A New Year of Art History

Celebrate 2025 as a new year of art history by reading texts I have written about Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Mabel Pryde Nicholson, the Scottish Colourist John Duncan Fergusson and William Gillies. Read on to find out more.

Into the Vortex: The Glaciers in Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s Work

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004) is a pioneer of British abstraction. Born in St Andrews and trained at Edinburgh College of Art, she was a key member of the St Ives School. Following the inheritance of a house outside St Andrews in 1960, she thereafter straddled both the Scottish and English art worlds.

I have written the essay ‘Into the Vortex: The Glacier in Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s Work’ for the book Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: The Glaciers. It is edited by the Director of the artist’s trust, Rob Airey and has been published by Lund Humphries. The book focuses on a breakthrough trip to the Grindelwald glaciers that Barns-Graham undertook in 1949, which was to have a profound and lasting impact on her work. My fellow contributors include the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust’s Archivist, Tilly Heydon, Edinburgh University Professor of Glaciology, Peter Nienow and the film-maker Mark Cousins. Copies can be purchased here.

Home from Home: The Red Jersey by Mabel Nicholson

Mabel Pryde Nicholson (1871-1918) was born into an important Scottish artistic dynasty, but until recently was better known as the wife of artist William Nicholson (1872-1949) and mother of artist Ben Nicholson (1894-1982). She was born in Edinburgh and trained at Hubert von Herkomer’s art school in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Her career was curtailed by parental and other domestic responsibilities and her death at the age of forty-seven. However, current curatorial and academic endeavours are bringing her artistic achievements to light.

Continue your New Year of art history by reading my article ‘Home from Home: The Red Jersey by Mabel Nicholson’ in the Autumn 2024 issue of the Scottish Society for Art History’s newsletter. In it, I trace the journey of Nicholson’s portrait of her youngest son, Christopher (known as ‘Kit’), entitled The Red Jersey, from her easel at home in The Grange, Rottingdean, to its return to the house for inclusion in last year’s exhibition Prydie: The Life and Art of Mabel Pryde Nicholson. The newsletter is emailed to members of the Society on publication and will be available on line here from February 2025.

Beyond the Scottish Colourists: John Duncan Fergusson at 150

John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961) is commonly known as one of the four Scottish Colourists, along with F. C. B. Cadell, G. L. Hunter and S. J. Peploe. He was born in Leith and received an unorthodox, self-led training, mainly in Edinburgh and Paris. His long and prolific career encompassed important periods spent in the French and English capitals, the south of France and a final chapter in Glasgow.

To learn about Fergusson’s importance outwith the Colourists, I invite you to read my article ‘Beyond the Scottish Colourists: John Duncan Fergusson at 150’ which was published in the Scottish Society for Art History’s 2024-2025 journal Forty Years of Art and Art History in Scotland 1984-2024. Fellow contributors to the issue include Hans C. Hönes of the University of Aberdeen, Matthew Jarron of the University of Dundee and Struan Watson of the University of St Andrews. Copies of the journal can be purchased here. The article will form the basis of a paper I am to deliver at a ‘Fergusson at 150‘ seminar at Perth Art Gallery on 18 January 2025, organised by the Society with Culture Perth & Kinross, with support from the John Duncan Fergusson Art Foundation. Tickets to the seminar can be purchased here.

The Life, Times and Work of William Gillies

A final suggestion for your New Year of art history reading is the long edition of Andrew McPherson’s landmark study of William Gillies (1898-1973), published by Edinburgh University Press. Born in Haddington and trained at Edinburgh College of Art where he spent most of his career, Gillies has formerly been known as a key figure in the Edinburgh School. However, as I explain in my quote on its dust jacket, as a result of McPherson’s remarkable research ‘Gillies is re-positioned within debates about modern British art and national identity to revelatory effect.’ Copies can be purchased here.

I hope you enjoy 2025 as a new year of new art history! For more about Barns-Graham, you might enjoy this blog. Nicholson also appears in this article, whilst more on the celebrations of Fergusson’s birth 150 years ago can be found here. Gillies and Perth Art Gallery feature in this post.