This extensively illustrated book is devoted to the art of Scottish artist Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, one of Scotland's best loved painters. Produced to accompany the major exhibition celebrating the artist's 80th birthday at the Scottish National Gallery.

The landmark exhibition book spans six decades of Blackadder’s career, beginning with her work in the 1950s and culminating in her most recent paintings. It presents her work in all its diversity, ranging from the much-loved studies after nature, to lesser-known paintings which will challenge expectations.  

With essays by Philip Long and Sir John Leighton, is both a celebration and invitation to look again at the work of one of our greatest living painters.

As Elizabeth Blackadder approached her eightieth birthday, the Scottish artist’s passion for making art is undiminished. Although widely honoured, there is a sense that Blackadder’s art has not gained the attention it deserves, both in national and international terms. Perhaps this is because the power of her paintings is sometimes masked by the charm of her subject matter and the deceptive ease of her technique, or because we are more attuned to the loud and brash at the expense of quieter mastery. She was the first woman artist to be elected to both the Royal Academy and Royal Scottish Academy.