About this artwork
Norman MacCaig belonged to a generation of outstanding Scottish poets. He was a friend of Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley Maclean and a mentor to a younger generation of writers. MacCaig wrote in English rather than Scots, his plain words revealing the magical aspects of everyday life and the beauty of the landscapes of Assynt in the Highlands. This portrait shows MacCaig larger than life-size. This increase in scale was the artist’s spontaneous reaction to the striking bony structure of the sitter’s head. The portrait was painted when the artist took up portraiture again after a break of about two years.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Alexander Moffat (born 1943) Scottish
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title:Norman MacCaig, 1910 - 1996. Poet
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date created:1968
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materials:Oil on panel
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measurements:121.80 x 91.40 cm; Framed: 130.81 x 100.33 x 2.84 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1973
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accession number:PG 2231
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gallery:
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depicted:
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subject:
Alexander Moffat
Alexander Moffat
Born in Dunfermline, Moffat studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1960 to 64. Alongside his friend John Bellany, Moffat emerged as one of the Scottish Realists, so-called because of their social awareness and rejection of the decorative principles that defined much Scottish art during the first...