the first time.

I am confident Dad would be pleased at the inspired juxtaposition of his work with Margot Sandeman’s equally intimate and highly crafted pictures. Both artists emerged out of post-war Glasgow and drew on meticulously observed interactions of the people and places that were close to their hearts. They both shared a profound passion for the rugged beauty of the west coast of Scotland, which appears in all its glory in many of their paintings.

Norman’s Son Gilbert

Furthermore, in later years, they each turned their attention to more formal relationships, arranged and rendered in quietly complex and delicately composed still-life paintings. This exhibition runs concurrently with a major show of Dad’s work at Glasgow’s Tramway (until 5th February 2023), his first in a public gallery. He would take great satisfaction and pleasure from knowing his native Glasgow has given his paintings this well-earned recognition. Moreover, the End of Life drawings he did of our Mum, Pat, during the last week of her life in 2016 are currently being exhibited in the United States, at the University of Nebraska Omaha. All of these shows testify to the power of art to turn the most intimate and private experiences into a communal opportunity for joyful reflection. Witnessing how much Dad’s work continues to move and engage new audiences has been wonderful. He would be delighted and quietly satisfied. Mark Gilbert

Oil on Board x 91cm

1960 | Gilbert

L

‘Pat, Paul and Mark’ Oil on Board 122 x 86cm 1991 | Gilbert R

‘Reflections in a Mirror’ Oil on Board 122 x 81cm 1978 | Gilbert

‘Two Boys Crossing a Stream’

L

‘Girl in a Tub Chair’ Oil on Board

122 x 86cm

2003 | Gilbert R

‘Pat and Mark in Front of Bookcase’ Oil on Board

122 x 86cm

1982 | Gilbert

‘Interior with Young Man Reading’ Oil on Board x 107cm | Gilbert

‘Peter & David I’ on Canvas

‘Mark and Pat with a Newspaper’ on Board

‘The Way Up’ Oil on Canvas x 62cm Sandeman

‘Bruno, Danial and Mark’ Oil on Board x 81cm | Gilbert

‘Barbara’s Portrait’ Oil on Board 86 x 122cm | Gilbert

122 x 86cm 1981 | Gilbert R

122 x 76cm 1988 | Gilbert

‘Trio, One with Top Hat’ Oil on Board

‘Pat, Mark and Barbara’ Oil on Board

‘Floating Figures with Cloak’ on Board x 74cm

‘Winter’

Also available by Margot Sandeman at Tatha:

‘Two Figures in a Landscape’, 1974 ‘Sheep on a Hillside’

‘Poet at the Edge of a Dark Wood’ (study)

‘Poet and Sheep’, 1973

‘Poets & Words for Joan’ (study)

‘No More Sheep’