Hogmanay traditionally involves ‘first footing’, or the arrival of the first guest after midnight on New Year’s Eve. Whilst this hasn’t been possible this year, let’s visit some modern Scottish artists in their studios instead.…
View PostAs 2020 draws to a close, let’s take a look at some of its most memorable moments, from home schooling to working from home, via modern Scottish art.
View PostI wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year through modern British paintings! Christmas will be muted for most of us this year and few will be sorry to see 2020 come to an…
View PostI was delighted to be asked by the Public Statues and Sculpture Association to choose my favourite statue or sculpture within the public realm. I chose Phyllis Mary Bone’s camel roundel in the Scottish National War Memorial.
View PostWhat began as a joke about the mispronunciation of our surnames (his is like ‘Macbeth’, mine is not ‘Strange’) turned into admiration for a beautiful body of work created during lockdown. ‘Perdendosi’ is the title…
View PostI’ve just spent an enjoyable morning filming at the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust. They are producing a series of films, one to mark each decade of her long and prolific career. I was given the pick…
View PostNow that December has begun, it’s fair to say that Christmas is coming! Celebrations this year will be unlike any other, but modern Scottish artists can help you to enjoy the season nonetheless. A White…
View PostI’m delighted that my paper about the sculpture in the grounds of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has been selected for inclusion in the Scottish Society for Art History‘s ‘Art, Landscape and Space‘…
View PostJoyce W. Cairns (b.1947) was elected the first female President of the Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture on 28 November 2018. To mark the second anniversary of this historic occasion, I look at…
View PostI am delighted that my essay, ‘The First Women of the Royal Scottish Academy’ has been published on the Academy’s website today. It looks at the eight ‘first women’ of the Academy, from Christina Robertson…
View PostThere’s a great feature in today’s Sunday National newspaper marking the second anniversary of the artist Joyce W. Cairns becoming the first female president of the Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture. My essay…
View PostWhilst many of us are spending more time than usual at home, let’s try to find beauty in our everyday surroundings. Modern Scottish artists have been inspired in a variety of ways by that common…
View PostTulips have provided inspiration to many artists, despite the fact that they continue to grow after being cut. This means that as models they do not ‘sit still’ and need to be observed, sketched and…
View PostWith leaves falling from the trees, days shortening and temperatures dropping, it’s time to bid welcome to Winter through modern Scottish paintings. Winter Fashion One of the first signs of Winter’s approach is the need…
View PostI am delighted that my feature for Leicester Museum & Galleries about the modern Scottish art in their collection has gone live on their newly launched website. It discusses works by John Bellany (1942-2013), Duncan…
View PostHalloween is different this year given COVID-19 restrictions, but fear not, it can still be enjoyed via modern Scottish paintings. Halloween Frolics With door to door guising (trick or treating) considered unsafe by the Scottish…
View PostWith the furlough leave scheme coming to an end, more people than ever are working from home. Let’s take a look at the ‘new normal’ of work away from the open plan office, via paintings…
View PostLet’s celebrate the working lives of modern Scottish women artists, in images they painted of their professional and personal worlds. Dorothy Carleton Smyth: The Artist In Self-portrait of 1921 by Dorothy Carleton Smyth (1880-1931), the…
View PostI am delighted to be a co-organiser and speaker at the Scottish Society for Art History and Creative Informatics webinar ‘Lockdown Legacy: The Digital Future of the Art and Digital Cultural Heritage World.’ It will…
View PostWith most of us now wearing masks on a daily basis, join modern Scottish artists in revelling in the human face. John Duncan Fergusson: Full-frontal Hortensia of 1907 by the Scottish Colourist John Duncan Fergusson…
View PostI am delighted that my feature about Fountainbridge Library (1937-40), Dundee Street, Edinburgh has just been published as October’s Twentieth-Century Society Building of the Month. Doors Open Days 2020 The feature discusses this rare and…
View PostAs October begins and Autumn matures, we reach harvest time once again. Artists have celebrated this climax of the agricultural calendar in various ways. A Cornfield in Catterline In The Cornfield of c.1960, Joan Eardley…
View PostWhilst scrolling through the colour and noise of Instagram, a low-toned Mother and Son portrait slowed my finger to a stop. Taken by the photographer David Eustace it showed Elizabeth and Guy Peploe, daughter-in-law and…
View PostFountainbridge Library, Dundee Street, Edinburgh is a rare example of modern Scottish architecture. Designed by John A. W. Grant (1886/7–1959) it was built between 1937 and 1940. It opened as a state-of-the-art library during the…
View PostMy ten-minute talk ‘From Student to Professional: Modern Scottish Women Artists’ is now available on YouTube. I talk about Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Pat Douthwaite, Joan Eardley and Anne Redpath, who have all contributed to modern Scottish…
View PostI am delighted to have been invited by the artist Andrea Geile to mentor her as she embarks on a significant, long-term project. As it explains on her website: “[Geile is…] a visual artist based…
View PostWhat would artists do without that stalwart still life prop, the humble jug? More informal and utilitarian than a vase and used in a myriad of ways, once you become aware of its self-effacing role…
View PostMy local library, Foutainbridge Library on Dundee Street, Edinburgh, is a rare and important example of modern Scottish architecture. Designed by John A. W. Grant (1886/7-1959), it was built between 1937 and 1940. It opened…
View PostAs September proceeds, there is a definite feel of Autumn in the air. Bessie MacNicol (1869-1904) captures the season’s warm sunshine and the turning of leaves from green to copper in Autumn of about 1898.…
View PostI will be giving a free lecture to accompany the exhibition Bright Shadows: Scottish Art in the 1920s at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh. It is called ‘Proposed and Seconded: The Royal Scottish Academy Nomination…
View PostThe City Art Centre, part of Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, opened in 1980. To mark its 40th birthday, I was asked to contribute to an Art UK curation by choosing my favourite painting from their…
View PostI was delighted to be asked to respond to Edinburgh College of Art’s 2020 Graduate Show. Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, it is taking place on-line this year. The students and their teachers have made…
View PostOne of my favourite galleries is McLean Museum and Art Gallery, which is part of the Watt Institution in Greenock. They have a splendid collection of Modern Scottish art and during lockdown I had the…
View PostDid you know that the Walker Art Gallery, part of the National Museums Liverpool, has some super Modern Scottish art? I didn’t until I took at look at their collection on the terrific Art UK…
View PostPlease join me when I give a free, 10-minute zoom talk at 11am on Saturday 22 August 2020, called ‘From Student to Professional: Modern Scottish Women Artists‘. It accompanies the Modern Masters Women exhibition at…
View PostManchester Art Gallery suggested that I write about modern Scottish art in their collection on the subject of ‘work’. I accepted the challenge! We decided on the following themes: How does work relate to time?…
View PostI’m half-Geordie, so I particularly enjoyed writing about modern Scottish art in the collection of the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle. I wrote about paintings by the Glasgow Boy E. A. Hornel, Glasgow School of…
View PostTravel with Wilhelmina Barns-Graham to St Ives, Yorkshire and Switzerland via works in the collection of Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.
View PostEscape the four walls of your lockdown home and go on holiday with four modern Scottish artists, to Italy, Spain and France, via paintings in UK public collections.
View PostCelebrate the end of the school year and the start of the summer holiday via paintings in UK public collections by James Cowie, Norman Clark, Joan Eardley and Henry Stringer in this curatorial blog.
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