I am delighted to be talking about Scottish art in a trio of winter talks this November, twice at the National Galleries of Scotland and once at the New Club, Edinburgh.
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh: Anonymous Gift 2022
A Scottish Colourist in our Midst
First up is my lecture A Scottish Colourist in our Midst: F. C. B. Cadell at the Scottish National Gallery. Originally written to celebrate the bicentenary of the Moray Feu part of Edinburgh’s Georgian New Town in 2022, I have updated it to reflect the recent acquistion of The Rose and the Lacquer Screen for the national collection. This wonderful example of Cadell’s work of the early 1920s is currently on display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Two in the collection exhibition Decades: the Art of Change 1900-1980. You can find out more about the talk here and you can read a blog I wrote about the new acquisition at this link.
and about to be published by the National Galleries of Scotland
Scottish Art in 100 Works
The second in my trio of winter talks is actually an ‘in conversation‘ with Dr Patricia Allerston, Co-Director of the Scottish National Gallery Project and a Chief Curator at the National Galleries of Scotland. Patricia has played a leading role in the creation of a major suite of new galleries displaying Scottish art up to 1945 at the Scottish National Gallery, which opened in September 2023. To accompany this milestone in Scottish art history, she has edited the book Scottish Art in 100 Works, which has been sponsored by Lyon & Turnbull. It presents a rich selection of the nation’s Scottish collection, chosen by curators and covering the period from 1570 to 2022. It features a detail of The Storm of 1890 by William McTaggart (1835-1910) on its front cover.
Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture, Edinburgh: Diploma Work Deposit 1971 (c) Artist’s Estate
Alberto Morrocco and Penelope Beaton: Up Close and Personal
The final event in my trio of winter talks is Alberto Morrocco and Penelope Beaton: Up Close and Personal at the New Club, Edinburgh, supported by Lyon & Turnbull. I shall be discussing Morrocco’s vibrant Still Life with Watermelon and his tranquil interior Baking Cakes, as well as as the dynamic Still Life by Penelope Beaton (1886-1963), which are on loan to the Club from the Royal Scottish Academy. We shall be looking at them ‘up close and personal’ examining the artists’ techniques, considering the basics of condition reporting and going through principles of collection care.
It’s going to be a busy time with this trio of winter talks! For more on Cadell, you might like this article. You can read about Scottish art all over this site, but if you’re interested in what was happening in the 1920s, this blog might appeal. Morrocco appears here and elsewhere – you can use the ‘search’ function on the homepage to explore further.
