We’ve selected a few key objects from our collection for you to explore. These are the highlights of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
Avigdor Arikha
Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, 1900 - 2002. Queen of George VI1983Born Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the youngest daughter of the 14th Earl of Strathmore, the Queen Mother was descended from Robert II of Scotland. She was born in England but spent part of every year at Glamis Castle in Angus during her childhood. In 1923 she married the Duke of York, who became George VI unexpectedly after his brother's abdication in 1936. The Queen Mother always enjoyed the affection of the British public and had a gift of manifesting genuine interest. This sensitive and dignified portrait was the first commissioned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to record important living Scots.
Glossary [1] Show
Commission
When an individual or organisation employs an artist to execute a particular project, the process and the resulting work are termed a ‘commission’.
- Accession no. PG 2598
- Medium Oil on canvas
- Size 49.70 x 50.30 cm
- Credit Commissioned 1982
Avigdor Arikha (Israeli, born 1929)
Israeli artist Arikha was born in Romania. He studied in Paris from 1949 to 1951, making it his permanent home in 1954. After establishing himself as an illustrator, Arikha made abstract paintings until 1965. After this time, he restricted himself to drawing and etching, making a series of portraits of his friend, the playwright Samuel Beckett. When he began painting again in 1973, Arikha worked exclusively from life, painting quickly and straight onto the canvas using oil paints. The National Galleries of Scotland own several of Arikha's portraits, which are notable for their sense of calm and mastery of colour.
Glossary [2] Show
Abstract art
Art in which there is no attempt to represent anything existing in the world, particularly used of the 20th century onwards. ‘Abstraction’ refers to the process of making images that may in part derive from the visible world but which are reduced to basic formal elements.
Etching
A form of printmaking in which a metal plate is covered with a substance called a 'ground', usually wax, into which an image is drawn with a needle. Acid is applied, eroding the areas of the plate exposed but not the areas covered by wax. The action of the acid creates lines in the metal plate that hold the ink from which a print is made when the plate is pressed against paper under pressure.