FRANCES MACDONALD
The Road to the Isles
1–23 December 2022
16 Dundas Street Edinburgh EH3 6HZ +44 (0) 131 558 1200 scottish-gallery.co.uk
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THE ROAD TO THE ISLES
Frances Macdonald’s vision of the west coast of Scotland has become imbedded into how we see that landscape in our own mind’s eye. The turn of the weather on a day, the assault of violent storm, an equinoctial tide surging up the corridors of rock at the North End of Iona. The turn of the seasons, the harsh beauty of bare winter, the assertion of life and profusion in a brief summer, these are her subjects. From her home in Crinan she will travel to her favourite places: to Iona, Staffa and Erraid, to Ronachan and Kintyre, where the power of the Atlantic shows itself in Winter, to the birches with their carpet of summer bluebells across Loch Crinan at Duntrune. And the rhythm of working life is referenced with the Golden West bringing its bounty of langoustines to unload at the pier. She has allowed herself an imagined revisit to Venice, but it is Iona that renews and reasserts a spiritual hold over the artist each visit, allows her those days of urgent light and long vistas, the ever-changing relationship with sand, rock and machair, wrack and sea thrift, the very stuff of Macdonald’s painterly engagement.
GUY PEPLOEFrances outside her Crinan studio, 2022.
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FROM CRINAN TO THE ISLES
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[ 1 ]
Cherry Blossom, Seaview Cottage oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cm / 8 x 6 inches
[ 2 ]
Perky Pinks oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
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[ 3 ]
Thrift
oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cm / 8 x 6 inches
[ 4 ]
Magnolia, Seaview Cottage oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cm / 8 x 6 inches
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[ 5 ]
Little Birch Trees and a Glimpse of Bluebells oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cm / 8 x 6 inches
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[ 6 ]
Birch Trees and Bluebells near Duntrune oil on canvas, 76 x 101.5 cm / 30 x 40 inches
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[ 7 ]
Golden West Approaching Crinan Pier oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
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[ 8 ]
The Ticket Office, Crinan oil on canvas, 40.5 x 45.5 cm / 16 x 18 inches
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[ 9 ]
Golden West Bringing the Prawns (Langoustines for Dinner)
oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
[ 10 ]
Golden West Coming Closer to Crinan oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
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[ 11 ]
Loch Crinan Jumbo Prawns, Corryvreckan (The Catch) oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
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[ 12 ]
Sun on Jura from My Studio oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cm / 8 x 6 inches
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[ 13 ]
Flag Irises, Loch Sween oil on canvas, 40.5 x 45.5 cm / 16 x 18 inches
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[ 14 ]
Spring Flowers and Lichen, Ronachan oil on canvas, 40.5 x 45.5 cm / 16 x 18 inches
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[ 15 ]
Gigha and Cara on the Horizon oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches
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[ 16 ]
Tangy Kintyre, 7th October oil on canvas, 91.5 x 152 cm / 36 x 60 inches
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[ 17 ]
Sea Grasses, Pinks and Lichen, Kintyre oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
[ 18 ]
On a Clear Day, Mull of Kintyre oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
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[ 19 ]
Dancing Cloud, Ronachan, Kintyre oil on canvas, 81 x 61 cm / 32 x 24 inches
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[ 20 ]
Just a Glimpse of Azure Shallows oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cm / 8 x 6 inches
[ 21 ]
Seal Islands and Sea Pinks and a Glimpse of Jura oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
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[ 22 ]
After the Rain, the Paps of Jura from Ronachan oil on canvas, 45.5 x 40.5 cm / 18 x 16 inches
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[ 23 ]
Tangy, Kintyre, Surfs Up oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cm / 8 x 6 inches
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[ 24 ]
The Flung Spray and Blown Spume, Ronachan oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches
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[ 25 ]
Evie on Iona oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches
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[ 26 ]
A Gentle Day, Calbha, Iona oil on canvas, 45.5 x 40.5 cm / 18 x 16 inches
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[ 27 ]
Ebb Tide, Iona oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches
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[ 28 ]
Perfect Day, The North End oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches
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[ 29 ]
White Strand of The Monks, Iona oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
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[ 30 ]
Wind Blown Sands, Iona oil on canvas, 81 x 61 cm / 32 x 24 inches
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[ 31 ]
After the Winter Storms, Iona oil on canvas, 122 x 122 cm / 48 x 48 inches
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[ 32 ]
Storm Island and Strait of the Storm oil on canvas, 101.5 x 127 cm / 40 x 50 inches
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[ 33 ]
Sea Wrack and Aqua Shallows, Iona oil on canvas, 91.5 x 152 cm / 36 x 60 inches
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[ 34 ]
Towards Erraid from Traig Mhor oil on canvas, 45.5 x 40.5 cm / 18 x 16 inches
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[ 35 ]
Braving the Westerlies at The North End oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches
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[ 36 ]
St Ronan’s Bay oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
[ 37 ]
Dark Clouds over Storm Island oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches opposite [ 38 ]
A Break in the Clouds, Martyrs Bay oil on canvas, 122 x 122 cm / 48 x 48 inches
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[ 39 ]
Eilean Annraidh on a Clear Day oil on canvas, 40.5 x 45.5 cm / 16 x 18 inches
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[ 40 ]
Approaching Storm, Calbha oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches
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[ 41 ]
Low Tide, Hushinish, Isle of Harris oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches
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[ 42 ]
Across The Machair, Hushinish oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches
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[ 43 ]
Caolas Annraidh oil on canvas, 45.5 x 40.5 cm / 18 x 16 inches
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[ 44 ]
Staffa and Fingal’s Cave oil on canvas, 40.5 x 45.5 cm / 16 x 18 inches
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VENICE
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[ 45 ]
Grand Canal Towards Church of the Salute oil on canvas, 91.5 x 127 cm / 36 x 50 inches
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[ 46 ]
Grand Canal Towards Ca’d’oro oil on canvas, 81 x 61 cm / 32 x 24 inches
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[ 47 ] Venice, January oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches
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[ 48 ]
Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge oil on canvas, 45.5 x 40.5 cm / 18 x 16 inches
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FRANCES MACDONALD
Born Glasgow
1983–1986 Elected Council Member, SSWA 2004–2010 Elected Council Member, RGI 2013 Charles Rennie Mackintosh Residency at Collioure
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2021 Portland Gallery, London 2020 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2018 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Portland Gallery, London 2016 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2015 Portland Gallery, London 2014 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2013 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Portland Gallery, London 2011 Portland Gallery, London 2010 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2009 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Portland Gallery, London
SELECTED MIXED EXHIBITIONS
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums McLean Museum, Greenock
The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts
The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, Edinburgh
The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Visual Arts Scotland White Cube, London
Frances in her Crinan studio, 2022.
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Crinan, 2022.
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Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition
Frances Macdonald | The Road to the Isles 1–23 December 2022
Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/theroadtotheisles
ISBN: 978 1 912900 60 2
Produced by The Scottish Gallery Designed by Kenneth Gray Photography by John McKenzie Printed by Pureprint Group
All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers. All essays and picture notes copyright The Scottish Gallery.
Cover: Wind Blown Sands, Iona, oil on canvas, 81 x 61 cm / 32 x 24 inches (cat. 30) (detail)
Inside front cover: After the Winter Storms, Iona, oil on canvas, 122 x 122 cm / 48 x 48 inches (cat. 31) (detail) Opposite: A Gentle Day, Calbha, Iona, oil on canvas, 45.5 x 40.5 cm / 18 x 16 inches (cat. 26) (detail)
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