Scottish Art News Issue 21

A R T SCOTTISH ART NEWS

ISSUE 21 SPRING 2014 £3

JD FERGUSSON WILLIAM MCCANCE: DREAMER OF THE AGE RSA NEW CONTEMPORARIES GENERATION: 25 YEARS OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN SCOTLAND GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL BOYLE FAMILY

DAVID McCLURE (1926-1998) 5 – 29 MARCH 2014

In the first exhibition of David McClure’s work since 2003, this retrospective will showcase the full span of David McClure’s oeuvre, including works in oil, gouache and watercolour.

One of the highly regarded group of painters that has become known as ‘The Edinburgh School’, McClure had a long professional career both as an exhibiting artist and as a teacher at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee. He was offered his first solo show at The Scottish Gallery in 1957 and held his seventieth

birthday exhibition with us nearly forty years later, in 1996.

McClure’s incisive yet lyrical drawing, rich paint texture and use of strong vibrant colour is rooted in a long-standing Scottish tradition and enriched by the artist’s regard for French Post-Impressionist artists including Gauguin, Matisse and Chagall. Always informed by an intellectual rigour and reference to the wider history of art, literature and music, his work is celebratory of the good things in life and nature and of the art of picture making.

Still Life on a Stool (with Pear), 1957, oil on canvas, 51 x 61 cms

THE SCOTTISH GALLERY 16 DUNDAS STREET EDINBURGH EH3 6HZ 0131 558 1200 WWW.SCOTTISH-GALLERY.CO.UK mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk

Bern, Pool, oil on board, 70 x 100 cms

CALUM McCLURE (b. 1987)

3 – 31 MAY 2014 David McClure’s grandson Calum graduated in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art in 2010. He had a successful first solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery in 2011, won the prestigious Jolomo Painting Award in the same year and has shown work in several group exhibitions in Edinburgh and London, including being an invited artist at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition.

He is one of the most exciting talents to emerge from Scotland in recent years.

Calum’s drawings and paintings depict country estates, cemeteries, national parks and formal gardens – places created for man’s solace and pleasure. Through a varied use of paint McClure explores the complexity of images taken from nature that at first look simple. The motif of reflection has become important in his work, challenging the viewer to think about what has been painted and the tactile nature of the painting process.

THE SCOTTISH GALLERY 16 DUNDAS STREET EDINBURGH EH3 6HZ 0131 558 1200 WWW.SCOTTISH-GALLERY.CO.UK mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk

Scottish Art News 1

CONTENTS The Fleming Collection

Scottish Art News

4 Foundation & Trust: (un)coverings

14 Scottish Art News Round-up 16 Found at Last: Turner’s Lost Ossian Work

Artists’ collective Foundation & Trust create a new body of work in response to a selection of paintings from the permanent collection (Katie Baker).

8 New Scottish Artists: A Royal Scottish Academy exhibition supported by the Fleming-Wyfold Foundation In partnership with the Royal Scottish Academy, a selection of works from the RSA’s annual RSA New Contemporaries exhibition will be shown at The Fleming Collection in spring 2014 (Colin Greenslade).

The search for JMW Turner’s lost Ossian work leads Professor Murdo Macdonald of Dundee University and artist and art historian Eric Shanes to the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (Murdo Macdonald).

20 A Double Celebration of JD Fergusson

A major retrospective at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art concludes the National Galleries of Scotland’s Scottish Colourist Series, while at the same time, an exhibition at The Fergusson Gallery examines his life and career (Alice Strang / Maria Devaney).

28 William McCance (1894–1970): Dreamer of the Age Dr Ian Buchanan Smith reassesses the work of William McCance, and looks at the various influences that inspired his artistic career.

34 Boyle Family

Bill Hare interviews Boyle Family.

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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 the Glasgow Boys, the Scottish Colourists, the Edinburgh School and many contemporary Scottish names. Galleries One and Two show regular exhibitions and selected works from the permanent collection.

The Fleming Collection | 13 Berkeley Street | London | W1J 8DU 020 7042 5730 | gallery@flemingcollection.com www.flemingcollection.com Open: Tuesday – Saturday 10am–5.30pm Admission Free

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Regulars 44 Art Market (Emily Walsh).

46 Books 48 Preview 2014 GENERATION, various venues.

Glasgow International Festival, various venues.

Walter Geikie (1795–1837): An Artist of Character, City Art Centre, Edinburgh.

Fife in the Frame, St Andrews Museum.

Continue Without Losing Consciousness: Rob Churm, Raydale Dower and Tony Swain, Dundee Contemporary Arts.

60 Listings

EDITOR’S NOTE To subscribe to Scottish Art News please complete the subscription form on p.64 of this magazine. Alternatively, contact The Fleming Collection.

0207 042 5730 | admin@scottishartnews.co.uk or complete a subscription form online at www.flemingcollection.com/scottishartnews.php Scottish Art News is published biannually by The Fleming Collection, London. Publication dates: January and June.

To advertise and/or list in Scottish Art News please contact: Briony Anderson 020 7042 5713 | briony.anderson@flemingcollection.com Behind Scottish Art News at The Fleming Collection: Editor: Briony Anderson | editor@scottishartnews.co.uk Editorial assistance: Katie Baker Gallery staff: Nancy Cooper, Sophie Midgley, Janet Casey

Revised design concept by Flit (London) and Briony Anderson Printed by Empress Litho Limited MADE IN LONDON BY FLIT FLITLONDON.CO.UK

Scottish Art News Issue 21 is kindly sponsored by:

© Scottish Art News 2014. 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 Foundation.

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

Cover Image

As people in Scotland gear up to cast their votes on the referendum on independence, GENERATION, a landmark series of exhibitions celebrating 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland will be opening across the nation. Over 100 artists will be shown in more than 60 venues between March and November in a programme described by Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland as ‘one of the most ambitious programmes of exhibitions ever mounted by a single country’. GENERATION is taking place as part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme – ‘a celebration for all of Scotland’ – which will run a range of events as a cultural complement to the Commonwealth Games.

The upcoming referendum is absent from publicity and programming, but in seeking to recognise the significant international acclaim that artists working in Scotland have achieved over the last 25 years, GENERATION carries the message that it is proud and keen to share these achievements. An absence of dialogue about the upcoming referendum is in contrast to the work of two of the artists featured in this issue, JD Fergusson (1874–1961) and William McCance (1894–1970), who are recognised as having developed what has been termed a form of ‘cultural nationalism’ through the Scottish Renaissance movement. (See pp.22–33.)

2014 will also mark 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War. From July to September The Fleming Collection will hold an exhibition of photographs by Scottish photographer Peter Cattrell who, since 1996, has made a series of visits to the French and Belgian battlefields where he has documented the landscapes of the Great War. Prior to this, The Fleming Collection will join the Royal Scottish Academy in showing emerging talent from Scotland’s art schools. (See p.8.)

In this issue I would like to give thanks in particular to Will Bennett who has kindly contributed the art market round-up since 2008 and who retired last year. I am delighted that Emily Walsh, Managing Director of Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh, and a Director of The Fine Art Society, London, will take up this regular feature, sharing her thoughts and experience of the Scottish art market. (See p.44.)

As always I am grateful to everyone who has contributed to this edition of Scottish Art News, and would like to thank all the advertisers, in particular Lyon and Turnbull, Scotland’s oldest established auction house, for their continued support and generous sponsorship that makes this magazine possible.

(Briony Anderson.)

Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich

Walker & Bromwich ‘Love Cannon’, 2007 Les Ateliers des Arques, Les Arques, France. Image courtesy the artists Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich are showing as part of GENERATION at the The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney. (See p.48.)

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FOUNDATION & TRUST (UN)COVERINGS For The Fleming Collection’s current exhibition, artists’ collective Foundation & Trust have made a new body of work in response to the permanent collection and its corporate origins.

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he Fleming Collection as it stands now, a collection of over 700 works of Scottish art dating from 1770 to the present day, began with an idea to put something on the bare walls of a bank’s offices in the City of London. Investment bank Robert Fleming & Co. began as an investment business established by Robert Fleming in Dundee in 1873, when he formed the first investment trust in Scotland. When the bank’s move to new premises in 1968 created a need for a collection that would decorate the space, the only remit was that it had to be Scottish. By the time the bank was sold in 2000 to Chase Manhattan a significant number of works had been amassed.

The collection was purchased by the Fleming family, gifted to a new charitable foundation, the Fleming-Wyfold Foundation, and in 2002 a gallery was opened so that a selection of works might be available for public display. Over a decade after the foundation was established, artists’ collective Foundation & Trust (F&T), have been working with the gallery to make what they term an art audit of the collection – a site-specific response that explores its history and present role today.

When The National Gallery was established in 1824, from the collections of wealthy banker John Julius Angerstein, social reformers of the time were arguing that art held some moral and intellectual experience, the benefits of which belonged to the nation as a whole. While France’s national gallery the Louvre had been more dramatically born through revolution and the nationalising of a King’s art collection and palace, the British gallery emerged slowly to a growing demand that the cultural needs of a nation should be met. Nearly 50 years later, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s founder Joseph Hodges Choate, who helped found the museum on the collections of America’s wealthy, declared that knowledge of art would ‘tend directly to humanize, to educate and refine a practical and laborious people’.1 The history of art collections is one of shifting relationships between private and public display and the values and ideals such shifts reveal.

While The Fleming Collection is now owned by the foundation, Fleming Family & Partners Ltd (FF&P), a company which still has important links to the Fleming family, is a key corporate sponsor of the collection. Many of the works are loaned back to them to hang on their office walls and in Gallery One F&T have rehung some of these paintings in an echo of the collection’s original shift in 2002 from private to public display. The gallery walls on which the paintings have been hung are decorated with wallpaper created for the exhibition by F&T. Using a template from 1980s design collective Memphis, the wallpaper is made up of details of landscapes taken from paintings in the collection and original paintings of objects from the offices of FF&P.

Over the years art gallery design has changed significantly, with objects in galleries becoming increasingly

isolated and their surroundings pared down. Ever wider gaps have been left between works and the space of the gallery emptied out, the luxurious furnishings and ornaments that historically once surrounded them removed to create a setting that would not compete with the art. Today’s modern gallery is typically Brian O’Doherty’s unshadowed, clean, white cube ‘devoted to a technology of aesthetics’.2 Other meanings and relationships the work might have are suppressed to allow for some notion of the ‘pure’ aesthetic gaze, as if the work might exist in isolation.

The wallpaper interrupts this ritual of contemplation which the gallery asks of its viewers. It references, by wallpaper’s associations with the domestic interior, the great homes and stately private residences such collections once hung on, as well as the contemporary private residences of modern collectors. In so doing it reinserts into the space the social and historical contingency of the work’s value that the gallery space typically seeks to occlude.

The wallpaper design refers in its imagery to the collection’s original corporate collector, as well as the paintings’ past and present existence as office furnishings.

Decorated with the mundane motifs that are a ubiquitous feature of office life, the potted plants and the swivel chairs, the wallpaper suggests that these grand paintings can become little more than a part of the interior decor, to be equated with the other paraphernalia of office life, questioning the boundary between art and decoration. Elsewhere in Gallery One a row of indoor pot plants are arranged in a glass showcase, extending this allusion to pot plant as office cliché.

An acknowledgement of a human desire for something more ‘natural’ than the office setting, an environment that, with its air conditioning, fluorescent lighting and minimal aesthetic, is as artificial, coded and sealed off from the external world as the gallery space. The pot plants stand as a symbol of the failure to refer to something, nature appearing atrophied and diminished by this feeble gesture towards it.

Installation view: (un)coverings, The Fleming Collection, 2013

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ABOVE AND OPPOSITE Installation view: (un)coverings, The Fleming Collection, 2013

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The rendering of landscapes and still lifes in household paint and the palette of corporate colours, underline the unstable boundaries around art when removed from the frame of the gallery

Paintings of expansive landscapes, towering mountain ranges, and places imbued with the greatness and magnitude of the sublime can also appear to fall short within their quotidian surroundings. It is this phenomenon of the sublime and the failure of the sublime content of painting which F&T have examined through work they have made in response to the collection. Upstairs, in Gallery Two, a diagram symbolising the sublime is painted onto abandoned carpet tiles, recovered from the offices of FF&P. The attempt to reduce the sublime to some quantifiable, diagrammatic form, the failure redoubled by its backdrop of worn and ugly carpet tiles is as hopeless as attempting to evoke nature through the potted plant. For F&T diagrams attempt, and fail, to express the inexpressible, and so reflect art’s own limitations.

One wall is hung with over 30 paintings made

by F&T. They depict imagery of landscapes and still lifes (which are synonymous with the collection), patterns taken from office furniture at FF&P, allusions to various historical avant-garde movements and symbols or diagrams. The close hanging of the paintings recalls the salon hangs of the past, when individual works were subsumed in larger decorative schemes. The paintings and collages have been made using matte emulsion interior paint, with a palette of 16 colours, all of which have been selected from objects found in the offices of FF&P. These references to the aesthetics of office life – the rendering of landscapes and still lifes in household paint and the palette of corporate colours – underline the unstable boundaries around art when removed from the frame of the gallery and the disinterested aesthetic judgment that it invites.

On an adjacent wall the palette is displayed on 16 glass panels. Beneath it, paint tins show the names each colour has been given, labels like ‘Philanthropic Van-Dyke Grampian’ referencing the various economic models through which art is supported. While great art museums have been built upon the largesse of private individuals, the boundaries between private and public display are slippery, with bequests having often carried restrictions and stipulations. With the soaring cost of historical art placing it beyond the budget of most national and public galleries, it is corporate collectors and wealthy individuals who will dominate the market. But the future of these private and corporate collections is far from certain, and what happens to these collections remains

to be seen. When The National Gallery was established to provide the public with access to works of art, their concept of public was very different from contemporary notions. That is, the ‘public’ were the people who were considered to count as public- typically privileged, educated, men of taste. These days it is a very different notion of public that major art institutions court, pursuing ever bigger visitor numbers and seeking greater diversity in those numbers. But the act of making a collection public asks the same questions. Who do we believe art should be for and who should see it; what happens to art when it is in the gallery and when it is not? What ideas, ideals and values, implicit and explicit, acknowledged and unacknowledged, do we uphold in the collections we have and the publics they seek?

Katie Baker is an artist and writer based in London.

1. Duncan, C., Civilizing Rituals: Inside Public Art Museums, London: Routledge, 1995, p.54.

2. O’Doherty, B., Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space, London: University of California Press Ltd., 1999, p.15.

Foundation & Trust: (un)coverings Until 1 March 2014 The Fleming Collection 13 Berkeley Street, Mayfair, London, W1J 8DU t: 020 7042 5730 | www.flemingcollection.com Open: Tuesday – Saturday 10am–5.30pm Scottish Art News 7

Director of the Royal Scottish Academy, Colin Greenslade, reflects on initiatives which have been developed by the academy to help emerging artists bridge the transition between graduation and professional practice.

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NEW SCOTTISH ARTISTS A Royal Scottish Academy exhibition supported by the Fleming-Wyfold Foundation ‘Some of the top artists now exhibiting regularly in Scotland – and a few of those running art spaces around the country – showed for the first time at RSA New Contemporaries after newly graduating’ — Andrew Cattanach, The Skinny, March 2012

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hen surveying, or at least reporting upon, an opportunity which affects so many, especially when it’s being sealed in print, research becomes everything. So, on being asked to introduce the RSA New Contemporaries opportunity for emerging artists in preparation for the development of the London exhibition New Scottish Artists, I took to the vaults to search for facts. Much of the written archive for this short period of recent history is stored either at the offices on The Mound in Edinburgh, or at our extensive collection based at Modern Two (previously the Dean Gallery). However, the ‘memory archive’ has conjured images of exhibited works, numerous personalities and celebrations recalled from the past few years, prompting reflections upon the speed at which this opportunity has gathered pace to become the primary platform for emerging art in Scotland today.

This story is not new, of course, as the Royal Scottish Academy has long been a supporter of education and emerging artists. The academy taught fine art until the formation of Edinburgh College of Art in 1907, and it continues to have a close involvement with teaching institutions in Scotland to this day. Throughout the twentieth century, the academy continued to administer and present an annual student competition open to emerging artists from the then four Scottish schools of art. In the 1970s this opportunity was developed to enable all final year and postgraduate students of fine art and architecture in Scotland to submit one work to the show.

This tried and tested format, open to all, proved to be incredibly successful as a starting point for new careers. However, by the early twenty-first century, the exhibition’s popularity among the ever-increasing numbers of participating students brought with it the challenge of accommodating the sheer volume of works in the show.

The galleries were full and the interest was wide, but there was little prolonged engagement with the artists, and the individual exhibited works were being shown out of context from the artists’ studio practice. In 2008, after talks with representatives of all schools of art and architecture, radical steps were taken to overhaul the former RSA Student Exhibition, replacing it with RSA New Contemporaries, the largest survey of emerging artists in the UK.

In developing the initiative, the RSA began to select a smaller number of interesting artists directly from

Clare Flatley (ECA), The Black Gates. Installation view: RSA NC 12. Photo: Dave Grinlay

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CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER RIGHT Ibraheem Adeyemi Adesina (Grays), Decline. linocut (RSA NC 13) Jonny Lyons (DJCAD), Peace Be With You and also With Me (RSA NC 14) Andrew Mason (ECA), Potato Fountain, 2012. Installation view: RSA NC 12. Photo: Dave Grinlay Sam Baxter (DJCAD), Protea Boa (RSA NC 14)

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their end-of-year degree shows, inviting them to make new works for the RSA galleries the following spring. The academy sought to offer the opportunity for a body of work to be shown rather than one work in isolation, as well as to develop a continuing long-term relationship with 60 graduates annually. Its aim was to develop stronger collaborative links with the art schools and schools of architecture in Scotland, and produce a world-class, year-onyear account of the best of Scottish graduates all under one roof and in an annual publication.

The process for selection of the show is democratic.

The assembly of academicians selects a different convener each year and, in turn, they select a number of fellow academicians as their committee, one to assist at each of the teaching institutions. The art schools appoint two internal staff members to assist with the selection at their venue, and the group is accompanied by myself, Colin Greenslade, RSA Director, and Alisa Lindsay, RSA Programme Coordinator, who assist administration and begin to build relationships with the selected artists. Each degree show is visited in person with individual artist’s shows visited twice on selection day. No prior information about exhibitors is given to the academy team and so the artists are selected upon the impact and quality of their visual presentations.

The art schools are represented proportionately by the number of graduating students in the year – in 2014 one in every seven students was selected. The committee offers the opportunity for inclusion in the following year’s RSA New Contemporaries exhibition and suggests that either new or current work is exhibited. At this very early stage of their careers, many artists opt to show a mixture of works from their degree presentation alongside newly made works. This is a vulnerable time for young artists as they leave art school and establish themselves with studios, residencies and exhibition opportunities, and so RSA New Contemporaries attempts to aid this difficult process through goal-setting and relationship development.

Since the inaugural exhibition in 2009, RSA New Contemporaries has become a key event in the exhibiting calendar. At the time of writing we have an ‘alumni’ of some 300 artists who have been represented over the past five years. By summer 2014, 360 artists will have exhibited, and 60 more will have been selected from the 2014 degree shows.

The success of the exhibition has been built upon the quality of the artists and the academy’s dedication to supporting their burgeoning careers.

In 2014 the world will be looking in Scotland’s direction. Events such as the Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup and Scotland’s referendum will focus attention on our small nation. In addition, Scotland will showcase its artists through GENERATION, a major series of exhibitions

ABOVE FROM TOP Emma Finn (ECA), More or Less (RSA NC 14) Stuart McAdam (DJCAD), Lines Lost, performative walk with Simon Yates, 2013 (RSA NC 09). Photo: Diane Smith

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CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER LEFT Mikey Cook (GSA), NYMPIS, 2013, polyurethane foam on screen-printed plinths. (RSA NC 14) Geri Loup Nolan (ECA), Untitled (RSA NC 11) Natalie Kerr (Grays), PIE FACE at PLAYpark, public participatory project and installation: Rubislaw Terrace Gardens, Aberdeen. 2013 (RSA NC 14) Photo: Amber Robertson

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celebrating Scottish artists who have come to prominence during the past 25 years. As part of GENERATION, the RSA will present OPEN DIALOGUES, an exhibition which will revisit the careers of one artist from each of the previous six years of RSA New Contemporaries (2009–2014). The artists have been selected for their impact upon contemporary practice, their proven track record since RSA New Contemporaries, and the excellence of the work.

This exhibition will highlight a number of the key young artists working in Scotland today as well as being a significant opportunity for emerging and newly established artists to showcase their work in Edinburgh’s main thoroughfare during the Commonwealth Games and Edinburgh Festival. The selected artists are Stuart McAdam (2009), Ernesto Cánovas (2010), Geri Loup Nolan (2011), Eva Ullrich (2012), Ade Adesina (2013), and Jonny Lyons (2014).

Now that the national programme for GENERATION has been announced, it is inspiring to learn that as the oldest (or at least one of the longest established) of the participating galleries, the academy is showcasing the newest of artists.

At RSA New Contemporaries 2014 the FlemingWyfold Foundation will support a £14,000 bursary and mentoring initiative for a young artist over the following 12 months. This artist will also have a work selected for their permanent collection. Moreover, in an exciting new addition to our calendar, a selection of the RSA New Contemporaries artists will show at The Fleming Collection in spring 2014. New Scottish Artists – a Royal Scottish Academy exhibition supported by the Fleming-Wyfold Foundation not only heralds a new collaborative partnership between the academy and the Fleming-Wyfold Foundation, but enables the artists to exhibit their work in London.

As RSA New Contemporaries gathers momentum it opens up new scope for collaboration and support. It has metamorphosed from a traditional leviathan to a tour-deforce of opportunity for newly emerging artists. The show has gathered partners and award-givers and set itself as a benchmark for high-quality visual art practice. Its reputation hasn’t been formed on celebrity and hype, rather, the buzz has been created purely from the quality of the art on show. Six years in, we have an incredible alumni to celebrate and we look forward to many years of exhilarating, ponderous, uplifting, spectacular, thought-provoking and amazing art ahead of us.

Colin Greenslade is Director of the Royal Scottish Academy.

Eva Ullrich (GSA), Sliver, oil on board (RSA NC 12)

RSA New Contemporaries 2014 15 February – 12 March 2014 GENERATION: Open Dialogues 28 June – 31 August 2014 Royal Scottish Academy The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL t: 0131 225 6671 www.royalscottishacademy.org Open: Monday – Saturday 10am–5pm, Sunday 12–5pm New Scottish Artists 2014 – A Royal Scottish Academy exhibition supported by the Fleming-Wyfold Foundation 25 March – 31 May 2014 The Fleming Collection 13 Berkeley Street, Mayfair, London, W1J 8DU t: 020 7042 5730 www.flemingcollection.com Open: Tuesday – Saturday 10am–5.30pm

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SCOTTISH ART NEWS ROUND-UP The full programme and featured artists for GENERATION, which celebrates 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland, has been revealed. The £2m project, which has taken two years of planning, will trace Scotland’s contemporary art scene over the past quarter of a century with over 100 Scottish artists showing in 60 different locations across Scotland in 2014. The exhibitions (all with free admission) will mainly take place over the summer as part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme in locations such as the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Pier Art Centre, Orkney; and Caithness Horizons, Thurso. Exhibiting artists include Douglas Gordon, Martin Boyce, Richard Wright, Simon Starling, Karla Black, Jim Lambie and Nathan Coley. GENERATION is a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and Glasgow Life, supported by Creative Scotland. www.generationartscotland.org

A derelict landmark on Glasgow’s waterfront, which formed part of Glasgow’s original Clyde Tunnel, is to be given a new lease of life as an arts venue throughout the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Opened in 1895, but unused since 1980, the South Rotunda is set to host a pop-up arts festival with a programme of performance and visual art,

GENERATION: Ross Sinclair, Real Life, Rocky Mountain, 1996. Installation view: CCA, Glasgow. Courtesy the artist

including performances run by the Scottish Youth Theatre and the National Theatre of Scotland. This will be the culmination of an eight-

across Scotland, means that almost 200 works will be available online.

month project, The Tin Forest, inspired by the children’s book of the

Participating organisations include Edinburgh Printmakers, Dundee

same name. Ticket information will be released in spring 2014.

Contemporary Arts, Fruitmarket Gallery, Glasgow Print Studio, Project

www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

Ability, Artpistol, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (RGI), and Glasgow International at which Jeremy Deller’s depiction of Stonehenge was one of the highlights in 2012. The Scottish Collection has been

In 2016 the Burrell Collection in Glasgow will close its doors for

developed through a partnership with Creative Scotland.

a major redevelopment. Home to treasures including nineteenth-

www.culturelabel.com

century French masterpieces by Degas and Cézanne, and Rodin’s The Thinker, it has been proposed that the 8,000-piece collection will tour while the museum is closed for refurbishment. The proposal has

The East Neuk Festival (27 June – 6 July 2014) will celebrate its

been met with opposition in the art world as a tour would breach Sir

10th anniversary with a special 10-day festival of classical music,

William Burrell’s prohibition on international loans. The bid for the

jazz, literature and art. Littoral, the festival’s programme of writing

collection to go on loan has been brought to the Scottish Parliament

and ideas, will stage readings, discussions and workshops in Crail

to allow the collection to tour overseas.

for the first weekend, and Cambo for the second. The programme

www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/burrell-collection

will reflect nature and landscape with defined themes this year of travel, pathways and gardens, explored by eminent writers including Artemis Cooper, Richard Holloway, Robert MacFarlane, Sally

Contemporary Scottish artists are set to reach a wider audience through

Magnusson and children’s author Vivian French. An exhibition of

the Scottish Collection, newly launched on CultureLabel.com, an online

landscape paintings from the Fleming-Wyfold Foundation will go on

retail platform which brings together selected international art and

show in Fife in the Frame at St Andrews Museum in Fife from

design featuring original and limited-edition contemporary artwork. A

27 June to 17 August 2014. (See p.57.)

curated selection of 10 works, each from a diverse range of organisations

www.eastneukfestival.com

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Art in Healthcare, a charity who provides art for health organisations in Scotland, has announced that Edinburgh University has recently agreed a long-term loan of a large part of Edinburgh College of Art’s extensive collection. This will enable the charity to facilitate the display of many of these works in hospitals throughout Scotland. Since 1991 AiH has been assembling one of the largest and most prestigious collections of original Scottish art in the country.

More than 1,400 artworks by a diverse range of artists are uniquely available for display in hospitals and other healthcare settings for the enjoyment of staff, patients and visitors who pass through the doors each year. Many of the works are by Scottish or Scotlandbased artists, such as Will Maclean, Elizabeth Blackadder and Andy Goldsworthy.

Art in Healthcare: Alistair Park by Frances Walker Photo: Edinburgh College of Art (University of Edinburgh)

www.artinhealthcare.org.uk

Nine Scottish communities have been shortlisted for the 2014

arts in Scotland will benefit from £5m new funding from the Scottish

Creative Place Awards. The awards celebrate and recognise the

Government over the next two years to support initiatives such as

hard work and imagination that contribute to the rich cultural life

the development of a new national digital platform to showcase

of Scotland’s small communities, as well as social and economic

and connect young people engaged in youth arts activity, and the

well-being. Nominations for places with under 2,500 residents are:

establishment of a National Youth Advisory Group.

Kingussie, Ullapool and Helmsdale; under 10,000 residents: Arran,

www.creativescotland.com/time-to-shine

Peebles, Cove, Kilcrehhan, Roseneath, Clynder and Gareloch; and under 100,000 residents: Falkirk, Dumfries and Orkney. The winners will be announced at the Creative Place Awards ceremony

Dovecot Studios, in partnership with Scottish Opera, have

on 29 January 2014. The purpose of the Creative Place Awards is

commissioned Scottish artist Alison Watt to create a tapestry

to enhance and promote the creative activities and programmes of

to hang over three floors of the new foyer at the Theatre Royal in

smaller Scottish communities.

Glasgow. The project is being led by Dovecot master weaver Naomi

www.creativescotland.org.uk

Robertson and will take one year to weave. It will be the largest piece of public art commissioned by Scottish Opera for the new building and will be unveiled at the opening in May 2014, in advance of their

The National Galleries of Scotland has acquired The Chalk Cutting,

production of Madame Butterfly.

1898, by the influential Scottish artist Arthur Melville (1855–1904),

www.dovecotstudios.com

with support from the Art Fund and Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland. The painting was acquired for £72,000 with a grant of £25,000 from the Art Fund. Chalk Cutting enhances the holdings within the national collection of paintings associated with the Glasgow School, an important group of artists working in Scotland in the late nineteenth century. Melville is increasingly recognised as one of the most consistently innovative and significant Scottish painters of this period. www.nationalgalleries.org

Time to Shine – Scotland’s first National Arts Strategy for Young People was launched in November 2013 by Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, and Janet Archer, Chief Executive of Creative Scotland. The strategy, aimed at young people aged up to 25 years, is centred around three themes: creating and sustaining engagement, nurturing potential and talent, and developing infrastructure and support. It was announced that youth

Scottish Collection on CultureLabel: Jeremy Deller, Untitled, 2013, screen-print on Somerset Satin 300 gsm. Photo: Ruth Clark.

Courtesy the artist and Glasgow International

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FOUND AT LAST Turner’s Lost Ossian Work Murdo Macdonald A painting by Turner in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, thought for decades to be a Welsh mountain landscape, is revealed as a mountain scene in Scotland.

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JMW Turner (1775–1851) Ben Lomond Mountains, Scotland: The Traveller – Vide Ossian’s War of Caros, oil on canvas, 1802, 64.1x98.8 cm Current title: Welsh Mountain Landscape © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

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JMW Turner, Ben Lomond Mountains, Scotland: The Traveller – Vide Ossian’s War of Caros (detail)

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n January 2013 the painter and art historian Eric Shanes was lecturing on JMW Turner at the National Galleries of Scotland. Eric is an old teacher of mine so we try to see each other when he visits Edinburgh. Sharing a meal after his lecture I asked him if he knew anything about Turner’s lost Ossian work from 1802, Ben Lomond Mountains, Scotland: The Traveller – Vide Ossian’s War of Caros. Eric is currently writing a major biography of Turner for Yale University Press, so if anyone knew, he would.

I was asking both from the perspective of my own interest in Ossian and art, and my long-standing interest in Turner which Eric was largely responsible for engendering in the mid-1970s. Eric immediately mentioned an oil painting in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge as the most likely candidate, based on a suggestion made by his friend John Gage, although Gage’s speculation had been dismissed as unlikely by a number of other commentators. Eric, however, was convinced that it had merit and even the low-resolution reproduction of the painting – currently called Welsh Mountain Landscape – on the Fitzwilliam website led me to think that he might be right, for the topography shown in the painting had a great deal in common with the Central Highlands of Scotland, with which, as a hillwalker, I am familiar.

In due course we established the exact location shown in the Cambridge picture. It was indeed Ben Lomond mountains as Turner states, with Ben Lomond itself prominent in the background. The conclusive evidence was a drawing I found in Turner’s Scottish Pencils series while I was exploring the Tate’s wonderful digital archive. Listed in the Tate catalogue as A Wooded Bay with Mountains Beyond; Perhaps Loch Lomond at Inveruglas, this drawing is the clear basis of the painting.

However, with a combination of Eric reading maps in London and me driving around Loch Lomond, we established that the location of the drawing suggested in the Tate catalogue was too far north and that the actual location of Turner’s drawing was the Rubha Mor promontory, some six miles to the south of Inveruglas. Turner’s viewpoint is just north of Inverbeg, looking over Rubha Mor and Loch Lomond to the Ben Lomond massif.

The importance of the Scottish Pencils drawings is widely accepted. For example, in his biography of Turner, James Hamilton notes that ‘with their wealth of topographical, incidental and tonal detail [they] are what might be called “foundation” drawings, considered ruminations on the way land or rock masses behave in particular light and weather effects for Turner’s own use in the future’.1 Thus, in the Ossian oil painting we had identified a work closely linked to a group of drawings that are of key importance to the development of Turner’s approach to landscape.

That link is consistent with the significance with which Turner regarded the painting, for it was included in the group of works which he chose to contribute to the Royal

With a combination of Eric reading maps in London and me driving around Loch Lomond, we established that the location of the drawing suggested in the Tate catalogue was too far north and that the actual location of Turner’s drawing was the Rubha Mor promontory, some six miles to the south of Inveruglas

Academy exhibition of 1802. Hamilton again: ‘It was of the utmost importance to Turner that he should get these paintings right, as this would be his first appearance at the Royal Academy as a full Academician.’2 Hamilton gives an illuminating discussion of the psychological balance Turner was trying to achieve between the oil paintings, but like other commentors he assumes that Ben Lomond Mountains, Scotland: The Traveller – Vide Ossian’s War of Caros, is not only lost but is also a watercolour, so he doesn’t discuss it. When we look at the group of oil paintings as a whole but add its fifth member, the Ben Lomond work becomes a pivot between Turner’s seascapes and his imaginary landscapes. It shares the reality of its place with Fishermen on a Lee-Shore in Squally Weather and Ships Bearing up for Anchorage, and shares the poetical drama of its subject with Jason and The Tenth Plague of Egypt.

So for the first time since the title and painting became detached from one another, it is possible to appreciate fully the psychological balance of Turner’s first exhibits in oils at the Royal Academy after his election as a full member of that body. The painting is significant in another sense too, for it seems to be Turner’s first response in oil paint to poetry based on a landscape that he had himself seen, and that is, of course, one of the defining themes of his career as a whole.

An account including comments on the Ossianic figures Turner includes in his work is given in Murdo Macdonald and Eric Shanes’ Turner and Ossian’s The Traveller, published in the October 2013 issue of Turner Society News, edited by Cecilia Powell.

Murdo Macdonald is Professor of History of Scottish Art at the University of Dundee.

1. James Hamilton, Turner: A Life, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1997, p.66.

2. Ibid, p.69.

Scottish Art News 19

A DOUBLE CELEBRATION JD FERGUSSON The importance of one of the UK’s greatest twentieth-century artists is being celebrated in two exhibitions devoted to JD Fergusson (1874–1961).

Almost 50 years after his death in Glasgow, the time is ripe to reassess Fergusson’s contribution to twentieth-century art. A major retrospective at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is the third and final part of the National Galleries of Scotland’s landmark series of exhibitions devoted to the Scottish Colourists. At the same time, an exhibition at The Fergusson Gallery, which is dedicated to the artist’s life and career, will examine his personal interpretation of Celticism.

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JD Fergusson (1874–1961) A Village in a Valley, 1922, oil on canvas, 56x61 cm

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The Scottish Colourist Series: JD Fergusson Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Two, Edinburgh

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ergusson has the most international reputation and was the longest-lived of the Scottish Colourists, which also included FCB Cadell, GL Hunter and SJ Peploe. His long career spanned the period from the birth of modern art in Paris before the First World War, to the revitalisation of the arts scene in Glasgow after the outbreak of the Second World War. Fergusson is the only Colourist to have made sculpture and to have been involved with the performing arts, through his partner the dance pioneer Margaret Morris. The last of the Scottish National Galleries’ Scottish Colourist Series of exhibitions, JD Fergusson, will contain over 100 paintings, sculptures, works on paper and items of archival material, from public and private collections throughout the UK.

An artist of passion and sensuality, Fergusson is best known for his depictions of women. Paintings of his partners are among his most celebrated; these include The White Dress: Portrait of Jean, 1904 (The Fergusson Gallery), a bravura life-size image of Edwardian femininity featuring Jean Maconochie, and Le Manteau Chinois, 1909 (The Fergusson Gallery), a dazzling image of female self-possession featuring the American artist Anne Estelle Rice. Morris and her pupils provided Fergusson with an endless source of inspiration, resulting in works such as the idyllic Summer 1914, of 1934 (The Fergusson Gallery).

Fergusson was born in Leith near Edinburgh and was essentially self-taught. By 1902 he had his first studio in the Scottish capital and became a familiar figure sketching in the city, as can be seen in Bank of Scotland from Princes Street Gardens, early 1900s (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art).

In about 1900 Fergusson met Peploe and from 1904 they spent the summers painting together in France, resulting in works such as Grey Day, Paris-Plage, 1906 (Glasgow Life).

Fergusson’s first solo exhibition was held in London in 1905. He moved to Paris in 1907 where, more than any of his Scottish contemporaries, he assimilated and developed the latest advances in French painting by artists such as Henri Matisse and André Derain. His work changed dramatically, as can be seen in the boldly coloured and designed Hortensia, 1907 (University of Aberdeen), and the striking and complex La Bête violette, 1910 (private collection). A daring series of nudes, including Rhythm (University of Stirling) and Les Eus (The Hunterian, University of Glasgow), of between 1910 and 1913, are among the most original paintings in British art of the period.

In 1913 Fergusson met Morris in Paris and they began a personal and professional relationship which lasted until his death. On the outbreak of the First World War, Fergusson 22

moved to London, where Morris was based. Through the Margaret Morris Club, which she ran alongside her dance school and theatre in Chelsea, Fergusson immediately came in to contact with the London avant-garde.

Few works by Fergusson survive from the war years.

In July 1918 he was granted permission by the Admiralty ‘to go to Portsmouth to gather impressions for painting a picture’. He spent several weeks there sketching and the resultant series of paintings, including Damaged Destroyer (Glasgow Life) and Portsmouth Docks (University of Stirling), show Fergusson experimenting with Vorticism. As a result, they are as distinct in style as they are in subject matter within his oeuvre. This can also be said of an important series of landscapes which Fergusson painted following a motoring tour of the Scottish Highlands in 1922, including A Puff of Smoke near Milngavie, 1922 (private collection).

Fergusson made his first sculpture in Paris in 1908 and his last is thought to date from c.1955. This important aspect of his oeuvre is little known. A special feature of the exhibition will be a display of 15 sculptures, made in wood, stone, bronze and plaster, including the seminal Eastre of 1924 (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art), enigmatic Standing

He moved to Paris in 1907 where, more than any of his Scottish contemporaries, he assimilated and developed the latest advances in French painting by artists such as Henri Matisse and AndrĂŠ Derain

ABOVE Le Manteau Chinois, 1909 Oil on canvas, 199.5x97 cm The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council OPPOSITE Dancing Nude: Effulgence, c.1920 Bronze, 22x13x13.5 cm Private collection, courtesy Lyon & Turnbull Photo: John McKenzie

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Female Nude (private collection) and voluptuous Dancing Nude: Effulgence of c.1920 (private collection).

The 1920s was perhaps the most successful decade of Fergusson’s career. The end of the war meant he and Morris could once again visit France, as symbolised by the joyous Christmas Time in the South of France of 1922 (The Fergusson Gallery), and later in Bathers, Noon, 1937 (University of Stirling).

Fergusson had numerous solo exhibitions, in Edinburgh, Glasgow, New York and Chicago, and his work was included in important group shows in London and Paris.

In 1929 Fergusson moved back to Paris, but the Second World War forced him to leave France for a second time.

In 1939, he and Morris settled in Glasgow, which he believed was the most Celtic city in Scotland. ‘Fergus’ and ‘Meg’, as the couple were affectionately known, played a vital part in the renaissance of the arts in Glasgow, being founder members of the exhibiting and discussion group the New Art Club in 1940, and the New Scottish Group in 1942. Fergusson developed a distinct late style, which reached its climax in the majestic Danu, Mother of the Gods, 1952 (The Fergusson Gallery).

Continued visits to France throughout the 1950s resulted in pictures of beauty and poise, such as Wisteria, Villa Florentine, Golfe-Juan of 1957 (private collection).

Fergusson died in Glasgow on 30 January 1961.

Morris made a huge effort to secure his reputation, establishing, in 1963, the JD Fergusson Arts Foundation, to look after the works and archival material which she inherited. These were presented to Perth & Kinross Council, who opened The Fergusson Gallery in 1992.

Alice Strang is Senior Curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.

The Scottish Colourist Series: JD Fergusson Until 15 June 2014 Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Two 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR t: 0131 624 6200 | www.nationalgalleries.org Tickets: £7 (£5) | Open: daily, 10am–5pm ABOVE FROM TOP Damaged Destroyer, 1918, oil on canvas, 73.6x76.2 cm Glasgow Life (Glasgow Museums) on behalf of Glasgow City Council Wisteria, Villa Florentine, Golfe-Juan, 1957, oil on canvas, 66x53.5 cm Private collection, courtesy Lyon & Turnbull. Photo: John McKenzie

Sponsored by Dickson Minto WS. A partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, and The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council.

A catalogue, based on new research and containing essays by Elizabeth Cumming, Sheila McGregor and Alice Strang has been published to accompany the exhibition, priced £14.95. (See p.47.)

A one-day seminar examining JD Fergusson’s life and career will be held in the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, £20 (£15), call 0131 624 6560 for further details.

Selected works will tour to Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, 5 July – 19 October 2014.

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JD Fergusson: Picture of a Celt The Fergusson Gallery, Perth

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D Fergusson placed great importance on his Perthshire ancestry. Although he was born in Leith, he saw himself first and foremost as a ‘Perthshire lad’ and increasingly cited this Highland heritage as the source of his creativity. Picture of a Celt focuses on this connection with Perthshire, and explores how his sense of belonging to a Celtic nation shaped his artistic career.

Fergusson’s father came from Logierait, just south of Pitlochry, and his mother from Moulin, at the foot of Schiehallion. He reportedly enjoyed summers in Highland Perthshire with relatives at Strathtay, and in her biography of Fergusson his lifelong companion Margaret Morris recalled: ‘Fergus’s father sent him to spend holidays with relations still living in the Highlands and he never tired of talking of the mountains, the waterfalls, the rivers, the birds and animals...

Fergus loved his uncle and though he only spent a few holidays with him he fully realised how much he owed to him and the hours he spent talking and teaching the rudiments of fishing and shooting.’ 1 Following wishes expressed in his will, Fergusson’s ashes were scattered on the summit of Schiehallion, one of Perthshire’s finest mountains.

When Fergusson first visited Paris around 1897, everything about it excited him. The dynamically charged artistic atmosphere, openness to ideas and freedom of outlook all proved to be of great inspiration. As well as radical developments in modern art, new philosophy and theory shaped his thinking and artistic output, in particular the ideas of Henri Bergson and his circle.

Just as significantly, Fergusson felt a natural affinity with the French people. He cited a shared Celtic background and commented: ‘There are close fundamental resemblances.

In each country we find the same love of colour, of liberty, of gaiety – in l’esprit Gaulois [Celtic spirit] which created a bridge of affinity between kindred Celts.’2

Fergusson’s interest in Celtic identity was undoubtedly sparked by a desire to search for his spiritual roots. In many ways this shaped his career and defined his life’s path. It fuelled his desire to explore a sensual, painterly aesthetic. His painting became infused with intense colour harmonies, rhythmic line and pattern. They celebrated nature, health, fertility and life itself, clearly reflecting themes found in Celtic art. From around 1915, his sculptures also link him to the traditions of Celtic and other ancient cultures.

Although Fergusson’s cultural vision drew heavily from his Celtic heritage, it was not reflective or melancholy.

Eastre and Fruits, 1929, oil on canvas, 56x61 cm

Although he was born in Leith, he saw himself first and foremost as a ‘Perthshire lad’ and increasingly cited this Highland heritage as the source of his creativity

Scottish Art News 25

Although Fergusson’s cultural vision drew heavily from his Celtic heritage, it was not reflective or melancholy. Rather, he reinterpreted it as an expression of cultural renewal, energy and optimism

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Rather, he reinterpreted it as an expression of cultural renewal, energy and optimism. This became the touchstone for a new Scottish art.

In 1939, after extended stays in Paris, London and the south of France, Fergusson returned to Scotland. He chose to live in Glasgow as he felt it was the most ‘Highland’, and therefore the most ‘Celtic’ city. It was part of a conscious effort made during the last stage of his life to emphasise his Highland origins, and to promote Scottish art in general.

His homecoming also coincided with a revival in Scotland of cultural nationalism. Over the next two decades Fergusson was a major contributor to debates on Scottish art and culture. He became associated with a wide circle of Scottish intellectuals, many of whom shared similar concerns, which focused on an expression of a national consciousness. At the heart of this was a revival of Celtic culture and tradition.

In his artwork, Fergusson combined Celtic, Scottish and nationalist elements. The masterpiece Danu: Mother of the Gods and project illustrating In Memoriam James Joyce fully encompass his Celtic vision. His writings, which also came to fruition in the early 1940s, focused on promoting a free, international art in Scotland.

As well as his own creative output, Fergusson’s other significant achievement of this period was the influence of his ideas on a younger generation of painters. He established the New Art Club in 1940, which gathered together a wide circle of young talent who were producing new, experimental work.

Running in parallel to the New Art Club, the Celtic Ballet combined new dance and drama with traditional Scottish themes, dance and music. Founded by Fergusson’s lifelong partner, Margaret Morris, the Celtic Ballet eventually shared premises with the New Scottish Group epitomising the coming together of their energy, talent, thinking and creativity.

Fergusson’s library reflects his long-standing interest in Scottish history and literature, in particular Robert Burns – ‘my father brought me up on Burns’. His collection also features publications on Gaelic language, the Fergusson clan, Celtic art and mythology. Fergusson’s circle included writers like Edwin Muir, Neil Gunn and Hugh MacDiarmid. These leading literary figures had led a movement against the parochial attitude of what they termed ‘Kailyard’ literature.

Fergusson was a subscriber to many of the nationalist publications in the 1940s and ’50s. His status as a pioneer of modern art and his experience with Rhythm journal led him to be invited to become art editor of the periodical Scottish Art and Letters. One of Fergusson’s most illuminating pieces of writing, an essay titled ‘Art and Atavism: The Dryad’, appeared in this publication in 1944.

The exhibition brings together paintings reflecting these themes in his work alongside items from The Fergusson Gallery archives such as Fergusson’s own writings and

notes. They clearly convey his philosophy, based on an antiestablishment yet non-political stance, underpinned by a spirit of freedom, sense of independence and an international outlook. His philosophy was encapsulated in his book, Modern Scottish Painting, published in 1943.

Maria Devaney is Principal Art Officer at Perth Museum & Art Gallery.

1. Margaret Morris, The Art of JD Fergusson: A Biased Biography, Glasgow, 1974 (2010 edition) 2. The Fergusson Gallery Archive, Perth

JD Fergusson: Picture of a Celt Until 15 June 2014 The Fergusson Gallery Marshall Place, Perth, PH2 8NS t: 01738 783425 www.pkc.gov.uk/museums Open: Monday – Saturday 10am–5pm, Sundays 1pm–4.30pm This exhibition is a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh and The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council.

OPPOSITE Cairngorm, 1929, oil on canvas, 56x61 cm ABOVE By the Kelvin, 1942, oil on canvas, 56x61 cm All images © The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland

Scottish Art News 27

WILLIAM M C CANCE (1894–1970)

DREAMER OF THE AGE Dr Ian Buchanan Smith

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n his 1990 monograph on the artist, Dr Patrick Elliott concluded that at McCance’s death in 1970, ‘his position as one of the foremost modern Scottish artists [had] been largely forgotten’.1 Since then, retrospectives held at the Demarco Gallery in 1971, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1975, and at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA) in 1990, have gone a substantial way to address this injustice.

Nevertheless, it is crucial that there should be further opportunity to reassess the work of an artist whom the poet and Scottish nationalist Hugh McDiarmid had recognised as being ahead of his time, as ‘fully au fait with the… modernist developments in the arts, and… actually anticipating many of them.’2 In this sense, McCance might be regarded as the ‘Dreamer of the Age’,3 his work directly addressing, in a non-sentimental manner, the issues of an era of political and economic development, encompassing the Great Depression, the Second World War, the nuclear age and the threat of global conflict. His ‘dreams’ also involved a desire to promote an outward-looking Scottish culture, one which would place Scottish art within a European context, eschewing backward-leaning Romanticism.

William McCance was born in 1894, the eighth and youngest child of Elizabeth and James. The family home was in Cambuslang, near Glasgow, where his father worked in the local coal mine. James’s death in a mining accident in 1911, at the age of 56, left the family in straightened circumstances.

Despite the financial constraints which his mother had to face, she encouraged her two remaining sons living at home, Matthew and William, to pursue careers outside the traditional pattern for working-class families in the area.

Matthew, thus, was employed as an engraver, and he further helped William to develop his skills in drawing. This ability was noted at Hamilton Academy, and William subsequently 28

entered The Glasgow School of Art on a scholarship. Having achieved a Diploma of Art from the Glasgow School, he then completed a teacher training course, graduating in 1916.

Any plans to teach had to be put aside at the onset of the First World War, and as McCance was a conscientious objector, this meant spells in various British prisons between 1917 and 1920. In July 1918, McCance married Agnes Miller Parker, whom he had met at The Glasgow School of Art. On his discharge, the married couple moved to London where they spent the next 10 years. Miller Parker taught at two London schools during this time, while developing her expertise in linocut printing and then in wood engraving, becoming an eminent printmaker and book illustrator.

As for McCance, the 1920s were a time of astonishing creativity and vision. Works which established his reputation as a radical Modernist, such as Mediterranean Hill Town (1923, McManus Gallery, Dundee), Portrait of Joseph Brewer (1925, SNGMA), The Result (c.1924, Fleming-Wyfold Foundation, London), and The Awakening (1925, SNGMA), were produced within a few years of moving to London. This body of work had notable influences, particularly Cubism in continental Europe, and the work of the British ‘Vorticists’.

These early, but hugely significant European impressions of Picasso, Braque and Leger, and in the UK, of Wyndham Lewis and William Roberts, coalesced in McCance’s work to give him an international perspective of Modernism, which made his work in the UK decidedly ahead of its time.

At first sight, The Result self-portrait seems less radical than his other notable oil paintings of the 1920s, being in an essentially figurative style. Yet, on closer examination, the picture shows the Vorticist leanings of Wyndham Lewis in the garish colour scheme and in the angular nature of the figure and furniture. The painting also contains a small version of the vertical sculpture in the background, which

Dreamer of the Age, artist’s proof wood engraving, 17x12 cm. Š Estate of William McCance.

Private collection

His work directly addressed, in a non-sentimental manner, the issues of an era of political and economic development, encompassing the Great Depression, the Second World War, the nuclear age and the threat of global conflict

Scottish Art News 29

Through his writing and art, McCance saw himself as a spokesman – and was regarded as such – for a movement which saw Scottish culture being reborn as politically ‘independent’ and artistically modern in outlook

ABOVE The Awakening , 1925, oil on board, 61x46 cm © Estate of William McCance Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, purchased 2007 OPPOSITE The Result, 1924, oil on canvas, 69.8x90.1 cm © Estate of William McCance Fleming-Wyfold Foundation

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had previously featured in larger form in the more abstract Mediterranean Hill Town and The Conflict paintings.

During this time in London, Hugh MacDiarmid had identified McCance as a principal artistic figure of the ‘Scottish Renaissance’, a movement which aimed to align the arts in Scotland (literary, musical and artistic) with contemporary trends in Europe. At this time, figures such as James Joyce, Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso were seen to be representing a vision which sought to express the integration of science and art in works across various disciplines. In this European context, McCance, JD Fergusson and William Johnstone were seen by the embryonic Scottish national independence movement as being symbolic of the Modernist movement in Scotland.

The Awakening may be viewed within the context of Scottish people ‘waking up’ to the artistic developments taking place in continental Europe, as well as McCance’s aspirations for Scottish art and culture. Indeed, through his writing and art, McCance saw himself as a spokesman – and was regarded as such – for a movement which saw Scottish culture being reborn as politically ‘independent’ and artistically modern in outlook. He was a prolific writer in the 1920s, principally as a reviewer in The Spectator, and his perspective on Scotland and art may be summed up in his 1930 essay, published in The Modern Scot,4 as follows: ‘When the Scot can purge himself of the illusion that Art is reserved for the sentimentalist and realise that he... has a natural gift for construction, combined with an... aptitude for metaphysical thought and a deep emotional nature, then out of this combination can arise an art which will be pregnant with “Idea”, and have within it the seed of greatness.’

During the 1920s, in addition to his oil paintings, McCance produced a substantial number of linocut prints.

These included the series The Engineer, his Wife and his Family, examples of which are currently on display in ‘The Modern Scot’ section at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh (Gallery 11). These prints further emphasise the influence of Leger’s machine aesthetic, and McCance’s concern to see the work of the engineer/scientist and the artist in Scotland aligned to a common purpose.

The 1930s saw McCance and Miller Parker moving to the Gregynog Press in Wales. The Gregynog Press time was, for McCance, a relatively fallow period in terms of artistic output. As controller of this private press he was involved in the management of the publication of illustrated books such as The Fables of Aesop (illustrated by Miller Parker).

Thus, while he produced typescript lettering for a number of Gregynog publications, and the frontispiece to Robert Gilbert Vansittart’s The Singing Caravan: A Sufi Tale, his main focus was the management of such projects. As part of this process he had to coordinate publications which involved not only

his wife, but also the couple and co-directors of Gregynog, Blair Hughes Stanton and Gertrude Hermes. The pressures of having to deal with these conflicting temperaments led to their move to Albrighton, near Wolverhampton, in 1933.

There, Miller Parker taught at Newport Grammar School, while McCance’s main artistic output was the production of sculptures using clay from a local brickworks.

These sculptures included motifs used in his earlier paintings, such as cats (a symbol of independence) and the ‘earth mother’ figure, which was to feature again in his later artwork. He also produced a number of heads, including one in terracotta of his wife, which is also currently on display in the ‘The Modern Scot’ section at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. He was writing again at this time, particularly in Picture Post, while, increasingly, his published output featured his concerns on matters of national politico-economics. This had been prompted by his perception that conventional economic policy in the Great Depression was failing to deal effectively with the impact on ordinary families.

This preoccupation with economic matters further continued into the next phase of the McCances’ life, in Hambleton, Henley-on-Thames, from 1936 to 1944. From 1944, McCance was employed as Lecturer in Typography and Book Production at Reading University, while Miller Parker continued her successful career in book illustration.

In fact, during this period, Miller Parker’s work was much better known than that of her husband, particularly when her woodcut illustrations were published in the US through Macmillan and the Limited Editions Club of New York. Nevertheless, there is clear evidence that McCance made a significant contribution to her success, both in terms of collaboration in woodcut production and in relation to his role as controller of the Gregynog Press. Indeed, Miller Parker’s biographer, Ian Rogerson, acknowledges this. With specific reference to The Fables of Aesop, Rogerson notes that ‘the book would never have been realised without the doggedness and sheer forcefulness of McCance who was determined that… the project would be completed’.5 Scottish Art News 31

The themes of destruction and rebirth feature large, with primeval life forms symbolising the hope of a ‘renaissance’ of civilisation

ABOVE The Engineer, his Wife and Family, 1925, linocut (black ink) on paper, 10.4x6.7 cm OPPOSITE Hiroshima (or Atom Horizon), 1947, oil on hardboard, 44x61 cm © Estate of William McCance; purchased 1992 Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

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After a relatively quiet period in terms of McCance’s artistic output during the 1930s, the Reading period (1944– 1960/’63) saw a late flowering of his talent. The main catalyst for this was the horror of the nuclear bombings of Japan in 1945. His reaction to these events is shown clearly in his major painting of 1947, Hiroshima (also called Atom Horizon), one of a number of paintings on this theme. Thus, the themes of destruction and rebirth feature large, with primeval life forms symbolising the hope of a ‘renaissance’ of civilisation.

McCance’s marriage ended in 1955. Miller Parker settled in Arran, living there until her death in 1980, while McCance moved from Hambleton into Reading itself. There, while fulfilling his duties as a Lecturer in Typography, he produced a further body of work which reaffirmed his status as a radical thinker. This was brought together in a 1960 exhibition at Reading Museum and Art Gallery, which featured some 200 works covering the whole range of his artistic output: oil paintings, drawings and watercolours, linocuts, overlay drawings, wax-resist watercolours, book illustrations and sculptures.

He retired from Reading University that year, and having married his university colleague, Dr Margaret Chislett in 1963, returned to Scotland. The couple settled in Girvan where McCance’s sister, Elizabeth, and niece, Nessie, were living. Girvan was also the last home of his mother, who had died there in 1929. In Girvan, he entered into another phase of creative activity, producing wax-resist works and monoprint/ overlay drawings. Works shown recently in William McCance, Works on Paper at the Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh6 were from this period, representing both the latter years in Reading and the fruits of his retirement years. The exhibition included several examples of the reworking of themes in his works of the 1920s and ’30s, as well as linocuts of that period, which had been reprinted on a wooden mangle in their Girvan home.

Particular attention should be drawn to the quasireligious works which were shown in William McCance, Works on Paper, such as those related to the now lost 1925 painting The Pool of Bethesda. The biblical tale on which the original painting was based was one of the powers of healing and redemption, and McCance’s wax-resist watercolours from the 1960s make reference to these healing forces. It may be argued that McCance’s late works in this area were his way of readdressing the theme of society facing potential destruction, and thus requiring a process of recreation – matters very much on his mind during the Cold War period of the 1950s and ’60s. Again, this reinforced McCance’s ability to show, through his art, a perceptive capacity to highlight the concerns of the age.

McCance lived for but 10 years into his retirement, and died at the age of 76, in 1970. His widow, Dr Margaret McCance, has since worked to preserve his legacy and to

restore his artistic reputation. That status may be founded on his revolutionary works of the 1920s. Nevertheless, his vision of a society in which art and science could work together in harmony, subject to the rejection of the self-destructive elements of political conflict, remained a powerful message in his work right up until the end of his artistic career. His legacy, as the ‘Dreamer of the Age’ is that, while he was not politically active, he was very conscious of the issues of his time, notably the catastrophic impact of international political discord. In the current climate of global conflict, these remain matters of concern to us all today.

Dr Ian Buchanan Smith completed a PhD in Japanese Studies at The University of Stirling and Daito Bunka University in Tokyo, and was, for some 20 years, an academic at Edinburgh Napier University. He now acts as an independent art historian, specialising in Japanese artworks and twentiethcentury British (and particularly Scottish) art.

The author is greatly indebted to Dr Margaret McCance for allowing access to her archive of material relating to her late husband, William McCance. She exercised great patience, moreover, in providing answers to the many questions which were posed in compiling this article.

The Engineer, his Wife and Family, 1925, is currently on display in the ‘The Modern Scot’ section in Gallery 11 at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which explores the visual aspects of the Scottish Renaissance movement. Originating in the ‘Celtic Revival’ projects of Patrick Geddes and his circle in Edinburgh, the movement developed a form of cultural nationalism. Its visual expression was provided by artists such as William McCance, William Johnstone and a group of significant Modernists from the inter-war period. Post-war, the movement continued to thrive, in particular through the work of JD Fergusson, whose return to Glasgow in 1939 coincided with his collaboration with MacDiarmid and projected the movement into the later twentieth century. (See p.20.)

1. Dr Patrick Elliott, William McCance, Scottish Masters Series 14, Scottish Post Office Board, 1990.

2. Letter to Richard Demarco, 24 Nov., 1971 in connection with the Demarco Gallery’s exhibition of Mc Cance’s work, Dec. 1971.

3. ‘Dreamer of the Age’, frontispiece of Sir Robert Vansittart, The Singing Caravan: A Sufi Tale, Gregynog Press, 1931.

4. ‘The Modern Scot’, WH Whyte (ed.), Dundee, 1930.

5. Ian Rogerson, The Wood Engravings of Agnes Miller Parker, Mark Batty Publisher, 2005.

6. William McCance, Works on Paper, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh, 21 October – 6 November 2013.

Scottish Art News 33

B O Y L E F A M I LY Interview by Bill Hare

Mark Boyle and Joan Hills met in Harrogate, Yorkshire, in 1957 and began working and exhibiting collaboratively.

As their children Sebastian and Georgia grew up they became increasingly involved in the work and the four of them adopted the title Boyle Family in 1985. They are best known for their three-dimensional Earth Studies, which record and document random sites on the surface of the Earth. Following the death of Mark Boyle in May 2005, Boyle Family have continued working and exhibiting together.

ABOVE Boyle Family with electron microscope photographs of hairs, British Pavilion, Venice Biennale, 1978 OPPOSITE Installation of assemblages in the exhibition Boyle Family, SNGMA, 2003 Images courtesy Boyle Family archive

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BIL L HA RE : Th e particul ar o ccasion for this interview is th e acquisitio n and displa y of your Tidal Ser ies at th e Scottish N atio na l Ga llery of M o dern Art (currentl y o n displ ay in New Acquis itio ns at th e SN GMA). M ayb e we could begin by you giving an account of the ma king of th is impo rtant wo rk f rom 1969?

SE BASTI AN B OYLE : We al l f irst went to Camber Sands in 19 6 6 , wh ic h is a very imp or tant tr ip in ou r wo rk as that was when Mark a nd Joan made the f irst resin and f ibreg lass stu dies of the su rf ace o f the E arth . They had al ready moved o n f ro m making their assemblag es to mak ing the f irst E arth pieces u sing a g ri d sys tem to transfer real material o nto boards covered w ith resin. I n the d emo l itio n sites in wes t Lo nd o n they were wo rking in, the y would find a board , cover it in resin and then trans fer the real material f ro m the site – whether that was bric ks, sto nes, tw igs, bo ttl es, newspap er, dus t, etc . – to the appro priate place o n the board.

Bu t these transfer pieces were ver y heav y and had to be f lat and Mark and Joan

wan te d to make la rg e r p i e ce s that pre se n te d t he d e t a i ls a nd shape o f t he su r f ace of t he Eart h , no t j u s t t he d e t r i t u s ly ing o n to p. T he y ’d hea rd ab ou t re s ins and fib re g las s a nd t he y wan te d to ex p e r i me nt w i t h t he se ne w mate rials . T he y ne e d e d so me whe re whe re t he y wou l d b e re lat ive ly u nd is t u r b e d a nd so a b eac h c l o se to Lond on se e me d a g o o d idea.

So we we nt t he re a rou nd E as te r ’ 6 6 a nd t he f i rs t B e a c h St u d i e s we re mad e.

We t he n we n t bac k i n 19 6 9 whe n Mark and Joa n wa nte d to make a se ri e s of wor ks t ha t i nc lu d e d t ime as b e i ng a n e l e me nt i n t he wo rk.

Q u e s t io ns o f ti me a nd cha ng e had b e e n p resent i n t he 19 6 0 s p roj e c t i on wor ks , bu t t he Eart h St u d i e s se e me d f i xe d a nd p e r ma ne nt a nd they wan te d to show t h is isn’t t he case. So Tidal Se ri e s is a c rit i cal se r i e s for u s. I t i nt rodu ces time in to t he Ear th Stu d ie s a nd p rovi d e s a l ink to t he w id e r B oyl e Fa m i ly p roj e c t . T he series co mprise s 14 s t u d i e s mad e on t he sa me squ are of t he beac h a f te r each t i d e, t wo t i d e s a day, fo r a we e k, show i ng t he const a ntly cha nging tid e and rippl e pa t te r ns crea te d by t he sand , the wind and t he t i d e.

B H : I wou ld n ow l ike t o t u r n t o t h e b ro a de r aspect of B oyle Fam i ly a s a n a r t is t ic p h e n om e n o n.

U n li ke ot h er art is t s , you h a ve o p e ra t e d u n der a nu m b er of di ffe re n t n a m e s , s u c h a s Ma r k B oyl e, B oyle an d H i lls, t h e I n s t it u t e of Co n t e m p o rary Arc haeo lo g y, th e Se n s u a l La b o ra t o r y, t h rough to B oyle Fam i ly. W h a t we re t h e re a so n s fo r a ll th ese nam e c han ges?

S B: In it ial ly wor ks we re ex h ib i te d u nd e r Mark’s name, wh ic h was pa r tly b e cau se whe n Mark a nd Joan s t arte d ou t , t he y d i d n’t ex p e c t to be making a l iv ing as a r t is t s . T he y a nd al l their a rt is t frie nds we re su re t he y wou l d always have to have se cond j ob s to g e t by. W he n they st arte d to ex h ib i t i n t he ea r ly ’ 6 0 s , mos t art d eal e rs t hou gh t i t was easi e r to se l l wor k by a singl e mal e ar t is t a nd for Ma r k a nd Joa n , the p o s s ibil ity t he y cou l d ac t u al ly make a l iv ing

ou t o f making art seemed so amazing that it was a battl e wh ic h they fel t they didn’t need to f ig h t. Al l their f riends knew that Mar k and Joan were wo rking to g ether as a team. Mar k ’s name was al mo st a ‘no m d e plu me ’ for the two o f them.

Later in the 19 6 0s they c reated the I nstitu te o f Co ntempo rary Arc hae ology and the Sensu al Labo rato ry al mo st as front o rganisatio ns to interac t w ith ‘o fficialdom’ in so me way, whether that was to help get permissio n to wo rk at a site o r d eal with the po l ice, a f il m lab o r a h ire co mpany.

Co mpanies d id n’t l ike d eal ing w ith sc ru f f y l o o king artists. So the I ns titute o f Co ntempo rary Arc haeo l o gy sounded appro priately o f f ic ial fo r d o ing the Ear th St udi es, and Sensu al Labo rato ry was their pro d u c tio n co mpany fo r the pro j e ction p ieces and later fo r their interac tio ns with the mus ic bu siness. Then, over time we shed those cover names and it j u st came d ow n to the four of us wo rking to g ether and to g ive a public face to that f ac t we ad o pted the name ‘B oyle Family ’.

BH: Can I now go back to the beginnings of what eventually would become Boyle Family? Although both of you were originally from Scotland – Joan, Edinburgh, and Mark, Glasgow – you met by chance, or fate, in Harrogate in 1957. Neither of you had much, if any, formal art training, yet you wanted to make art together. What was it that made you feel you could form a creative p artnership?

Scottish Art News 35

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Tidal Series, 1969 14 panels, each 150x150 cm, mixed media, resin, fibreglass Presented by the Peter Moores Foundation, 2012 Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Scottish Art News 37

‘We wanted to experiment, try things out and see where they might lead. We still don’t know if what we do is art. That issue seems superfluous’

par t n er s hi p?

J OA N H ILLS: Pas s i on. I t h i nk i t was j u s t a su m to t al o f wan t ing to b e tog e t he r, a nd wor king to ge t he r, and bash i ng i d eas a rou nd i n t he same space fo r a n u mb e r of yea rs , a nd t h is is what came ou t o f it . From t he ve r y f i rst me e t i ng we kne w t hat we wou l d b e c rea t i ng some th ing to ge t he r. He was w r i t i ng p oe t r y, I was pa inting, a nd we we re in te re s te d i n m u si c, j azz , t heatre a nd pe rfo rmance.

S B: You t hou gh t you we re g oi ng to d o so me t h ing c rea t ive tog e t he r bu t you we ren’t th inking t hat wou l d b e ne ce s sa r i ly as visu al a rt is t s . It was a whol e sp e ct r u m of p ossib il ity.

O ve r t he nex t fe w yea rs you ex p e r i me nted w it h d iffe re n t a r t for ms a nd te c h ni qu e s , su c h as happe n ings , p roj e c t i ons , f i l m , p hotog raphy a nd scu lpt u re b e cau se you we re not su re wh ic h te c h n iq u e s and ab i l i t i e s you m i g h t ne e d .

J H : E xac tly. We wa nte d to ex p e r i me nt , t ry th ings ou t and se e whe re t he y m i g h t l ead. We s t il l d o n ’t know i f wha t we d o is a r t . T ha t issu e se e ms su pe rflu ou s.

B H : Jo an , you a n d M a r k m ove d t o Lo n do n at th e beg i n n i n g of w h a t wou l d l a t e r be k n ow n a s th e ‘sw i n g i n g ’ 6 0s ’ . W h a t wa s it l ike fo r you t r ying to b reak i n t o t h e Lo n do n a r t sc e n e t h e n , a nd h ow d i d you es t ab lis h you r c re de n t ia l s a s ra d ical and inn ovat i ve ar t is t s so q u ic k l y ?

JH: When you were in it, how did you know when it was starting to swing? You didn’t, you were just leading an everyday life and still interested in the things that you were interested in, like going to galleries, listening to plays on the radio. If anything like the Theatre of the Absurd plays came to the Royal Court, we would go and try to see them. We were extremely 38

ABOVE FROM TOP Red Mudcracks with Rivulets, Green Mudstones and Strata Line, 2000–08 Elemental Study for the Barcelona World Series project ( World Series, 1968–) Mixed media, resin, fibreglass, 183x183 cm. Private collection

Chalk Cliff Study, 2000–08, mixed media, resin, fibreglass, 55.8x51x18.5 cm Government Art Collection Images courtesy Boyle Family archive

interested in Beckett and seeing everything that was possible. There weren’t hierarchies that you had to get through. The old ICA on Dover Street was a place that people went to and hung around in because they were interested in pictures, or writing, or communication. We went to some of the shows and talks and met a few people.

S B: It was a s mal l sce ne – I re me mb e r t ha t you and Mark wou l d say t ha t whe n you were pu t t ing o n an e ve nt , sl i g h tly la te r, i n 19 63 / ’6 4 , that you wou l d cal l u p 20 or 3 0 cont act s and frie nds who we re i nte re s te d i n wha t you were d o ing, and who wou l d come a nd su p p or t you – a nd v ice ve rsa . W he t he r i t was a t B e t te r B o o ks b o o ksho p, t he I CA , S i g nals , or, wha t d i d you say, Gal l e ry O ne or Gu s t av ’s e ve nt w i t h the ac id at t he Sou t h B a nk ?

J H : T hat ’s righ t .

S B: You we re n’t real ly l ook i ng to e s t ab l ish you rse lve s as rad i cal a nd i nnova t ive a r t ists we re you? You we re j u s t t r yi ng to make wo rk?

J H : No, we we re j u s t t r yi ng to g e t on w i t h ou r live s .

S B: I t h ink 19 63 was real ly qu i te a t u r ni ng p o in t . So me how you g ot t he show a t Woo dsto c k G al l e ry u nde r Ma r k ’s na me. You also we n t u p to Edinbu rgh to visi t you r pa re nt s , t ak i ng sl id es of t he as se mblag e s w i t h you , a nd we nt rou nd to se e Jim Hay ne s who had st a r te d h is pap erbac k b o o ksho p. He had a gal l e r y i n t he base ment, d idn ’t he?

J H : He wan te d ve r y m u ch to g e t t he t h i ngs d own in to t he base me nt gal l e r y, bu t some of t he m we re j u s t too la rg e to g o d ow n t he s t aircase. It was h is su gg e s t i on t ha t I t ake the sl id e s rou nd to t he Trave rse T hea t re, wh i c h was in a te ne me nt on t he Royal Mi l e a nd when I go t t he re t he y we re p re pa r i ng for t he i r f irst p ro du c t io n , at t he fe s t ival . T ha t ’s whe n I f irst me t R ic ky D e ma rco. T he y d i d n’t have a gal l ery, bu t he was ve r y e nt h u s iast i c ab ou t wha t they we re go ing to b e d oi ng a nd t hou g h t i t wou l d be g reat to pu t o n ou r show a t t he sa me t i me in a ro o m u ps t airs . So t ha t was t he b e g i nni ng o f the Trave rse Gal l e r y.

SB : I t was in d o ing the exh ibitio n dur ing the festival that you met the artist Ken Dewey who ’d been asked by Jo h n Cal d er to put on a ‘happening ’ as o ne o f the events at the internatio nal d rama co nference a t the Mc Ewan Hal l .

JH: Yes. I t was a very co nf l ic ting p er iod for d rama becau se many peo pl e thou ght that B ritish theatre and d rama in Lo ndon were pretty su perb, bu t we fel t that more exciting th ings cou l d happen. Ken Dewey brought that ou t in al l o f u s.

SB : Cal d er had asked two American ar tis ts , Alan Kaprow and Ken Dewey, to come over and d o events to mark the end o f the conference.

Dewey wo rked co l labo ratively, par ticular ly w ith l o cal artists, and he mu st have thought that you and Mark were g o o d peop le to get invo lved w ith h is ‘happening ’ o r event. The event they pu t o n, I n Memo ry of B ig Ed, was real ly the f irst B ritish perfo r mance ar t event that went ou t into the w id e r public co nsc iou sness. I t cau sed a h u g e furore because it had invo lved a nu d e mo d el being taken ac ro ss the bal co ny, and was o n the front page o f mo st o f the natio nal papers. Q ues tions were asked in Parl iament and the po l ice p rosecuted Cal d er and the mo d el . I t cau sed a major scandal , bu t o ne u nexpec ted co nsequence was that you were then the artists who’d put on ‘that’ event in Ed inbu rg h . I t wasn ’t p lanned but it gave you a bit o f a name and meant you were abl e to pu t o n mo re events in Lo ndon and get mo re peo pl e to co me and see them.

JH: I t d id n’t feel as rapid as that at the time, bu t I ’m su re these th ings cou nted. That’s abso lu tely tru e.

B H : During th at perio d of great so cia l a nd cul tural uph eaval in post-war B ritain, you were regarded as a vital fo rce with in th e British Countercul ture movement. H ow did you see wha t you were doing in rel atio n to al l th e other cha nges th at were taking pl ace at th e time?

SB : I have the sense that Mark and Joan were beg inning to f ind a kind o f id entity among a g rou p o f peo pl e at the I CA who were tr ying Scottish Art News 39

to d o so me t h ing d i f fe re nt , whe t he r i n m u sic , t heat re, fil m or a r t . I t was a g rou p of p e opl e who be l ie ve d i n ex p e r i me nt a t i on, awa re that t he y we re part of a ne w g e ne ra t i on t r yi ng to d o so me t h ing al te r na t ive to Ab s t ract E x pre s s io n is m or Pop. T he y wa nte d to b e grou nde d in t he real wor l d a nd real ex p e rience.

Joan had d o ne a b i t of wor k w i t h he r f i l m co l l eagu e s , wo r k i ng for t he L ab ou r pa r ty o f Haro l d Wilso n.

J H: Inse rt s fo r t he e l e c t i on of 19 6 4 . We never saw Po p art as ou r t h i ng, we saw i t as f a n tasy so me how.

SB: You fe l t , t hou g h , t ha t i t was a n exc i t ing t ime, wit h Ke nne d y as Pre s i d e nt a nd Wi lso n t al king abou t t he wh i te hea t of te ch nol ogical c hange – t he wor l d was cha ng i ng a nd B r itain was c hanging.

JH: There’s no doubt that we were aware things were developing in different directions. Society was just breaking down a bit, as far as new ideas were concerned. It was a stimulating time.

B H : You r w i de- ra n gin g a c t iv it ie s d u r in g t h e 1960 s s u c h as you r i n it ia t ive s in t h e a re a of h a p penings an d li g h t p ro j e c t io n s h a ve h a d a p rofou n d impact o n t he develo p m e n t of b ot h B r it is h a r t a n d p o p u lar m u s i c a l e n t e r t a in m e n t . Lo o k in g b ack, are you s u r p r i sed t h a t t h is a s p e c t of you r wo r k h as b een so i n flu ent ia l ?

J H: No, be cau se i n t he days of g oi ng to dance s and t h i ngs i n t he 19 5 0 s a nd ea r ly ’6 0s, bal l ro o ms had g l i t te r bal ls, m u si c, p e r haps a co l ou r wash on a wal l , a nd t ha t was i t .

Su d de nly, we we re ab l e to c rea te some t h i ng t hat came fro m a not he r bac kg rou nd al together, sl igh tly sc ie n t i f i c . I n ou r p roj e ct i on e ve nts we we re se t t ing u p l i t tl e sc i e nt i f i c ex p e r i me nts, wh ic h we watc he d as t he y d e ve l op e d , a nd then we ’d s t art ano t he r one a nd t ha t wou l d g o o n to p o f t he firs t, t he n we ’d f ad e one ou t , start ano t he r and so on. W he n we we nt to t he States w it h He ndrix a nd Sof t Mach i ne we fou nd the big Ne w Yo rk a nd Cal i for nia n l i g h t show teams we re do ing so me t h i ng ve r y d i f fe re nt . I n so me ways mo re co m me rc ial .

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SB : You weren’t th inking o f it as being p opular entertainment, bu t an art event. You did some experiments w ith the pro j ec tio ns on your own terms at ho me, fo r u s, and fo r f riends , then you started d o ing it o n a w id er scal e, develop ing pro j ec tio n events su c h as So n et Lumière for Earth, Air, Fire and Water in art spaces, before you were asked to do a projection event, at the first nig h t o f the Lo nd o n u nd erg rou nd club, U FO.

I th ink it is impo rtant to say that U FO wasn’t o nly a g reat c lub and it was n’t jus t abou t the mu sic . I t was a g reat ar t club. It was a place where theatre and da nce group s perfo rmed , po ets came and read , and avantgard e f il ms were show n. I t was a meeting p lace fo r al l so rts o f al ternative artists from all over the wo rl d and , wh il e it became famous for the mu sic and the pro j ec tio ns that Mar k and Joan were d o ing, I th ink that it was also ver y impo rtant as a c reative h ub. Thei r p rojections became the main v isu al el ement of the club and the bands who played there wanted these kinds o f v isu als fo r their g igs. The p sychedelic l ig h t show has been c red ited w ith being the beg inning o f the big ro c k g ig stage show with amaz ing pro j ec tio ns and spec ial effects – and Mark and Joan were there at the beginning.

B H : Th rough out th e 1960 s, in your monumenta l ambitio n to incl ude ‘everyth ing’ in your work, you to o k a mul ti-media, co l l abo rative a pproa ch invo l ving th eatre, f il m, sound, music, a rcha eology and scientif ic research . Yet, by th e beginning of th e next decade you were cutting ba ck on this h igh l y varied appro ach and fo cusing ma inly on wh at was to become th e epic Wo r ld Series. Wha t brough t about th is ch ange in artistic stra tegy ?

SB: It wasn’t so much a change in artistic strategy as a change of scale. Up until 1971, Mark and Joan hoped that it might be possible to put on quite large-scale multi-media performances using projections, film and sound and at the same time make progress with the World Series and other Earth Studies projects. Indeed, the idea was that these events could be put on at museums to coincide with our exhibitions and that it would be an interesting way of showing the range of our interests, combining exhibitions maybe with our concerts with Soft Machine and contemporary

‘For the World Series it was decided that 1,000 sites should be selected by using the biggest map of the world that we could find, blindfolding people, and then asking them to throw or fire darts at this map’

theatre or dancers such as Graziella Martinez.

So t he ex h ib i t i on t ha t lau nc he d World Se ri e s at t he ICA i n 19 6 9 was b i l l e d as b e ing

by Mark Boyl e, t he Se nsu al L ab ora tor y a nd t he Ins t it u te o f Conte mp ora r y Archae ol ogy, bringing to ge t he r t he Ear th Stu d ie s , pro je c t io ns , e ve nt s , b od y wor ks a nd sou nd pie ce s . A nd Sof t Mac h i ne d i d a g i g w i t h Boyl e Family p roj e ct i ons d u r i ng t he show and d u ring t he fol l ow i ng ex h ib i t i ons a t t he Ge me e n te m u seu m i n t he Hagu e a nd t he He n ie - Ons t ad Ku nst se nte r nea r O sl o.

T he co mbinat i on of t he ex h ib i t i ons a nd t he co nce rt s was g rea t for u s, t he m u seu ms a nd I t h ink fo r So ft Mac h i ne, whose me mb e rs l iked play ing in ve n u e s t ha t we re n’t t he u su al ro c k ve n u e s and fe s t ivals. I t wou l d have b e e n g reat to have ke pt it g oi ng.

Un fo rt u na te ly, we t he n had a bad ex pe rie nce in B e r l i n i n 197 1 a t a n al te r na tive cu l t u re fe s t ival , whe re we we re pu t t i ng o n an ex h ibit io n , So f t Mach i ne g i g a nd a p e r for mance p ie ce Mark and Joa n had b e e n d e ve l op i ng cal l e d R e q u i e m fo r an U nk now n Citize n.

Th is was an e ve nt p i e ce s t u d yi ng soc i e ty at large u s ing t hea t re, ra nd om f i l ms , sou nds a nd pro j e c t io ns . T he fe st ival t u r ne d ou t to b e a bit o f a fiasco a nd we has t i ly p e r for med R e q u i e m ins tead a t t he D e L a nt a re n T heatre in Ro t te rdam .

T h is ex p e r i e nce, cou p l e d w i t h t he p ro bl e ms o f havi ng a t hea t re g rou p a nd the financ ial p rob l e ms i t p ose d , l e d to t he real isat io n t ha t i t was n’t g oi ng to b e p ossibl e to have a large tea m w i t hou t maj or f u nd i ng.

Mark and Joan we re s t i l l i nte re ste d i n making mu l t i- me d ia , m u l t i -se nsu al wor k , bu t t he team was l i m i te d to u s as a f a m i ly a nd t he pre se n t a t i ons we re ke p t on a smal l er

ABOVE FROM TOP Films of Boyle Family liquid light projections installed in Summer of Love, Tate Liverpool, 2005 The Barra Site, 1992–2010 ( World Series, 1968–) HD video with sound projected onto plinth. Installed SNGMA, 2010 Images courtesy Boyle Family archive

scal e w ith in the exh ibitio ns, showing film instal latio ns befo re v id eo became widely availabl e to artists. There was a shift to the Eart h St udi es and the Wo rld Ser ies in particu lar, bu t we have always thought that the pro j ec tio ns, f il ms, sou nd wo rks a nd hap p enings are part o f ou r co ntinu ing overall body of wor k .

B H : M aybe we sh oul d now co ncentra te on the work with wh ich B oyl e Famil y is most ide ntified, the Wo r ld Ser ies . Coul d you tel l us something a bout th e circumstances th at brough t th is ma mmoth pro ject into being?

SB : Af ter making the f irst Eart h Studies in Camber Sands and then wo rking on s ites in the area arou nd ou r f lat in Ho l land Par k , Mar k and Joan wanted to d o a Lo n do n Ser ies, but as they cou l d n’t d rive, th is was approximately a two - squ are- mil e area o f west Lo ndon, which we cou l d al l wal k to. Then we had to leave that flat as it was being kno c ked d ow n to clear space Scottish Art News 41

World Series map and Study of the Lazio Site, 2013 ( World Series, 1968–) Installation: Boyle Family, Contemporary Archaeology, The World Series Lazio Site, Vigo Gallery, London, October 2013. Image courtesy Vigo Gallery, London

fo r She phe rd’s Bu sh rou ndab ou t a nd Ma r k and Joan realised they couldn’t start a new London Series each time we moved and that rather than do a British or European Series they could expand the Earth Studies project to be a survey of the whole of planet Earth. The Americans and Russians might have been racing to get man to the moon but we could undertake our own study of the Earth. For the World Series it was decided that 1,000 sites should be selected by using the biggest map of the world that we could find, blindfolding people, and then asking them to throw or fire darts at this map. We would then go to these sites and study them.

B H : You m u s t h a ve re a l ise d t h a t 1,0 0 0 s it e s ran dom ly sc at te re d fa r a n d w ide a c ros s ‘ t h e su r fac e of t h e Ea r t h’ wou l d n e ve r be c om p l eted in an y of you r l ife t im e s . T h u s you wou l d h a ve to be selec t i ve as t o w h a t you c ou l d a c c om p l ish . On w h at b as i s i s t h e se l e c t io n of s it e s m a de?

S B: No, Mark a nd Joa n real ly d i d t h i nk t hat the y we re go ing to b e ab l e to d o i t i n t he ir life t ime s ! T he y w rote i n t he ca t al ogu e for the I CA show t hat i t was a 25- yea r p roj e c t a nd 42

that they cou l d d o 4 0 sites a year. We realised pretty qu ic kly that it wasn’t g o ing to be po ssibl e, pro bably when we went to The Hague in 1970 to d o the f irst site and realised how mu c h wo rk was g o ing to be invo lved. I think we’ve u nd ertaken and co mpl eted ap p roximately 2 0 o f the 1 , 000 sites. E ac h o ne is a bit like making a sho rt f il m – it’s a maj o r under tak ing.

Of cou rse, al l the o ther wo rks we ’ve done have in a sense been helping u s f und and make the Wo rld Seri es pro j ec t. Qu ite often, the sel ec tio n o f wh ic h site we w il l d o ties in with an exh ibitio n. Fo r exampl e, wh il e we were hav ing a show in Osl o we went and made wor ks in No rway, and we mad e the Sard inian one for the Venice B iennal e in 1978 .

BH: Your aim is to replicate these various sites as accurately as possible without ‘any hint of originality, style, superimposed design, wit or significance.’ When you’re in the process of making a World Series piece what are the factors that allow you all to feel that you have fulfilled this demanding aim of absolute exactitude and objectivity?

J H : We u se larg e r a nd la rg e r map s to ‘zo o m’ i n to a s ite. Eve nt u al ly, we t h row a me t al rig h t a ngl e in t he ai r a nd whe re t ha t f al ls is t he f irst co rne r o f t he p i e ce. We ex te nd t ha t s i x feet and wo rk o n t hat , a nd t he re ’s ne ve r a ny qu e stio n of say ing, ‘ it wou l d b e b e t te r ove r he re o r over the re ’ . You cou l d n’t i mp rove on wha t you g et in a rand o m se l e ct i on.

S B: We know tha t i t ’s not p ossib l e to b e abso lu te ly exac t a nd ob j e c t ive, bu t we ’ re trying to be as o bj e c tive as we ca n. T he ma i n t hing is to t ake ou rse lve s ou t of t he s i te se l e c tio n p ro ce s s . We t he n t r y a nd f i gu re ou t how we are g o ing to d o it , whe t he r i t ’s g oi ng to b e one o f ou r re s in Ea rt h Stu d ie s , or a f i l m or vi d eo wo rk that we ’ re go ing to make, or i f t he re is some ot he r way o f d oi ng i t .

I am not su re we e ve r fe e l we have fu l fil l e d t he ai m of ab solu te exac t i t u d e and obje c t iv ity. Ma r k a nd Joa n mad e a l ist of p o s s ibl e s t u die s we we re g oi ng to make a t eac h s ite. We t ry to comp l e te as ma ny t h i ngs on th is lis t as po s s ibl e, wh i ch i nc lu d e s mak i ng t he ac t u al s t u dy of t he si x -foot squ a re, s t u d ying exampl e s o f ani mal a nd p la nt l i fe on t he site, the weat he r, and wha t we cal l ‘e l e me nt al s t u die s ’ o f t he maj or typ e s of roc k a nd ea rth in the area. We inc lu d e st u d i e s of ou rse lve s in the p ro je c t be cau se we have to ack nowl e d g e that we are no t neu t ral ob se r ve rs – j u st by b e ing the re we are havi ng a n e f fe ct on t he s i te, so we i nc lu de ou rse lve s as act ive ag e nt s. We ’ve never manage d to comp l e te t he whol e l is t .

an artwo rk, bu t simply to see, bea r witnes s , reco rd and maybe beg in to u nd ers tand.

Mark and Joan came u p w ith a number o f f ramewo rks fo r how to d o th is. One is ‘co ntempo rary arc haeo l o gy ’, that we would stu d y the co ntempo rary wo rl d as if one were an arc haeo l o g ist l o o king at ev id ence of a past so c iety.

Ano ther key to u nd erstanding our wo rk is the id ea you have to ‘iso la te in order to examine’. The qu estio n is how are you g o ing to c ho o se what to examine? Are you g o ing to impo se you r valu e system, your value j u d g ements, o n that pro cess? And how did you co me by tho se valu es? Ou r rand om selection tec h niqu es are a way o f trying to op en up that pro cess. They are f ar f ro m id eal , but they help.

It’s not just the surface of the Earth we’re interested in, but everything – human beings, plants, animals, societies, physical and chemical reactions, bodily fluids, and so on. We use random selection techniques to try and take ourselves out of the equation, to help us choose and focus on just a minute selection of the infinite number of possible subjects for study.

BH: As artists who, although London-based have their roots in Scotland, and over a long career have frequently exhibited north of the border, do you think of yourselves in any way as Scottish artists?

JH: You bet. Th is sou nds paro c h ial, but because we have a Wo rld Seri es, that inte res t takes us everywhere.

B H : B oyle Fam i l y h a d a m a j o r re t ros p e c t ive ex h i bi t i o n at t h e Sc ot t is h N a t io n a l G a l l e r y of M o der n Ar t i n 2 0 03 . T h a t m u s t h a ve g ive n you the o p p o r t u n i t y t o se e t h e bo d y of you r wo rk as an o rgan i c u n i t y. From you r p oin t of v ie w, w h a t h o l ds su c h h i g h ly c omp l ex a n d va r ie d wo r k t o ge t h er un der t he n am e of B oy l e Fa m il y ?

SB: We certainly think of ourselves as Scottish artists and if there’s one trait which we see holding Scottish artists together – and maybe all Scottish people – it’s a certain bloody-minded determination to actually just get on with things.

Maybe we needed that bloody determination in order to keep on going for 50 years.

S B: T hat was a ve r y i mp or t a nt ex h ib i t i on fo r u s as it gave t he B r i t ish a r t wor l d a cha nce to see the range and va r i e ty of t he wor k a nd how it wo rks to ge t her. T he re a re al l sor t s of i d eas and co nce pt s t hat u nd e r p i n ou r wor k . O ne of the ke y q u e s t io ns for u s is how to l ook a t a nyth ing obje c t ive ly, to se e i t for i t se l f. Not to l oo k at it to te l l a s to ry or f i t a n ag e nda or e ve n to make

Tidal Series by Boyle Family is o n display in New Acquisitio ns until 1 8 May 2 0 1 4 Sco ttish Natio nal Galler y o f Mo d ern Art 75 Belfo rd Road , Ed inburgh, E H4 3DR t: 0 1 3 1 62 4 62 0 0 w w w.natio nalgaller ies .o rg Ad mis s io n f ree Op en: daily, 1 0 am– 5 p m Scottish Art News 43

Art Market

The Scots have always travelled, but do Scottish pictures? Paintings

positive and negative – to its more independent contemporary image,

of the motherland left these shores when Scots left for new lives in

the idea of Scotland in art remains a potent one.

America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand and they are cherished

and discarded in equal measure by their descendants. The discarded

crofters, and to an untrained eye, one wouldn’t be able to identify them

pictures are often repatriated through the international auction-house

as ‘Scottish’. By the end of the nineteenth century, Scottish artists were

network, or by internet-browsing art dealers.

travelling extensively. Their techniques and subjects were influenced by

new environments and the styles of their international contemporaries.

But do pictures by Scottish artists sell successfully

Yet many pictures aren’t of mist-shrouded hills or toiling

overseas? Bourne Fine Art (Edinburgh) has just completed its 13th

From the nineteenth century onwards, it becomes easier to compare

annual show in Hong Kong, which has a long-standing relationship

them to their European rivals – and to see, more clearly than ever, the

with Scotland. One of the original Hong Kong trading houses, Jardine

price differential. That differential tends to favour the buyer. By any

Matheson, was founded in nearby Canton in 1832 and, walking the

measure of quality and uniqueness, Scottish art is worth it.

city, names such as Elgin Street, Edinburgh Tower and the island port

of Aberdeen pop up time and again. But it’s not just Scots collecting

Scottish sales from Scotland. The economics of taking a 200-lot sale to

Scottish art: Hong Kong Chinese, English and American collectors

Edinburgh or Gleneagles didn’t stack up and so Scottish pictures have

are among those who have sought out exclusively Scottish pictures,

been absorbed into British and Irish picture sales in London. As Bernard

or absorbed them into mixed collections. A Chinese–English couple

Williams of Christie’s Scotland confirms, buyers of Scottish pictures

with whom I work like to hang nineteenth to mid-twentieth century

have diversified: ‘Why buy an average post-war English painting when,

Scottish pictures alongside contemporary Chinese art – purely for

for the same money, you can buy the best in an equivalent Scottish

aesthetic reasons. Simply, they like them. In fact, buyers with a Scottish

picture?’

heritage are in the minority in Hong Kong. Scotland’s particular brand

of romanticism, flinty realism and mountainous beauty, travels well. Its

high and their work is readily absorbed into collections abroad, the

identity is clear. From the legacy of its role in the British Empire – both

more traditional pictures – Landseer, Farquharson, Louis B Hurt –

44

Some years ago, Christie’s and Sotheby’s withdrew their

While the reputation of the Scottish Colourists remains

have recently started to attract more international buyers, as have

painters, and forces favourable comparisons to be drawn, then pride is

eighteenth-century portrait painters such as Allan Ramsay. Ramsay is a

to be found in this more mercantile aspect of acquiring art. And then

sublimely beautiful painter and stands supreme among his eighteenth-

we can return full circle to the reason why pictures were painted in the

century contemporaries – and yet remains financially accessible.

first place and why, still, most people buy them – and that is simply for

the love of art.

Subsuming Scottish pictures into other sales has helped

to diversify buyers and so too has the internet, introducing buyers from all kinds of art world disciplines. Online zoom technology allows

Emily Walsh is Managing Director of Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh, and a

buyers to gain a highly-detailed view of a picture’s surface – particularly

Director of The Fine Art Society, London, specialising in Scottish painting

important when buying a picture with age. But as anyone will tell you

1750–1970.

whose fingers have been burnt from buying online, viewing in the flesh remains the only true measure.

To this end, galleries and salerooms travel their pictures in

dedicated exhibitions, art fairs or preview sales. Over the last couple of years, Chris Brickley, of Bonhams Scotland, has viewed Colourists and good quality Scottish Victorian paintings in New York, Toronto, Hong Kong and, in each sale, a proportion of these pictures goes overseas. Perhaps this proves that the desirability of a painting is most effectively exploited when a viewer stands in front of it and enjoys the visceral experience of an artwork directly, in a way that cannot be communicated by technology.

Investment is writ large in every part of the picture-dealing

world and to some this is a rather woeful sign of our times. But, if it draws attention to the often overlooked quality of some Scottish

ABOVE Joseph Farquharson (1846–1935) The Valley of the Feugh, oil on canvas, 101.5x152.5 cm Sotheby’s London, British & Irish Art (19 November 2013), £20,000 OPPOSITE Sir William George Gillies (1898–1973) The Gay Table III, oil on canvas, 67x109 cm Sotheby’s London, British & Irish Art (23 May 2013), £12,500

Scottish Art News 45

Books

Looking through this new book, the key to answering

that searching question lies for me in an early print, entitled Africa, which Aitchison made in 1969. The image is instantly recognisably ‘Aitchisonian’, with a sitting black figure holding a bunch of flowers in a landscape of sparse trees, on one of which a pair of amorous budgerigars size each other up. There is, however, something alien within this seemingly exotic idyllic scene in the form of a strip of collaged newsprint. What is striking about this is that Aitchison, like Picasso in his Cubist collages which are full of news references to the then-current Balkan wars, has selected an article on the horrendous Biafran Civil War which was raging in Nigeria in the late 1960s. While Aitchison could certainly never be labelled a political artist in any overt sense, his art, as opposed to civil war, is totally committed to seeking a state of harmonious integration of all the competing elements, from disegno to colorito, figuration to abstraction. That spirit of perfect accord through chromatic and composite pictorial interdependence, which pervades all of Aitchison’s work, may not be ‘political’, but can still be seen as a powerful, even a religious, inspiration for all those who hope and seek to bring peace and reconciliation to a world torn apart by hatred and strife.

This keenly awaited catalogue raisonné of Craigie

Craigie Aitchison

Aitchison’s prints is another fine achievement by Royal Academy

Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné

Publications. There is a short, yet informative contextual commentary

with an essay by Andrew Lambirth

on Aitchison’s career by Andrew Lambirth with helpful technical

Royal Academy Publications, November 2013

guidance on appropriate printing methods, while Louise Peck of

Hardback £35

Advanced Graphics has catalogued all the prints and reproduced the high-quality illustrations. Congratulations to all involved – you have

Printmaking surprisingly only became an integral part of Craigie

done Craigie proud. (Bill Hare.)

Aitchison’s art practice relatively late in his career when he began to work with Advanced Graphics in the late 1980s. He then set about making up for lost time and, over the following decades of his career, produced a phenomenally impressive body of works. I can say this from personal experience. When I was preparing to curate an exhibition of his smaller paintings for the University of Edinburgh, I had the privilege of going to see his exhibition Craigie Aitchison: The Prints 1969–2008, which was organised by Advanced Graphics, who have also been very involved in this most welcome publication. I still remember the night of that exhibition’s opening at the splendid Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal. The weather unfortunately was atrocious, and so it was a magical experience to find refuge in such an Aladdin’s cave of alluring iconic images bathed in rich and radiating colours. Miraculously this book manages to produce for me much of that same sensation of sensual delight.

All of Aitchison’s later prints successfully manage to

capture, within the particular mode of their own medium – be it silk screen-print or carborundum etching – the subtle nuances of colour relationships and textural effects found in his highly distinctive style of decorative painting. Thus these prints faithfully capture the look and spirit of Aitchison’s painted work, yet still maintain their own particular and authentic presence. So, one may ask, what is this profound quality – or ‘spirit’ – which pervades and invigorates the art of Craigie Aitchison – either in painting or printmaking?

46

Craigie Aitchison, Washing Line Montecastelli, from Craigie Aitchison – Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné. Screen-print, edition size: 75, plus 10 artist’s proofs and 5 printer’s proofs, 15.2x12 cm.

Publisher: Advanced Graphics London, 2004. Printer: Advanced Graphics London

Scotland’s Shrine: The Scottish National War Memorial Duncan Macmillan Lund Humphries, 2013 Hardback £40 This new publication charts the history of the Scottish National War Memorial, which was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales, on 14 July 1927 and which stands to commemorate the nearly 150,000 Scottish casualties in the First World War, over 50,000 in the Second World

J.D. FERGUSSON

War and those who have died in the campaigns since 1945, including the Falklands and Gulf Wars. Designed by Sir Robert Lorimer and paid for by public subscription, the landmark sought to articulate a nation’s grief, creating a remarkable artistic and architectural achievement in the process. The memorial is widely recognised as one of the most ambitious and successful pieces of public art of its time, and

JD Fergusson

Scotland’s Shrine provides a detailed description of its history alongside

Alice Strang, Elizabeth Cumming and Sheila McGregor

illustrations of the building’s numerous artistic accomplishments. The

National Galleries of Scotland, 2013

book celebrates the contributions of the individual artists involved in

Paperback £14.95

the project, whose works include sculptures in bronze, wood and stone.

The remarkable stained glass windows, which represent the seasons

This book accompanies the first major exhibition of the work of JD

and air and water, are a universal metaphor for time passing, and more

Fergusson to be exhibited by the National Galleries of Scotland, which

directly commemorate those who served in the RAF and the Royal

concludes their Scottish Colourist Series. Its Curator, Alice Strang, has

Navy. Duncan Macmillan’s definitive account of this significant public

contributed two enlightening essays to this publication, the second of

monument marks the First World War centenary, and also includes

which deals with Fergusson’s life and career. Fergusson was essentially

contextual links to other similar projects. (Sophie Midgley.)

self-taught, opposed to the establishment and keen to retain his sense of Scottishness when living in France and London. He was described by art critic PG Konody as ‘the most stimulating and intriguing of this group of modern Scotsmen’. Elizabeth Cumming looks at the time

Forthcoming:

Fergusson spent in Paris between 1907 and 1913, where he embraced

Painting Labour in Scotland and Europe, 1850–1900

French painting more than any of his Scottish contemporaries, and

John Morrison

was influenced by such artists as Matisse, Picasso and Derain. His

Ashgate, April 2014

life long partner, the dance pioneer Margaret Morris, exposed him to

Hardback £55

many branches of the creative arts. She was especially influential in his depiction and treatment of the female form, a subject which dominates

John Morrison’s forthcoming publication Painting Labour in Scotland and

his oeuvre. Fergusson’s 1911 masterpiece Rhythm encapsulates his

Europe, 1850–1900 highlights the previously unrecognised variations in

treatment of the female nude, while also referencing his involvement

rural labour imagery in European painting, predominantly in Scotland.

as founding art editor of a journal of the same name, which began as

The book discusses Scottish rural painting in relation to its particular

part of a now-celebrated group of Anglo-American artists including Jo

Scottish historical context separately from its English and French

Davidson, Jessica Dismorr and the painter Anne Estelle Rice, whose

counterparts, onto whom it is regularly appended. This has meant

relationship with Fergusson encouraged his move to Paris. Sheila

that previously it has generally been intellectually divorced from

McGregor explores the vital role that Fergusson and Morris played in

the brutal realities of the evolving nineteenth-century urbanism in

the renaissance of the arts in Glasgow during the 1940s. Fergusson

Scotland. Alongside canonical Scottish images by major figures such

wrote in 1946: ‘The Scotland I’d like to see from the Art point of view,

as James Guthrie, the book explores many unconsidered paintings

would be a Scotland liberated from the stranglehold of Academic Art,

by nineteenth-century Scottish artists, and considers them in relation

and where there was, if not a square deal, at least a fighting chance

to major English and continental Realist and Romantic painters. The

for the Independent Artist’. Fergusson described the artist as ‘trying

juxtaposition of JF Millet with WD McKay, and Edwin Landseer with

for truth, for reality; through light’, an ethos which informed his entire

George Reid, makes for a volume that will appeal to both an academic

career. (Sophie Midgley.)

audience and to one interested in European art history more generally.

(Sophie Midgley.)

Scottish Art News 47

PREVIEW

2014

Simon Starling, Burn-Time, 2000. Installation view: neugerriemschneider, Berlin, 2001. Photo: Jens Ziehe. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider

48

GENERATION: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland A partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and Glasgow Life, supported by Creative Scotland Various venues, March – November 2014 www.generationartscotland.org A landmark series of exhibitions featuring work by over 100 artists who have come to attention working in Scotland over the past quarter century will open in over 60 venues across Scotland as part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme. In planning since 2011, each venue has programmed its own exhibition, working with associate curator Katrina Brown and a curatorial board, which includes Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA) and Sarah Munro, Head of Arts, Glasgow Life.

The past 25 years have seen Scotland develop an international

reputation for its visual art with a disproportionate number of Scottish

Toby Paterson, Hypothetical Relief (CDA), Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow, 2012 Courtesy the artist and The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd. Photo: Ruth Clark

artists achieving significant awards and acclaim. (Scotland has produced six winners of the Turner Prize since its inception.) For Tate Director, Nicholas Serota, this period has seen contemporary Scottish artists gain unprecedented international attention – ‘a clear indication of the growing significance of the visual arts in the culture and society of Scotland as a whole’. There have been previous overviews of contemporary art in Scotland, the most recent, the touring exhibition, Here and Now: Scottish Art 1990–2001, which included many of the artists showing in GENERATION, but this is the largest and most ambitious survey to date.

The main focus of GENERATION is to bring key moments

and works from the past 25 years to new audiences, particularly to a younger age group. But although the emphasis is on existing artworks and restagings of pivotal exhibitions, GENERATION will also feature new work and special commissions. Among the commissions is a work by Alex Frost for artist’s residency centre Cove Park’s 50-acre site overlooking Loch Long.

Roddy Buchanan, Work in Progress, 1995. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Purchased Iain Paul Fund and Knapping Fund, 2002

Although reflecting inwardly, GENERATION seeks to celebrate

the internationalism of its contemporary art and works will be on display which have never before been exhibited in Scotland. Simon Starling’s Burn Time, shown in Germany in 2000, for example, will be shown at the SNGMA. For Councillor Archie Graham, Chair of Glasgow Life, this ‘presents an opportunity to galvanise a new audience for the artists and artworks that have propelled both Glasgow and Scotland’s contemporary art onto a global stage.’

One of the most frequently cited works of the past 25 years

is Ross Sinclair’s Real Life Rocky Mountain, 1996, which will also be shown at the SNGMA. For Sinclair, GENERATION offers a fantastic opportunity to reanimate long unseen works and also create brand new projects.

(Collective Gallery in Edinburgh will mark the 20th anniversary of his Real Life projects with an exhibition of his work.) The range of works on show, Sinclair suggests, will allow us to ‘look back to see where we came from, how we got to where we are today but also try to see what might be round the corner, just where exactly we might be heading…’.

Lucy Skaer (showing at the Hunterian Museum and Art

Gallery in Glasgow) has reflected upon the significance of seeing another of GENERATION’S featured artists Douglas Gordon’s 24 Hour Psycho in Scottish Art News 49

CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER LEFT Douglas Gordon, Pretty Much Every Film and Video Work From About 1992 Until Now. Installed for National Galleries of Scotland, 2006.

Photo: Antonia Reeve Richard Wright, The Stairwell Project, 2010 © The artist and The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd Graham Fagen, Peek-a-jobby, 1998. Courtesy the artist and Matt’s Gallery, London

1993 at Tramway at the age of 18. For Skaer, her experiences cannot be

installations including Steven Campbell’s 1990 Third Eye Centre exhibition

untangled from the language and influence of such precedents. (She has

On Form and Content and a recreation of Martin Boyce’s 2002 Tramway

recently returned to Glasgow after seven years of living in New York and

show Our Love is Like the Flowers, the Rain, the Sea, and the Hours. Karla Black

London.) It’s unsurprising that work by arguably the most internationally

and David Shrigley will produce new works directly in response to the

renowned contemporary Scottish artist, Douglas Gordon (currently based

gallery space.

in Germany), will be on show in three different venues during GENERATION

– in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Thurso.

Time, Sinclair’s Real Life Rocky Mountain, Douglas Gordon’s 24 Hour Psycho,

and Graham Fagen’s Peek-A-Jobby, 1998, as well as a range of work by

Despite the focus on established artists, the programme also

The SNGMA will show installations such as Starling’s Burn

includes emerging artists, and highlights, in particular, artist-led initiatives

artists including Alison Watt, Charles Avery and Julie Roberts, which

which have flourished over this period. In Dundee, Cooper Gallery will

highlight the continuing vitality of painting and drawing in Scotland. New

show Studio Jamming: Artists’ Collaborations in Scotland, and Dundee

installations by Claire Barclay, Ciara Philips and Alex Dordoy bring new

Contemporary Arts will hold Continue Without Losing Consciousness, which

works to the exhibition. City Art Centre will show work acquired through

references an artists’ collaboration in Glasgow in 2010, Le Drapeau Noir.

the National Collecting Scheme for Scotland, which was founded to

(See p.58.) Paisley Art Gallery and Museum will revisit Information, an

support the sustained development of collections of contemporary art by

exhibition held 25 years ago by a group of then-emerging artists from The

Scotland’s museums and galleries.

Glasgow School of Art. Among those artists was Roddy Buchanan whose

1998 video installation, Gobstopper, can be seen at the SNGMA. For this

before shown in the city: Douglas Gordon’s Pretty Much Every Film and Video

new show, current Glasgow School of Art MLitt students have been invited

Work from about 1992 until Now (a collection of the artist’s work in film and

to respond to the theme of ‘information’ within the specific context of

video, including Play Dead; Real Time, 24 Hour Psycho and 30 Seconds Text)

the museum. In Edinburgh, the SNGMA will hold a two-part exhibition at

and Nathan Coley’s Lamp of Sacrifice, 286 Places of Worship, 2004, which

Modern One and the Scottish National Gallery, which will bring together

was shown at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh. Participating galleries

historically significant works from the past 25 years and new work by

elsewhere in Scotland include the Pier Arts Centre in Orkney which will

emerging artists. The Scottish National Gallery will show large-scale

show an exhibition of work by Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich, spanning

50

Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art will show two works never

Martin Boyce, Our Love is Like the Flowers, the Rain, the Sea and the Hours. Installation view: Tramway, Glasgow, 2002. Courtesy the artist and The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd. Photo: Keith Hunter

over 15 years of their practice, and Caithness Horizons in Thurso, which will show the work of Douglas Gordon for the first time in the north of Scotland.

A specially-curated exhibition work by Toby Paterson will tour to Kirkcaldy, Inverness, Peebles and Dumfries, and An Lanntair in Stornoway and Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh will show an installation by Dalziel + Scullion.

In seeking to demonstrate the strength and breadth of artistic

practice in Scotland, GENERATION also highlights the successes of the initiatives and infrastructure which have supported the development of Scottish art in the past 25 years. For many of us who missed these exhibitions first-time around, GENERATION offers a rare and welcome second chance. And for those of us who are seeing them for a second time, we have the opportunity to revisit the work in a new time and context and to reflect upon its impact and continuing relevance.

(Briony Anderson.)

Nathan Coley, The Lamp of Sacrifice, 286 Places of Worship, Edinburgh, 2004 Courtesy the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh

The programme for GENERATION will continue to evolve over coming months. For full details see www.generationartscotland.org.

Scottish Art News 51

GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

showcases work from those with global reputations as well as

4 – 21 April 2014

younger, emerging artists.

Various venues

T: 0141 276 8384

of Art and still living in the city, has shown at institutions and events

www.glasgowinternational.org

around the world, including the Scottish Pavilion at the Venice

Sue Tompkins, a former student of The Glasgow School

Biennale in 2005. She has been commissioned to create an exhibition Visitors to this year’s Glasgow International 2014, the city’s biannual

and new performance for the fourth floor in GoMA, which will draw

contemporary art festival, might find themselves getting their nails

on a range of literary and historical movements such as Concrete

painted, visiting an old public swimming pool, or sitting down to a

Poetry and typewriter art. Tompkins re-presents material taken

bowl of soup. These are just some of the diverse works to be found

from the everyday, phrases, words and lyrics, through typed and

in another innovative exhibition programme. Opening in April 2014

spoken works and for this show will create a new series of fabric

for its sixth year, over 80 artists will showcase their work at more

pieces, paintings and works on newsprint. Charlotte Prodger, another

than 40 venues and locations across the city. It is the first festival for

Glasgow-based artist, who showed at the 2012 festival at CCA, will

new Director Sarah McCrory, who has previously worked as Curator

present an exhibition of work in Bridgeton in the east of Glasgow.

of Frieze Foundation and was involved in organising a number of

Prodger, who was shortlisted for last year’s Jarman award, works

cultural events for the 2012 London Olympic festival. This year the

across 16mm film, spoken word, text and video and will produce a

festival will form part of the celebrations in the run-up to the Glasgow

new sculptural installation.

2014 Commonwealth Games. Extra funding has been provided

by Homecoming Scotland 2014, which is organising a year-long

practices engage in critical contemporary discourse. Glasgow-

programme of events. The 18-day festival will feature a range of

based Open Jar Collective, a group of socially engaged artists, are

media and disciplines from installation and sculpture to ceramics and

holding Broth Mix, an event at the Kinning Park Complex, which is

stand-up comedy, most of which will be new or previously unseen in

a building run as a not-for-profit community facility on the south

the UK.

side of Glasgow. During its first week Open Jar Collective will invite

Since its beginnings in 2005 Glasgow International has

This year’s festival is to have a focus on artists whose

people to help transform the kitchen to create a functioning cafe

undergone considerable growth, presenting a range of contemporary

in the main hall. Once open it will host a series of talks, gigs, meals

art from within the city’s own dynamic art scene as well as further

and workshops, with a different soup being prepared every day by

afield. It has a rich pool of local artists to pick from and the festival

members of the local community.

52

CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER RIGHT Aleksandra Domanovi, Monument to Revolution, 2012 Installation view: fourth Marrakech Biennale, 2012 Sue Tompkins, Head Love, 2013, acrylic on canvas Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Prisoner’s Cinema, 2013, film still OPPOSITE Bedwyr Williams, The Starry Messenger (still), 2013 Wales in Venice, Venice Biennale 2013 Curated by MOSTYN and Oriel Davies, commissioned by Arts Council of Wales

Scottish Art News 53

As well as showing work at the city’s many art spaces,

the festival intends to make use of other venues and areas across Glasgow. The early twentieth-century Govanhill Baths will be taken over by artists Anthea Hamilton and Nicholas Byrne with large, colourful inflatable sculptures, while in a city-centre shop unit Mary Mary gallery are to present an off-site project by London-based artist Alistair Frost. Operating as a nail bar, visitors can book an appointment to have one of his designs or motifs painted onto their nails, picked from paintings and objects produced by Frost and installed throughout the space. Meanwhile, over in the east end of the city, on a disused site near to the Emirates arena and Sir Chris Hoy Veldodrome, a public artwork has been commissioned. For Making the Most of Dalmarnock, artist Ruth Ewan will be working with communities in Dalmarnock to design and construct a permanent outdoor learning and play area.

It is not only the city’s spaces which will be explored, but

some of the city’s various collections. British artist Simon Martin’s work examines the various histories of the created object and the abstract nature of collection building. He is to make a new film commission for Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in response to aspects of its collection. The work will be presented over a number of key sites throughout the building and makes reference to the museum’s unique hang. Meanwhile, Lucy Reynolds will draw on the collections of Glasgow Women’s Library, as well as the city’s archives, including The Glasgow School of Art and the Mitchell Library. Reynolds is interested in the collective power of the Women’s Movement and A Feminist Chorus will feature recitations from personal and polemic texts. Participants from across Glasgow will speak the score at a collective choral event at the Glasgow Women’s Library, with other sound installations to be made and aired at historically significant sites.

Artists Ruth Barker and Kim Moore have also made work

in response to Glasgow Women’s Library’s in East End Women’s Heritage Walk. Barker has produced a sequence of short aural pieces evoking the stories of women including Saint Teneu and the lost witch Maggie Wall. Kim Moore has made a new sound piece inspired by histories and stories of women of Glasgow’s east end. Both artists’

ABOVE FROM TOP Khaled Hourani, Untitled, 2002, mixed media on wood Charlotte Prodger, Ok, 2012, screen-print

sound pieces are to be experienced in and around Bridgeton, the new neighbourhood of Glasgow Women’s Library.

alternative spaces, encouraging discourse around multifarious topics

ranging from new technologies, to museum taxonomies, to the use

The festival has always showcased the work of important

international artists. This year Serbian artist Aleksandra Domanovic

of humour. Once again, the festival will provide a focus on the wealth

will present his first major solo show within an institution (GoMA),

of its arts organisations and communities, while embracing input to

Puerto Rican artist Beatriz Santiago Muñoz will be showing at

these discussions from international practitioners.’

Transmission Gallery and American artist Michael Smith will present

a film installation across two of Tramway’s spaces. It will include new

referendum on Scottish independence, Glasgow and Scotland will be

work as well as highlights from his influential practice spanning over

under close scrutiny next year, both culturally and politically. Under

30 years.

this increased international gaze, the festival looks set to uphold its

Director Sarah McCrory has said of the festival, ‘this

With the Commonwealth Games and upcoming

reputation for delivering a bold and exciting programme of visual arts.

year’s Glasgow International will continue to show the strength of the renowned and exceptional production from within Glasgow, as well as invite artists into the city to embed into its museums and

54

Katie Baker is an artist and writer based in London.

A Highland Romance: Victorian Views of Scottishness Until September 2014 Manchester Art Gallery Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3JL T: 0161 235 8888 Open: daily, 10am–5pm, Thursdays 10am–9pm www.manchestergalleries.org To coincide with the run-up to the Scottish referendum, Manchester Art Gallery has drawn together a display of significant ninteenthcentury paintings and works on paper by Scottish artists from their collection. Also on display are depictions of Scotland by English artists including JMW Turner. The display explores Victorian representations of Scotland and notions of Scottish identity. Dating from around 1830 to 1904, the works range from classical castle ruins to romanticised portrayals of Highland cattle. By placing the works in a contemporary context, A Highland Romance seeks to explore what it means to have these artworks within Manchester’s collections, and ideas of Scottishness.

Key works by Scottish artists include A Spate in the

Highlands by Peter Graham, and a portrait of Sir Alexander Keith

by Sir David Wilkie, which is a study for a detail of a larger work commemorating George IV’s visit to Edinburgh in 1822. This was the first visit of a reigning monarch to Scotland since 1650, and Sir Walter Scott’s organisation of the visit, with the inclusion of the tartan kilt, has had a lasting influence in forming Scotland’s national identity.

Works by Scottish artists such as Joseph Farquharson and John MacWhirter also feature.

Three rarely seen watercolours by JMW Turner are among

the highlights of works by English artists. These delicate works on paper were produced in preparation for the Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland, the first of two projects on which Turner collaborated with Scott. The lavishly illustrated serial issued between 1819 and 1826 contained a variety of engravings of Scottish landmarks and landscapes, accompanied by historical descriptions written by Scott. Paintings by other leading nineteenth-century English artists such as Sir John Everett Millais and Sir Edwin Landseer reveal how Highland identity was perceived through English eyes.

Important artworks such as The Chase by Richard Ansdell

and Craigmillar Castle by the Reverend John Thomson of Duddingston are on display for the first time since undergoing vital conservation treatment (previously on display at Wythenshawe Hall and Heaton Hall respectively). Other exhibits include a printed textile based on a Sir David Wilkie painting borrowed from the Whitworth Art Gallery, and a mid-1860s tartan dress from the gallery’s costume collection (held at Platt Hall). (Janet Casey.)

ABOVE FROM TOP JMW Turner, Linlithgow Palace Sir John Everett Millais, Autumn Leaves © Manchester City Galleries

A collection of poems by Jen Hadfield in response to A Highland Romance has been commissioned by Manchester Literature Festival and can be downloaded from www.manchestergalleries.org.

Scottish Art News 55

LEFT Fisher Folk at their Boats, oil on panel OPPOSITE FROM TOP The Grassmarket, Edinburgh, etching on paper A Blind Fiddler, etching on paper Images © The City of Edinburgh Council

Walter Geikie (1795–1837): An Artist of Character

nineteenth century. However, as is the case with the majority of his

Until 2 March 2014

contemporaries who specialised in the domestic genre, Geikie’s work

City Art Centre

is little known and has been overshadowed by that of David Wilkie,

2 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DE

who was the leading Scottish genre painter in the nineteenth century.

T: 0131 529 3993 | www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk

This is the first retrospective exhibition devoted to this underrated

Open: Monday – Saturday 10am–5pm, Sunday 12–5pm

artist since Talbot Rice Art Centre, the University of Edinburgh, held an exhibition of his work in 1984.

Born in Edinburgh in 1795, Walter Geikie never left his native city,

which was a major source of inspiration for his work. Struck by an

and including loans from the National Galleries of Scotland and

illness at the age of two, which left him unable to hear or speak, he

Edinburgh City Libraries, the exhibition showcases over 65 works.

was educated at the newly opened Edinburgh Royal Institution for the

Most of the works on display are either drawings or etchings, but

Deaf and Dumb. His parents encouraged his early interest in art, and

there are also books of sketches and etchings and a few oil paintings,

he studied drawing under Patrick Gibson. In 1812 he enrolled at the

including key works such as A Hallow Fair Scene, Fisher Folk at their

Trustees’ Academy where he attended the classes of John Graham,

Boats and Edinbro’ and Neighbourhood.

who trained several of the most eminent Scottish painters of the first

half of the nineteenth century. Throughout his short career Geikie

‘Domestic Scenes’, ‘Pedlars’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Eating and Drinking’, ‘Artists

regularly exhibited at the Royal Institution and then, from 1826, at the

at Work’, ‘Literary Influences’ and ‘Rural Life’, each section explores

Scottish Academy. His talent did not go unnoticed. He was elected

these recurring subjects in Geikie’s work. Most of these enduring

an associate of the Scottish Academy in 1831, and three years later

themes also inspired many Scottish genre painters of the period

became an academician.

including David Wilkie, Alexander Carse and Alexander George

Fraser, who all, for example, depicted scenes of Scottish fairs. Like

Geikie was a multi-faceted artist who produced paintings,

Drawing mainly from the collections of the City Art Centre

Organised thematically into ‘Fairground Scenes’,

drawings and etchings, but was best known for his figurative

eighteenth-century artist David Allan, Geikie and his contemporaries

etchings representing Edinburgh street life and ordinary citizens. In

were also greatly inspired by the literary works of Allan Ramsay and

1841, a few years after his untimely death, a volume was published

Robert Burns; the exhibition includes three etchings and a drawing

entitled Etchings Illustrative of Scottish Character and Scenery, which

illustrating Burns’ poems.

included a brief biography of Geikie and a selection of his etchings,

demonstrating his talent and popularity in the first half of the

of Wilkie’s The Blind Fiddler and The Village Festival, and show the

56

Works such as A Blind Fiddler and Very Fou are reminiscent

Fife in the Frame 27 June – 17 August 2014 St Andrews Museum Kinburn Park, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, KY16 9DP T: 01334 659380 | www.eastneukfestival.com Open: daily, 10am–5pm Summer 2014 will see the 10th anniversary of the highly regarded East Neuk Festival, which focuses on classical chamber music and uses a great range of venues across one of the most attractive parts of Scotland, the East Neuk of Fife. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the festival St Andrews Museum is forming a partnership with the East Neuk Festival and the Fleming-Wyfold Foundation to present an exhibition of landscape paintings, Fife in the Frame.

The exhibition will give visitors the unique opportunity

to see a stunning selection of paintings from the Fleming-Wyfold Foundation, alongside works from Fife Council’s own collection.

With paintings by Hunter, Walton and Gillies, to name just a few, the exhibition will reflect the rich and varied character of the area.

The exhibition opens on the opening day of the festival, and closes on 17 August to embrace Fife’s other highly popular cultural celebration, the Pittenweem Arts Festival. Artistic director, Svend Brown: ‘The exhibition allows us to connect with Scottish artists of the past 150 years, to see some familiar landmarks through their eyes. Some of their paintings show views that have not changed in centuries – they could have been painted yesterday. In others, the transformation of a particular vista is completely different, prompting fascinating reflections on the ways in which we shape the land through our uses of it. For the festival this exhibition will be a landmark in its own right, one which we look forward to enormously. East Neuk Festival is rooted in the landscape and heritage of Fife – through music, art and literature influence of Wilkie’s early pictures on Geikie. Yet despite Wilkie’s

we explore and celebrate it.’

influence, Geikie was an artist of independent mind who produced original works celebrating Edinburgh and its inhabitants. Among

The East Neuk Festival runs from 27 June – 6 July. The full

others, the etchings entitled The Grassmarket, Edinburgh, A Street

programme will be announced on 9 February 2014.

Auctioneer and The Shoe Stand offer a fascinating glimpse into a bygone age. Geikie depicted his countrymen with empathy and wit and his works are devoid of the sentimentality which characterises paintings by nineteenth-century Scottish genre artists. As has been noted by Professor Duncan Macmillan, some of Geikie’s drawings anticipate the work of the French Realists.

This long-overdue retrospective gives visitors a unique

opportunity to rediscover the life and work of Walter Geikie, an artist who has significantly contributed to the vitality and originality of Scottish genre painting.

Dr Marion Amblard teaches at Pierre Mendès France University in Grenoble and is a Researcher in British Studies. She is a member of the French Society for Scottish Studies.

George Leslie Hunter (1877–1931), Ceres, Fife (Fifeshire Village), c.1924–27, oil on canvas. FlemingWyfold Foundation

Scottish Art News 57

58

Continue Without Losing Consciousness: Rob Churm,

The Third Eye Centre, in the 1970s, which so influenced the flowering

Raydale Dower and Tony Swain

of contemporary artists across all art forms in the city before being

28 June – 24 August 2014

transformed into the far glossier Centre for Contemporary Arts; and

Dundee Contemporary Arts

Richard Strange’s recently revived Cabaret Futura club, which first

152 Nethergate, Dundee, DD 4DY

appeared on the London scene in the early 1980s. Like all of these,

T: 01382 909900 | www.dca.org.uk

Le Drapeau Noir was a DIY temporary autonomous zone to hang out

Open: daily: 11am–6pm, Thursday: until 8pm

in as much as anything, and was founded on a Punk Rock aesthetic prevalent in the ever fertile art/pop crossover in Glasgow which

In 2010 Rob Churm, Raydale Dower and Tony Swain opened up

Churm, Dower and Swain are key players in.

Le Drapeau Noir for the duration of the Glasgow International Festival

of Visual Art. The nightly word-of-mouth happenings that took

and Inverleith House in Edinburgh, and was a member of the

place in this former hairdresser’s shop down a city-centre backstreet

influential band Hassle Hound. Dower is a graduate of Duncan of

became as legendary as the forbears they emulated, paid homage

Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, where he was

to and reinvented for the moment via a series of gigs, performances

involved in the city’s skate scene which used as a base the derelict

and events in a speak-easy environment tailor-made for underground

garage that was on the site where DCA now stands. Dower also

conspiracy.

featured in the DCA 10th anniversary exhibition, The Associates, and

has had solo exhibitions at Changing Room, Stirling, and Tramway,

Le Drapeau Noir drew inspiration from Dadaist nightclub

Swain has had solo exhibitions at the Fruitmarket Gallery

Cabaret Voltaire, founded in Zurich by Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings

Glasgow. He is currently a member of avant-pop troupe Tut Vu Vu

in 1916. Le Drapeau Noir translates as ‘The Black Flag’, referencing the

and was a founding member of leftfield blues hollerers Uncle John

anarchist flag as much as American hardcore band Black Flag. This

and Whitelock.

spirit of anarchist talking shops and any late-night boho dive where

dreamers and schemers have plotted assorted invisible insurrections

Sorcha Dallas and the Glasgow Project Room, and recently had a

for centuries, was also in the minds of Churm, Dower and Swain.

residency at Cove Park, in Argyll. He’s played in bands Park Attack

and the Gummy Stumps, and still programmes the events at the now

This should make the trio’s latest exhibition, Continue

Churm has shown at Glasgow venues such as GoMA,

Without Losing Consciousness – which references the 2010 Glasgow

permanently christened ‘Old Hairdressers’ venue where Le Drapeau

International Festival collaboration – a tantalising prospect even as

Noir took place.

it scales up Le Drapeau Noir’s original sense of self-mythology for Dundee Contemporary Art’s bigger space. Continue Without Losing

‘DCA is a social space, a combined arts centre and is also a part

Consciousness will form part of GENERATION, 2014’s major Scotland-

of the legacy of the last 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland,’

wide celebration of contemporary art in Scotland over the last

says Domke. ‘Since 1999, DCA has presented artists at key points

25 years.

in their practice to flourish on an international platform while also fostering audiences for trailblazing art. GENERATION as a nationwide

‘“Continue Without Losing Consciousness”, like GENERATION

celebration of contemporary art in Scotland has the opportunity

as a whole, is based on the strong ecology of the recent generations

to take underground or under the radar activities and make them

of artists operating in Scotland,’ DCA’s exhibitions curator Graham

accessible to a larger community’.

Domke explains. ‘Rob, Tony and Raydale – an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman – have as many connections to one another

In Continue Without Losing Consciousness then, one should ‘expect

in terms of underground music as they do as artists’.

nods to revolutionary art movements such as Surrealism, Dadaism and Fluxus, channelled through with contemporary influences.

‘Social connections and intellectual discourses lead to healthy, lively

The biggest celebration of the Scottish contemporary art scene is

communities, and Le Drapeau Noir was my absolute highlight of the

unthinkable without artists like Rob, Raydale and Tony, who keep on

2010 Glasgow International Festival, and it profoundly acknowledged

keeping on.’

the importance of collaboration and conversation. The idea for DCA is to have three distinct solo presentations by the artists alongside

Neil Cooper is an arts writer and critic based in Edinburgh who writes on

space to contextualise what Le Drapeau Noir was about and, just as

theatre, music and visual art. He currently writes for The Herald, Map

importantly, programme new gigs, zine launches, events, interventions

and The List, and has also written for The Times, The Independent and

and keep true to its original spirit.’

The Scotsman.

In recent times, as well as Cabaret Voltaire, such kindred spirits to habitués of Le Drapeau Noir may have been found in Greenwich Village Beat cafes in the 1950s and 1960s; Glasgow’s original arts lab,

Le Drapeau Noir, Glasgow International 2010. Courtesy Rob Churm, Raydale Dower and Tony Swain. Photos: Neil Davidson

Scottish Art News 59

LISTINGS ABERDEEN

City ABERDEEN Art Centre

Tickling The Fruitmarket Jock: Comedy GalleryGreats from Sir

Walter Geikie: An Artist of Character

Harry DavidLauder Batchelor: to Billy Flatlands Connolly

Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum

Until 2 March Aberdeen Art Gallery

Until 4 May 25–May 14 July

The Lure of the Orient

2Silver: Market Street, EH1 1DE The Aberdeen Story

The 45 Market Taylor Wessing Street EH1 Photographic 1DF

Until 1 March

0131 3993 Until 3529 March

Portrait Tel: 0131 Prize 225 2383

The Great Tapestry of Scotland

www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk Plan B–Side A: Photographs by Oliver Godow

1fruitmarket.co.uk March − 26 May

15 February – 19 April

Until 30 March

1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD

Schoolhill, AB10 1FQ

The Selling Fruitmarket Dreams: Gallery One Hundred Years of

Open Eye Gallery

0122 452 3700

Louise Fashion Bourgeois: Photography I Give Everything Away

Open John Bellany Eye Gallery CBE HRSA RA LLD:

www.aagm.co.uk

Until 2 February 16 February – 20 April

Abigail Works on McLellan Paper: and 7 – 30 Alasdair January Wallace

Tania Schoolhill Kovats: AB10 Oceans 1FQ

3Scottish February Landscapes: – 18 February 4 – 20 February

15 Tel:March 01224– 523700 25 May

Adrian DonaldWiszniewski Provan: 25RSA February HonFRIAS – 13 HRSW March

45 aagm.co.uk Market Street, EH1 1DF

7–23 34 Abercromby April Place

Dundee Contemporary Arts

0131 225 2383

Chris Edinburgh BusheEH3 RSW6QE

Thomson & Craighead:

www.fruitmarket.co.uk DUNDEE

19 Tel:May 0131 – 4558 June 9872

DUNDEE

34 openeyegallery.co.uk Abercromby Place, EH3 6QE

Maps DNA and Spam Until 16 March

Inverleith House The McManus:

0131 557 1020

Continue Without Losing Consciousness

Alex Dordoy: Dundee’s Art persistencebeatsresistance Gallery and Museum

www.openeyegallery.co.uk National Galleries of Scotland

28 June – 24 August

Until 30 March Reflections from the Tay: 20th Century

152 Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4DY

Royal Botanic Garden Scottish Art from the Permanent Collection

Scottish Academy National (Scottish Gallery National of Modern Gallery) Art

01382 909 900

Arboretum Place / Inverleith Row Until 11 August

The John Scottish Bellany: Colourist A Passion Series: forJD LifeFergusson

www.dca.org.uk

Edinburgh, EH3 5LR1DA Albert Square DD1

Until Until15 27June January

01312 482230 9717200 Tel: 0138

ARTIST ThroughROOMS: American Louise Eyes:Bourgeois, Frederic

www.rbge.org.uk/inverleith-house mcmanus.co.uk

AChurch Woman and without the Landscape Secrets Oil Sketch

The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and

Until 11 May 18 May – 8 September

Museum Contemporary Art from the Permanent

Royal Scottish Academy EDINBURGH

New The Mound Acquisitions EH2 2EL

Collection

RSA New Contemporaries 2014

Until 18 May

Until spring 2014

15 February 12 March Bourne Fine –Art

75 Belford Road, EH4 3DRof Modern Art Scottish National Gallery

Albert Square

GENERATION: Open Dialogues James Cowie RSA

0131 624 6200 The Scottish Colourist Series: SJ Peploe

Meadowside, DD1 1DA

28 June – 31 August April

www.nationalgalleries.org Until 23 June

0138 230 7200

The Mound, EH2EH3 2EL 6HZ 6 Dundas Street

75 Belford Road EH4 3DR

www.themcmanus.co.uk

0131 225 557 66714050 Tel: 0131

The Scottish Gallery

www.royalscottishacademy.org bournefineart.com

David McClure Scottish National Portrait Gallery

EDINBURGH

5–29 EdithMarch Tudor Hart National Galleries of Scotland City Art Centre

Calum 2 Mar –McClure 26 May

Bourne Fine Art

John Clerk of Eldin (1728-1812)

3–31 May of Annie Lennox The House

New Acquisitions

Scottish National Gallery Until 3 February

Denis Peploe 23 Mar – 30 June

February

Titian and the Golden AgeArtist of Venetian W. Barns-Graham: A Scottish in St Ives

4–31 June Ken Currie

Charles Simpson

Painting Until 17 February

16 Street, EH3 6HZ 16Dundas June – 22 September

April

22 MarchArt − 14 September Scottish in the 20th Century

0131 558 Street 1200 EH2 1JD 1 Queen

Sam Bough Rediscovered

The EH2 2EL The Mound, Derek Williams Collection

www.scottish-gallery.co.uk National Galleries of Scotland

May − June

Until 24 February

Tel: 0131 624 6200

6 Dundas St, Edinburgh, EH3 6HZ

Scottish 2 MarketNational Street EH1 Portrait 1DE Gallery

Bruce nationalgalleries.org Munro: Field of Light

0131 557 4050

The Tel: 0131 Nation 529 Live, 3993 Work Union, Civil War,

3 February – 27 April

www.bournefineart.com

Faith, edinburghmuseums.org.uk Roots

St Andrews Square

Until 6 May

www.brucemunro.co.uk

60

AROUND THE UK

Talbot Rice Gallery

14 February – 13 March

Alastair Hopwood: False Memory Archive

11 Mitchell Lane, Glasgow, G1 3NU

Celtic Revival

01412 765 360

Art First

Dave Rushton: Art as Conceit

www.thelighthouse.co.uk

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham:

8 March – 19 April

In Perspective, The Late Paintings

University of Edinburgh, Old College,

Roger Billcliffe Gallery

26 March – 17 May

South Bridge, EH8 9YL

Postcards 2014

21 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8DD

0131 650 2210

February

020 7734 0386

www.ed.ac.uk

Varied selection of small two-week

www.artfirst.co.uk

exhibitions GLASGOW

March – May

The Fleming Collection

George Devlin RSW RGI RBA ROI RWS

Foundation & Trust: (un)coverings

Gallery of Modern Art

FRSA: New Paintings: May

Until 1 March

Ian Hamilton Finlay: Poet, Artist,

134 Blythswood Street, G2 4EL

New Scottish Artists

Revolutionary

0141 332 4027

24 March – 31 May

Until 1 March

www.billcliffegallery.com

13 Berkeley Street, London, W1J 8DU 020 7042 5730

Living with the War:

www.flemingcollection.com

Artists on War and Conflict

Tramway

Until 9 March

Sarah Lucas

Royal Exchange Square, G1 3AH

31 January – 16 March

Manchester Art Gallery

0141 287 3050

25 Albert Drive, G41 2PE

A Highland Romance: Victorian Views of

www.glasgowmuseums.com

0845 330 3501

Scottishness

www.tramway.org

Until 1 September Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3JL

The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery Whistler and Watercolour

AROUND SCOTLAND

0161 235 8888 www.manchestergalleries.org

Until 23 February University of Glasgow

The Fergusson Gallery

University Avenue, G12 8QQ

JD Fergusson: Picture of a Celt

0141 330 4221

Until 15 June

www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian

Marshall Place, Perth, PH2 8NS

Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh

01738 783 425

Contemporary & Post-War Art

www.pkc.gov.uk

19 March

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum Jack Vettriano: A Retrospective

AUCTIONS

33 Broughton Place, EH1 3RR

Until 23 February

GENERATION: 25 Years of

01315 578 844

Permanent Glasgow Boys Gallery

Contemporary Art in Scotland

www.lyonandturnbull.com

Scottish Colourists Gallery

March – September

Argyle Street, G3 8AG

Various venues

0141 276 9599

www.generationartscotland.org

www.glasgowmuseums.com

FESTIVALS Glasgow International Festival

St Andrews Museum

4–21 April

The Lighthouse

Fife in the Frame

www.glasgowinternational.org

Derelict Glasgow

27 June – 17 August

24 January – 4 March

Kinburn Park, Doubledykes Road

East Neuk Festival, Fife

Spring Fling

St Andrews, KY16 9DP

27 June – 6 July

31 January – 22 February

01334 659 380

www.eastneukfestival.com

Scottish Scenic Routes

www.eastneukfestival.com

Scottish Art News 61

George Raymond Glanville by Allan Ramsay 1713-1784

BOURNE

Specialists in Scottish Painting Based in the heart of Edinburgh, Bourne Fine Art buys, sells and values Scottish paintings from the 17th century to the present day.

62

Bourne Fine Art . 6 Dundas Street . Edinburgh . EH3 6HZ +44 (0)131 557 4050 . art@bournefineart.com . www.bournefineart.com

FRIENDS of

THE FLEMING COLLECTION

Support Scottish Art with Fleming Collection Membership Becoming a Friend Friends membership enables you to enjoy the gallery and our exhibitions to the full, while supporting young Scottish artists and The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation’s charitable endeavours.

Benefits include: Scottish Art News magazine with Director’s Letter delivered to your home twice yearly

Private boat cruise on the Danube: Friends’ Abroad trip, Budapest, 2013

20% discount in the gallery shop

‘I have loved all the occasions I’ve attended so far, especially artist-led events – keep up the good work!’

Invitation to Annual Friends Lecture Monthly Friends eBulletin or postal bulletin Invitation to two private views a year Membership also makes a wonderful gift for anyone interested in Scottish art.

Individual membership is priced at £40 per year, with Joint at £60

Becoming a Patron Becoming a Patron is an ideal way to support Scottish art. Your support will help The Fleming Collection to acquire new works for the collection by young, upcoming artists while also helping us to stage exciting and engaging exhibitions with access for all.

In addition to the Friends benefits above, Patrons receive the following: Exclusive invitation to a tour of the collection and current exhibition by an artist or curator Invitation to an annual artist-led dinner Invitation to all private views A complimentary copy of each exhibition catalogue, delivered to your home Quarterly Director’s Letter Complimentary entry to all events and lectures in our Friends programme

‘The events are always well organised, with a warm welcome’

EVENTS We run a varied programme of exclusive events for our members, such as guest lectures, artists’ studio visits and curator-led exhibition tours. Friends receive a discount on ticket prices and are the first to know about new events.

Upcoming 2014 events include: Life Drawing Classes 13 and 27 February, 6.30–8pm, includes materials and refreshments £15 Friends | £20 non-Friends (per class) Save the dates: Friends of The Fleming Collection Glasgow trip 2014 11–12 April Friends of The Fleming Collection abroad trip 2014 St Petersburg: 16–20 October Contact the gallery for further details

For further information on Friends and Patrons membership and our upcoming events programme, including purchasing tickets or membership, please contact Sophie Midgley: 020 7042 5784 | sophie.midgley@flemingcollection.com or visit www.flemingcollection.com Scottish Art News 63

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SCOTTISH ART NEWS

LAND AND LANDSCAPE: JAMES MORRISON ISSUE 20 AUTUMN 2013 £3

ARTISTS’ LIVES: IAN HAMILTON FINLAY JOHN BELLANY: JUSTIFIED PAINTER ALLAN RAMSAY: PORTRAITS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT LINES LOST | DEVERON ARTS

ISSUE 19 SPRING 2013 £3

TRACY CHEVALIER ON TAPESTRIES FOR STIRLING CASTLE WILLIAM TURNBULL (1922-2012) THE SCOTTISH COLOURIST SERIES: SJ PEPLOE

Issue 20 | Autumn 2013

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Issue 16 | Autumn 2011

Issue 11 | Spring 2009

SCOTTISH A RT N EWS

“Quality is never an accident;

”

it is always the result of intelligent effort.

John Ruskin (1819-1900)

Lyon & Turnbull is synonymous with Scottish Art. Throughout our history we have always endeavored to increase the quality of the works in our auctions. In 2014 we are proud to announce the culmination of these efforts in our forthcoming sale; Fine Scottish Paintings & Sculpture on Thursday 20th May. For information, or to discuss consigning selected fine works, please contact Emily Johnston on 07741 247 225 or email emily.johnston@lyonandturnbull.com.

FRANCIS CAMPBELL BOILEAU CADELL R.S.A., R.S.W. (SCOTTISH 1883-1937) IONA NORTH END AND BEN MORE, MULL £30,000-50,000

EDINBURGH

LONDON

GL ASGOW

Also forthcoming: Contemporary & Post-War Art - Wednesday 19th March, and British & European Paintings - Wednesday 30th April . For details, viewing times and catalogues: www.lyonandturnbull.com

WILHELMINA BARNS-GRAHAM

IN PERSPECTIVE THE LATE PAINTINGS An illustrated publication accompanies the exhibition, published jointly with the Barns-Graham Charitable Trust, covering the survey of works from 1945–1995 presented at the 2014 London Art Fair, as well as the late works of this exhibition

26 March–17 May 2014 Art First | 21 Eastcastle Street, London W1W WDD | Telephone +44 (0)20 7734 0386 | www.artfirst.co.uk