Press office

The main aim of the National Galleries of Scotland’s press office is to achieve positive coverage for the Galleries' art collection, exhibitions and activities in the widest range of media. The press office team works with a range of press, broadcast media and public body contacts in pursuit of constructive and informed public debate about the National Galleries.

Larry Herman, *Jim Russell, one of the elected worker directors with the first copy of the first edition of the Scottish Daily News* (1974 - 1976; printed: 2015)

The press office is the first point of contact for journalists seeking information. As a result, the team are in regular contact with all departments so as to maintain a constant awareness of current events.

The department holds regular press views for new exhibitions, liaises with journalists to achieve favourable and sometimes exclusive coverage of exhibitions, events or people within the Galleries, commissions and works with film-makers for specific projects and publicises new acquisitions. The press office also provides press releases, images and interviews for exhibitions and events.

Press releases 2020

17 December 2020
Portrait of iconic singer-songwriter Horse McDonald to enter Scotland's national art collection

A bold, vibrant and captivating large-scale painting of Scottish music icon, Horse McDonald, will enter Scotland’s national collection and go on display at the heart of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) in the Great Hall.

This compelling oil painting by artist Roxana Halls, captures Horse’s charismatic and enthralling performance style, beloved by her fans. As part of the creative process of the portrait sitting, Horse sang her best-loved song ‘Careful’, live and a capella for the artist in her London studio. This experimental session resulted in a portrait which, rather than depicting one specific pose, is an amalgam of all the live moments, mannerisms and movements Halls witnessed while Horse performed and which she felt best encapsulated her sitter.

Horse McDonald, born in Newport-on-Tay in Fife, has been writing and performing for over thirty years, during which time she has built up a reputation as an iconic and unique singer-songwriter. She is one of Scotland’s most celebrated performers and has released nine albums; Q magazine described her as owning ‘one of the finest voices of modern times, soul and intelligence combined.’ She has opened for and toured with international artists including Tina Turner, BB King, Bryan Ferry and Burt Bacharach. She changed her name over thirty-five years ago. The singer feels that her distinctive name reflects both strength and softness at the same time.

Her critically acclaimed one-woman autobiographical play ‘Careful’ details stories from her life, including growing up gay in Lanark in the 1970s. It debuted at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe where it won a Voice Magazine Pick of the Fringe award and many five star reviews. In 2017, Horse was one of the inductees into the Saltire Society Outstanding Women of Scotland community. At the SSE Scottish Music Awards in 2017, she received the Reo Stakis /Nordoff Robbins award for her service to music. She was awarded the DIVA Magazine ‘Hall of Fame’ Award in 2018, in recognition of her life and work. She is a proud ambassador for the music charity Nordoff Robbins. This year marks the 30th anniversary of her first album ‘The Same Sky’. To celebrate this, there is a UK tour scheduled for Spring 2021.

Born in London, artist Roxana Halls (b. 1974) is drawn to investigate the meaning of cultural trends and invites the viewer to reflect on the interplay of gender, class, sexuality and identity. Her many solo exhibitions include Roxana Halls' Tingle-Tangle at the National Theatre, South Bank, London and she has been a multiple exhibitor in the BP Portrait Award, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition and the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize. Her work has been exhibited and commissioned widely and is held in numerous private and public collections in the UK and internationally. Halls has been the recipient of several awards, including the Villiers David Prize, The Discerning Eye Founder's Purchase Prize and The Derwent Special Prize and she recently contributed to the Portraits for NHS Heroes project.

Commenting on having her portrait painted and how she feels to be part of the National Galleries of Scotland collection, Horse said: ‘I was incredibly flattered and grateful to have my portrait painted by Roxana. We spent a lot of time talking and sharing our experiences, finding so much in common in our work and lives. The journey which brought us together and then, in turn, the fates that continued for the portrait to then be acquired for the SNPG, is nothing short of magical.

“I was both shocked and thrilled when I saw the painting because not only has it captured the energy and the passion of the ‘me’ I feel inside, but it is very much a Roxana Halls painting. I cannot find the words to express my pride, honour and privilege to be on display amongst our nation’s peers and generations of dignitaries. This is something I could never, ever have envisaged. I am most humbled at the thought of children seeing my portrait in such a setting and finding inspiration and courage from it.”

Artist Roxana Halls said about Horse: “I can hardly recall a time when I wasn't aware of her, not only as a much-admired vocalist and songwriter, but also as a lodestar for the LQBTQ community. When I finally had the opportunity to see her in concert I was struck by the combination of a fearlessness and charisma I had anticipated, with a rare tenderness, which I had not – a tension which I hoped to capture in this portrait”

Imogen Gibbon, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Portraiture at the National Galleries of Scotland said: “I’m thrilled that the National Galleries of Scotland have acquired this portrait of Horse and truly excited for our audiences, and Horse’s fans, to experience this stunning portrait in the Great Hall at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.”

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

Further information about the National Galleries is available at https://www.nationalgalleries.org/

1 December 2020
Scotland's national art collection acquires rare painting by Gwen John

Scotland’s national art collection has acquired a rare and stunning painting by the Welsh artist Gwen John (1876-1939) from her celebrated Portrait of a Girl in Grey series. The purchase has been made possible thanks to assistance from Art Fund and The Henry and Sula Walton Fund.

The other versions from the series of four works are held in major museum collections in north America. Made during the late 1910s to early 1920s, each shows a woman in a grey-blue cloak looking out to the left. One version belongs to the Yale Centre for British Art in New Haven, another to the Albright Knox Art Gallery in New York State, and another is in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

Gwen John was born in Haverford West in Wales in 1876. Her younger brother, the artist Augustus John (1878-1961), arrived two years later. Following their mother’s early death, the family moved to Tenby. Augustus enrolled at the Slade School of Art in London in 1894 and Gwen joined him there the following year;d she remained there until 1898. By then Augustus was already celebrated as a prodigy, known for his outgoing, bohemian character and his brilliant draughtsmanship. Gwen, by contrast, was shy and introverted, or as one friend put it, ‘timid and fierce’.

Gwen moved to Paris in 1904, where she earned a living as an artist’s model and began posing for the great sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). They became lovers, and in 1911 she moved to an apartment in Meudon, near Paris, where Rodin lived.

In 1910 she began a correspondence with the American lawyer John Quinn, a pioneer collector of avant-garde art. He bought everything he could from her, eventually paying her a monthly stipend in return for any paintings she could send him. Dissatisfied with her work, she constantly avoided sending him pictures. Quinn assured her that, “if I had to make a choice between the painting by you and Picasso, I would cheerfully sacrifice the Picasso”.

Portrait of a Girl in Grey, also known as Girl in Grey with Rosary, is one of Gwen John's largest paintings. It has belonged to a private family collection for around 40 years and has been on long-term loan to the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) for nearly 20 years. Although she made thousands of drawings and watercolours, her paintings are rare. The catalogue raisonné by Cecily Langdale lists fewer than 150 finished works, the majority of which are in public collections. They very rarely come up for sale.

Most of her oil paintings are of women in interiors. It is often noted that they are self-portraits of sorts. However, unlike the mood which pervades her paintings, Gwen John’s interior life was anything but serene and harmonious.

The sitter in Portrait of a Girl in Grey is unknown, although she appeared in nearly fifty of Gwen John’s paintings –
almost half her paintings of women – between about 1915 and 1925. John mentioned her in letters on a few occasions, but did so dismissively, referring to her as ‘just a neighbour’.

The four variants of this painting are almost identical apart from slight differences in the position of the hands and the folds of the blue cloak. It is not known which version came first and they may even have been in production simultaneously. John Quinn’s partner, Jeanne Robert Foster — who posed for John — gave something of the flavour of the artist’s obsessive and rigorous method: “She cannot endure having the pose changed by a hair’s breadth once she has arranged it.”

The Yale version and the NGS work feature a rosary, held loosely in the woman's left hand. John was drawn to the Catholic faith late in life, probably converting in 1913. She became closely involved with the nuns of the Dominican Sisters of Charity, who ran an Orphanage in Meudon. NGS already owns one other painting by Gwen John, a portrait of one of the sisters, A Young Nun, bought in 1970.

This work will go on display next year as part of a new exhibition titled New Acquisitions: From Salvador Dali to Jenny Saville..

Jenny Waldman, Art Fund Director, said: “This exceptional painting, one of Gwen John’s best-known works, has been a highlight for many visiting National Galleries Scotland over the past 20 years. We are delighted to support the acquisition, which will ensure Portrait of a Girl in Grey enters the museum’s permanent collection, where it will captivate generations of visitors.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “Portrait of a Girl in Grey has hardly been off the gallery wall since we took it on loan over 20 years ago, so we are thrilled that such a popular, and important work, should now be part of the permanent collection. We are extremely grateful to the Art Fund, and the Henry and Sula Walton Fund, for their generosity in helping us to acquire the work, which we will be showing as part of our forthcoming exhibition, New Acquisitions: From Salvador Dali to Jenny Saville.”

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

Portrait of a Girl in Grey was purchased for £175,000, which includes:

— £58,518 from the NGS Purchase grant.
— £58,518.50 from the Henry and Sula Walton Fund.
— £58,519 from Art Fund, 2020.

Art Fund
Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. It provides millions of pounds every year to help museums to acquire and share works of art across the UK, further the professional development of their curators, and inspire more people to visit and enjoy their public programmes. In response to Covid-19 Art Fund has made £2 million in adapted funding available to support museums through reopening and beyond, including Respond and Reimagine grants to help meet immediate need and reimagine future ways of working. Art Fund is independently funded, supported by the 159,000 members who buy the National Art Pass, who enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places, 50% off major exhibitions, and receive Art Quarterly magazine. Art Fund also supports museums through its annual prize, Art Fund Museum of the Year. In a unique edition of the prize for 2020, Art Fund responded to the unprecedented challenges that all museums are facing by selecting five winners and increasing the prize money to £200,000. The winners are Aberdeen Art Gallery; Gairloch Museum; Science Museum; South London Gallery; and Towner Eastbourne. www.artfund.org

The Henry and Sula Walton Fund
Henry Walton (1924-2012) and Sula Walton (1924-2009) were prominent and highly-regarded figures in Edinburgh academia for more than fifty years. Married in 1958, they moved to Edinburgh in 1962. They worked in the field of psychiatry, Sula as a child psychiatrist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Henry at the University of Edinburgh. Passionate about the arts, they left their art collection to the National Galleries of Scotland and also established a Fund to help support acquisitions made by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Important works by Picasso, Toyen, Carrington, Dalí and Jenny Saville have been bought with help from the Walton Fund.

Further information about the National Galleries is available at https://www.nationalgalleries.org/

27 November 2020
Scotland's national art collection receives first artwork by Marc Chagall, one of the greatest masters of modern art

An outstanding mid-career work on paper by Marc Chagall, one of the great masters of modern art, has become the first of Chagall’s artworks to enter Scotland’s national art collection.

The Horse Rider (L’Écuyère), 1949–53 — a lively and yet elegiac gouache focusing on the equestrienne, or female horse rider — has never previously been published or travelled to exhibitions before, meaning its acquisition by the National Galleries of Scotland presents the first opportunity for the public to view and enjoy the artwork, since it was created approximately 70 years ago.

It will enter the National Galleries of Scotland collection thanks to the Acceptance in Lieu scheme which enables works of art to be presented to the nation and offset against inheritance tax.

Fiona Hyslop, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture, said: “I am pleased that the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is now in possession of this remarkable painting by Marc Chagall for audiences to enjoy. The Cultural Gifts Scheme encourages people to gift pre-eminent works for the public to see, and I am pleased to have accepted this painting for the Gallery as the first Chagall to enter its collection. This will also provide the first opportunity for the public to view this wonderful artwork since it was created.”

Speaking of the acquisition, Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “Marc Chagall is one of the great painters of the 20th Century, whose iconic and visionary works have entranced and delighted successive generations around the world. The Horse Rider is the first work by Chagall to enter a public collection in Scotland, and we are absolutely thrilled to be able to share this work with the public for the very first time as part of our forthcoming exhibition, New Acquisitions: From Salvador Dali to Jenny Saville in March 2021. We are extremely grateful to the Acceptance-in-Lieu Panel at Arts Council England, as well as to Christies”.

Edward Harley OBE, Chairman of the Acceptance in Lieu panel, commented further: “I’m delighted that the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has acquired its first work by Marc Chagall through the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme. One of the artist’s well-known equestrian scenes, this gouache is painted in the vibrant colours with which he was closely associated. I hope this example will encourage others to use the scheme to enrich our public collections.”

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was born Moise Shagal near the Belarussian city of Vitebsk — then part of the Russian Empire — and died at his home in France at the age of 97. His remarkably long life and varied artistic career span almost the length of the twentieth century, his journey criss-crossing France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Chagall’s ceaseless creativity and commitment to exploring the emotional power of colour in its many manifestations led to works in a huge variety of mediums and materials, from his acclaimed public commissions in stained glass to ceramics, book illustrations, printmaking and tapestries.

His many collaborations with ballet, opera and theatre companies across the world were inspired by his lifelong love of the theatre and particularly the circus, which flourished from his very first encounter as a young child with a travelling troupe of acrobats busking on the streets of Vitebsk. The circus and its cast of characters both human and animal would remain an enduring inspiration and subject matter for Chagall throughout the next eight decades.

The equestrienne is a recurring subject of Chagall’s circus works from mid-1920s Paris onwards. One of the artist’s key supporters during this time was the legendary art dealer Ambroise Vollard. Starting in 1926, Chagall worked on an ambitious project proposed by Vollard to create a series based on the circus. They were regular visitors to the city’s historic Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione around this time, where Vollard made available his private box seats to Chagall and his young daughter Ida. Chagall completed the 19 gouaches collectively titled The Vollard Circus in 1927. He would return to this deep well of subject matter repeatedly during the remainder of his long career.

The artist’s nuanced observation of the trusted relationship between the female rider and her steed forms the core of The Horse Rider’s power and dynamic sense of energy. The dark hair and pale features of this particular horse rider recall those of Chagall’s second wife, Valentina (Vava) Brodsky, a Kiev native who shared the artist’s Russian Jewish background, whom he met and married in 1952, during the making of this work. Alongside this protagonist, who seems to be leading her horse out of the circus, rather than riding it bareback, the work shows two further circus personages: a clown dressed in white ruff (recalling Pierrot) who is floating horizontally beside the horse, and a female acrobat whose trapeze suspends her from a great height.

In a text that originally accompanied a set of 38 lithographs titled Le Cirque / The Circus (published by Tériade Éditions in 1967 and inspired by his original Vollard series forty years earlier), Chagall shared his deeply personal response to the circus as an arena of creativity and emotion: 

“For me a circus is a magic show that appears and disappears like a world. A circus is disturbing. It is profound. These clowns, bareback riders and acrobats have themselves at home in my visions. Why? Why am I so touched by their make-up and their grimaces? With them I can move toward new horizons. Lured by their colours and make-up, I can dream of painting new psychic distortions”.

Suggesting the circus to be a metaphor for the challenging terrain of artistic life – for the path he had chosen despite its difficulties and repeated sacrifices – this important text confirms the utterly foundational role of the circus within Chagall’s imaginative worldview. Some scholars have proposed that the clown or acrobat represents the artist himself: a stand-in for Chagall on the stage of life.

This gouache was made during a four-year period, 1949–53, which was an important time of change in Chagall’s personal and professional life. The artist’s return to France from America in 1948 represented an emotional journey back to his adopted home country after escaping seven years earlier during its Nazi occupation. In 1949, Chagall relocated temporarily to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the Côte d'Azur, but by 1950 had moved to Les Collines, an estate that became his permanent home in nearby Saint-Paul-de-Vence. During the early 1950s, the area was seen as an artistic colony, with both Matisse and Picasso living nearby. It is around this time that gouache became a preferred medium for the artist, who focused on rich blues as a response to the beautiful sunlight in the south of France.

This gouache was acquired in 1954, the year following its completion, by a well-regarded collector from the Galerie Rosengart in Lucerne, Switzerland. Galerie Rosengart’s founders had a longstanding relationship with Chagall and exhibited his gouache and colour wash drawings on numerous occasions. This particular work has remained in the same family since 1954, being inherited by the collector’s grandchildren, three of whom is based in Edinburgh. The Galleries’ acquisition of this treasured family heirloom allows the public to view it for the first time.

In the early 1950s, at the time of this work’s making, Pablo Picasso declared that: “When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what colour really is”. Blue is unquestionably the colour with which Chagall is most closely associated – from his paintings to his stained glass for cathedrals and synagogues. The intensely blue gouaches from this period are inspired by the sea and strong light of the south of France and have a well-regarded status within the artist’s output and, indeed, within the wider context of post-war French art.

The National Galleries of Scotland are grateful to Christie’s London for their role in this acquisition.

— ENDS —

Notes to Editors

Biography of Marc Chagall
Born into an impoverished Hasidic Jewish shtetl community close to Vitebsk in the Pale of Settlement, Russian Empire (modern day Belarus) in 1887, Chagall quickly left his rural family life behind to study in St Petersburg from 1907 to 1910, partly in the class of Léon Bakst, designer for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes, who introduced him to the work of Henri Matisse and the Fauves, and encouraged Chagall to follow him to Paris.

Chagall did just that, arriving in Paris precisely when Cubism debuted at the infamous Salon des Indépendants of 1911. He was subsequently taught by some of the figures associated with Cubism including Henri Le Fauconnier and Jean Metzinger. His time in Paris from 1911–14 transformed the palette and composition of his paintings, which absorbed the prismatic colours of The City of Lights, as well as the Orphism of Robert Delaunay and Sonia Delaunay-Terk, with whom he became close. His graphic approach to storytelling and his cast of recurring characters was also influenced by the popular decorative and narrative style of Russian lubok prints that were commonplace in Vitebsk’s Hasidic community.

Chagall rapidly became one of the most celebrated of Paris’ pre-war avant-garde figures, despite his refusal to adhere to any one style or movement. He returned to Russia in 1914, following the success of his first ever solo exhibition at the Galerie Sturm, Berlin. During his extended time in Russia following the outbreak of WWI, he married his childhood sweetheart Bella in 1915, before experiencing the October Revolution and the remaking of Russian society in both Petrograd and their home in Vitebsk.

He subsequently became Vitebsk’s Commissar of Fine Arts (1918–20), a position from which he invited Suprematist artists El Lissitzky and Kazimir Malevich to teach at the city’s People's Art College. A period in Moscow followed, which led to a commission by critic and theatre director Abram Efros (co-author of the first monograph on Chagall’s work in 1918) to design murals for the interior of the city’s State Jewish Chamber Theatre, 1921–22.

Chagall lived in France from 1923 until his decision to leave for America (1941–48) during the German occupation. His time in New York included a prestigious solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1946. He finally settled in Vence, in the south of France, upon his return to Europe. His commission to paint the ceiling of the Paris Opera (1963) was only the grandest of his many public works in the final decades of his life.  

Acceptance in Lieu
The acceptance of this work settled £490,000 of tax.

The Acceptance in Lieu scheme enables taxpayers to transfer important works of art and other heritage objects into public ownership while paying Inheritance Tax. In this way, objects that might otherwise be sold on the open market and thus be potentially lost to the nation, remain in the public domain. AIL is a reserved matter but “executive devolution” arrangements are in place to enable Scottish Ministers to deal with cases in which there is a Scottish Interest.

AIL is administered across the UK by the Arts Council, which also oversees the Cultural Gifts Scheme.  Combined the two Schemes are capped, so can offset a total of £40m worth of tax per annum. The Acceptance in Lieu Panel, chaired by Edward Harley OBE, advises on whether property offered in lieu is of suitable importance and offered at a value which is fair to both nation and taxpayer. Full details and guidance are available on the Arts Council’s website at http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/supporting-museums/cultural-property/tax-incentives

National Galleries of Scotland
National Galleries of Scotland looks after one of the world's finest collections of Western art, ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day, including masterpieces by Titian, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and Magritte. These holdings include the national collection of Scottish art, which is displayed in an international context. Each year NGS welcomes visitors from Scotland and the rest of the world to our three Galleries in Edinburgh: the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

The Scottish National Gallery is home to our collection of fine art from the early Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century, including masterpieces by Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Constable, Turner, Monet, Van Gogh and Gauguin, amongst many others. The most comprehensive part of the collection covers the history of Scottish painting with all the major names represented, including Ramsay, Raeburn, Wilkie and McTaggart.

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art comprises two buildings, Modern One and Modern Two, which house our outstanding collection of modern and contemporary art. The early part of the collection features French and Russian art from the beginning of the twentieth century, Cubist paintings and superb holdings of Expressionist, modern British and international post-war art. The gallery is a world-renowned centre for the study of Dada and Surrealism and home to the world's most important and extensive collection of modern and contemporary Scottish art.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery first opened to the public in 1889 as the world’s first purpose-built portrait gallery. Over the past century, its collection of portraits has grown to become one of the largest and finest in the world, comprising 3,000 paintings and sculptures, 25,000 prints and drawings. The Gallery tells the story of Scotland through the people who have shaped its history – past and present, famous or forgotten. This distinctive red sandstone building also houses the national collection of photography, with some 38,000 historic and modern photographs and film.

For further information please go to nationalgalleries.org or call 0131 624 6200. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

25 November 2020
Revised completion date for the Scottish National Gallery Project

The Scottish National Gallery construction project is a transformative initiative to create a new space for the nation's renowned collection of Scottish art. In February 2020 we reported the discovery of unexpected defects within the 1970s building which sits beneath the original nineteenth-century National Gallery. These include damp penetration and inadequate drainage in and around the site. A commitment was made to address these issues to ensure the building is fully protected and safeguarded for the future.

The combined stopping of works due to the lockdown, along with the complex and changing nature of the construction requirements, have led us to revise the project timescales. Works are now expected to be completed and the new Gardens- Level Galleries open to the public by the end of 2022.

Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, Sir John Leighton, said: “We always knew that the Scottish National Gallery Project would be a complex endeavour, but that never diminished our desire to deliver the new space that our visitors deserve. Working underground on a World Heritage Site that comprises an iconic nineteenth-century building with modern additions from the 1970s located above one of Edinburgh’s busiest train tunnels is, of course, challenging. The COVID-19 pandemic has added a further layer of complexity, with the closure of the site during lockdown and now the introduction of measures to accommodate social distancing. Any associated additional costs are being worked through diligently.

"While we recognise this delay may be disappointing, we also want to stress that the wait will be worth it. We will deliver a world-class facility for showing Scotland’s distinctive artistic heritage in a whole new light, and at a time when we all hope the COVID-19 pandemic will be receding. We intend for our new galleries to be a focal point for cultural renewal, a place to discover the joy and wonder that art can bring to us all.”

The first phase of the Scottish National Gallery Project was completed successfully in 2019. This included a new entrance area in East Princes Street Gardens, a new café, refurbished restaurant and shop, an extensive sandstone terrace, and new landscaping and paths to improve access to the gardens and the Galleries.

— ENDS —

Notes to Editors

The Scottish National Gallery remains open to visitors, with many works of major international importance on show such as Diego Velázquez’s Old Woman Cooking Eggs, Sir Edwin Landseer’s Monarch of the Glen and Sir Henry Raeburn’s Reverend Robert Walker (1755 - 1808), famously known as the Skating Minister. New visitor offers include a free and specially created Smartify audio tour which focuses on collection highlights.

The Gallery has secured the UK-wide industry standard ‘We’re Good to Go’ accreditation, which means businesses across the sector can demonstrate that they are adhering to the respective Government and public health guidance, have carried out a COVID-19 risk assessment and check they have the required processes in place.

The vision for the Scottish National Gallery Project, which got underway in October 2018, has been driven by the National Galleries’ ambition to ensure that the widest number of people can enjoy our art and activities. The displays in the new galleries will be directly informed by extensive research into the needs of existing and potential audiences.

For the first time in a generation, there will be new displays drawn from the Scottish and international collection. This fresh approach will allow us to say much more about Scotland’s art and to highlight the international significance of pioneering figures such as Allan Ramsay, Gavin Hamilton, Sir David Wilkie and Phoebe Anna Traquair.

The scope of the new displays will encompass the work of early 20th-century artists such as Anne Redpath, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Stanley Cursiter, Phyllis Mary Bone and the Scottish Colourists S J Peploe and F C B Cadell.

A fly-through animation of the Scottish National Gallery Project is available to view here.

Read more on the Scottish National Gallery Project on our website here.

5 November 2020
Scotland's lockdown experience captured in new exhibition at Scottish National Portrait Gallery

A new exhibition dedicated to sharing the experiences of people in Scotland during the coronavirus pandemic will lead the reopening of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) this Sunday (8 November 2020). Over 200 public submissions will be presented in You Are Here 2020: Stories, Portraits, Visions. A rotating selection will be displayed alongside five artworks from the national collection, including a bronze bust of Scots Makar Jackie Kay (pictured above). Others include a bust of the pioneering surgeon Dr Elsie Inglis made by Ivan Meštrovic; a selection of works by photographer Iain Stewart from his series Tender for which he shadowed two Edinburgh GPs; a video work featuring Mercury Prize-winning Edinburgh band Young Fathers titled Man Up, and a new acquisition – a portrait of the singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé, painted by Samira Addo, winner of the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2018 prize. Visitors can book their free ticket to attend on the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) website.

Acting as a portrait of the nation, You Are Here will provide a platform for visitors to reflect on the experience of lockdown and gain an insight into what people in Scotland have faced during the COVID-19 outbreak. Presented through art, photography and writing, recurring themes of friendship, kindness, heartbreak and resilience are strong throughout. Each submission offers a new point of view to visitors and allows for a deeper understanding of what individuals and communities have been going through, from stories of babies born during the pandemic to long-distance relationships and lockdown loneliness. Other pieces tell of sacrifices made to beat ‘an invisible enemy’, as described in one of the poems.
Nine submissions will be shown during the opening week of the exhibition, with examples such as photographs from socially distanced garden visits, family Zoom calls and home-school activities. The display will be updated every week and, for those who are unable to visit in person, all works shown will be shared on the NGS website and social media channels. In addition, people of all ages are being encouraged to continue submitting their work until 31 December 2020.

Learning and Engagement Outreach Officer, Richie Cumming, who devised the display, said: “It has been humbling and a privilege to receive these submissions. The project has given participants the opportunity to share intimate and moving stories and portraits that, when taken together, create a powerful portrait of human experience. I know it has been cathartic for many people who have taken part and I hope these stories give visitors renewed perspectives on their experiences too.”

Alongside You Are Here, visitors to the SNPG will also be able to enjoy the magnificent Great Hall, the ambulatory on the first floor and the galleries on the second floor. The other exhibitions on show will include:

Reformation to Revolution, The King’s Last Day: The Execution of Charles I
Art & Analysis: Two Netherlandish Painters working in Jacobean Scotland
Imagining Power: The Visual Culture of the Jacobite Cause
Scots in Italy: Artists and Adventurers
The Remaking of Scotland: Nation, Migration, Globalisation 1760-1860
Heroes and Heroines: The Victorian Age

The first floor, where The Modern Portrait exhibition is usually held, will be temporarily closed, as will the library and research consultation area in order to maintain physical distancing requirements. Provisionally opening for three days a week due to the staffing levels required to ensure COVID-19 health and safety standards are met, the SNPG will be open every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

—ENDS—
NOTES TO EDITOR:

You are Here:

— Members of the public can upload their submissions via the NGS website, and the project is open to all.

— The display will feature a selection of submissions and these will change on a rotational basis. The majority of all submissions will be displayed on the exhibition feature pages on the NGS website.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery:

— Until 10 January 2021, the SNPG will open on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays of each week. It will be closed to visitors from Wednesday-Saturday (inclusive) each week. A decision on opening days beyond 10 January will be made in the coming months.

— The café will be open Sunday-Tuesday in line with the Gallery opening days, 10am-5pm. Booking will not be required.

— The shop will be closed. Products are available for home delivery or click and collect at www.nationalgalleries.org. — All visitors must book a time slot for their visit at nationalgalleries.org/visit

— As part of NGS’s commitment to equality, we are undertaking a review of the national art collection in relation to colonialism and slavery and their legacies. This involves research into the previous ownership of artworks, their subject matter, sitters depicted, and existing interpretation. New content, in gallery and online, is being developed over the coming months in light of this research and will remain an ongoing project. We would be pleased to receive any information which supports this work.

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One):

— Modern One has been open seven days a week since 24 August.

— From 1 November 2020 it will open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and be closed to visitors from Sunday-Wednesday (inclusive).

— Now 6 is on display until 10 January. This exhibition focuses on the theme of time and highlights the work of Scottish artist Katie Paterson. Paterson’s work explores deep time, the cosmos, and the place of humans in relation to these phenomena – ideas that have been central to the artist’s work for more than a decade. Among the works featured are Paterson’s mesmerising installation Totality (2016), a large-scale mirror ball featuring almost all known images of solar eclipses captured by humankind, and Light Bulb to Simulate Moonlight (2008), held in National Galleries of Scotland’s collection, which provides a lifetime’s supply of moonlight. Time appears as both a subject and a process of making in works by three further artists: Darren Almond, Shona Macnaughton and Lucy Raven.

— A decision on opening days beyond 10 January 2021 will be made in the coming months.

— The New Acquisitions: From Salvador Dali to Jenny Saville exhibition opens on 27 March 2021.

— The café will continue to be open 7 days a week, 10am-5pm. Booking is not required.

— The shop will continue to be closed. Products are available for home delivery or click and collect at www.nationalgalleries.org/shop.

— The toilets at the rear of Modern One will continue to be open 7 days a week, 10am-5pm.

— The grounds and sculpture trail will continue to be fully open and free to visit throughout the year. No booking is required.

— All visitors must book a time slot for their visit at nationalgalleries.org/visit.

National Galleries of Scotland:

NGS looks after one of the world's finest collections of Western art, ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day, including masterpieces by Titian, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and Magritte. These holdings include the national collection of Scottish art, which is displayed in an international context. Each year NGS welcomes visitors from Scotland and the rest of the world to our three Galleries in Edinburgh: the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

For further information please go to nationalgalleries.org or call 0131 624 6200. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

12 October 2020
New opening days announced for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One)

Images can be downloaded via Dropbox here.

We are delighted to announce that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery will reopen on Sunday 8 November 2020 with a new exhibition You Are Here 2020: Stories, Portraits, Visions, which will showcase contributions from the public and well-known figures. This includes a new acquisition – a portrait of the international singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé, painted by Samira Addo, winner of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2018. Visitors are able to book their free ticket at www.nationalgalleries.org/visit.

Due to the staffing levels required to ensure we adhere to COVID-19 health and safety standards, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One) will each open for three days a week from early November 2020 - 10 January 2021. A decision on opening days beyond then will be made in coming months.

This is a temporary measure which, during this time, will see the Portrait Gallery open from Sunday-Tuesday (inclusive) and Modern One open from Thursday-Saturday (inclusive) each week. Note that Modern One will continue to open 7 days a week throughout October; it will move to this new pattern from 5 November and will be closed from 1-4 November (inclusive).

The Scottish National Gallery will continue to be open and free to visit 7 days a week.

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two) will reopen on 24 October with our new major exhibition: Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema. It will be open 7 days a week.

Ahead of visiting any Gallery, people must book a time slot at nationalgalleries.org/visit.

Each Gallery requires higher than pre-Covid numbers of staff to work in front of house roles in order to manage entry, oversee Covid restrictions and support our visitors. Detailed analysis showed that there were not the numbers of staff required to open all four Galleries seven days a week.

When the Portrait Gallery reopens, visitors will be able to enjoy the artwork on the ground floor, including the magnificent Great Hall, the ambulatory on the first floor and the galleries on the second floor.

On the ground floor there will be a brand new exhibition: You Are Here 2020: Stories, Portraits, Visions. This will showcase submissions from people across Scotland representing stories from this year, portraits and visions for the future. As of early October, around 120 submissions have been received. A rotating selection of these submissions will be shown alongside five striking examples of portraiture from the national collection. The five works are: two bronze busts of influential women: Scots Makar Jackie Kay and the pioneering Dr Elsie Inglis; a photograph and display of work prints by Iain Stewart from his series, Tender, for which he shadowed two Edinburgh GPs; Man Up a video work featuring Mercury Prize-winning Edinburgh band Young Fathers and a new acquisition – a portrait of the international singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé, painted by Samira Addo, winner of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2018.

Reformation to Revolution, The King’s Last Day: The Execution of Charles I , Art & Analysis: Two Netherlandish Painters working in Jacobean Scotland, Imagining Power: The Visual Culture of the Jacobite Cause, Scots in Italy: Artists and Adventurers, The Remaking of Scotland: Nation, Migration, Globalisation 1760-1860 and Heroes and Heroines: The Victorian Age exhibitions on the second floor will re-open.

The first floor, where The Modern Portrait exhibition is held, will be temporarily closed. The library (including the research consultation area) will also be closed. Due to the narrow spaces in these areas it would prove problematic to open them and ensure physical distancing.

Sir John Leighton, Director General of the National Galleries of Scotland said: “We are delighted to be opening the Scottish National Portrait Gallery again with an exhibition featuring people’s experiences of 2020. We have received many queries from the public asking when they can visit again, so I’m really pleased that we have found a way to manage this demand within the constraints that covid-19 has placed on us. This will mean that all four of the Gallery sites will once again be open and that once again we will be able to share the full breadth of our collection”.

“I am very grateful to all the colleagues at the National Galleries who have worked very hard to create a safe and engaging experience for our audiences and I am also grateful to our visitors for their loyal support. The Portrait Gallery has always been a place that helps us to recognise individuals, experiences and spark conversations so we hope that the public will once again enjoy the beautiful surroundings and artwork.”

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

— The Scottish National Portrait Gallery will re-open on Sunday 8 November November 2020.

— Until 10 January 2021, the Portrait Gallery will open on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays of each week. It will be closed to visitors from Wednesday-Saturday (inclusive) each week. A decision on opening days beyond 10 January will be made in the coming months.

— The ground floor, including the Great Hall, ambulatory on the first floor and galleries on the second floor of the Portrait Gallery will be open.

— The first floor, where The Modern Portrait permanent exhibition is held, will be temporarily closed. The library (including the research consultation area) will also be closed.

— The café will be open Sunday-Tuesday in line with the Gallery opening days, 10-5. Booking will not be required.

— The shop will be closed. Products are available for home delivery or click and collect at www.nationalgalleries.org.

— We will make a decision on opening days beyond 10 January 2021 in the coming months.

— All visitors must book a time slot for their visit at nationalgalleries.org/visit

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One)

— Modern One has been open 7 days a week since 24 August.

— From 1 November 2020 it will open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and be closed to visitors from Sunday-Wednesday (inclusive). Note that this means that it will be closed from 1-4 November (inclusive).

— Now 6 is currently on display until 10 January. This exhibition focuses on the theme of time and highlights the work of Scottish artist Katie Paterson. Paterson’s work explores deep time, the cosmos, and the place of humans in relation to these phenomena – ideas that have been central to the artist’s work for more than a decade. Among the works featured are Paterson’s mesmerising installation Totality (2016), a large-scale mirror ball featuring almost all known images of solar eclipses captured by humankind, and Light Bulb to Simulate Moonlight (2008), held in National Galleries of Scotland’s collection, which provides a lifetime’s supply of moonlight. Time appears as both a subject and a process of making in works by three further artists: Darren Almond, Shona Macnaughton and Lucy Raven.

— A decision on opening days beyond 10 January 2021 will be made in the coming months.

— The New Acquisitions: From Salvador Dali to Jenny Saville exhibition opens on 27 March 2021.

— The café will continue to be open 7 days a week, 10-5. Booking is not required.

— The shop will continue to be closed. Products are available for home delivery or click and collect at www.nationalgalleries.org/shop.

— The toilets at the rear of Modern One will continue to be open 7 days a week, 10-5.

— The grounds and sculpture trail will continue to be fully open and free to visit throughout the year. No booking is required.

— All visitors must book a time slot for their visit at nationalgalleries.org/visit.

10 September 2020
Arts face coverings gifted to local community by National Galleries of Scotland and North Edinburgh Arts

Five hundred specially crafted face coverings have been gifted to people in Edinburgh thanks to a partnership between National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and North Edinburgh Arts (NEA). The coverings feature four stunning artworks from Scotland’s national collection, and they are being shared among seven local charities, including Granton Community Gardeners, Scran Academy, Fresh Start, North Edinburgh Arts café, Link Up, Pilton Community Health Project and A Stitch in Time.

Inspired by a request for face coverings from a member of Edinburgh’s Covid-19 Food Share Group, NGS staff teamed up with local group at NEA, A Stitch in Time, to commission local volunteers and craft professionals to make the coverings. A special note was included with each one to let the recipient know who made their individual gift. NGS then delivered them to volunteers and residents of north Edinburgh.

The designs were chosen by employees of NGS and NEA who took part in polls to whittle their selections down to four favourite works:

John Francis Campbell, Suilven with Rainbow (1848)
Samuel John Peploe, Tulips - The Blue Jug (about 1919)
Mabel Royds, Prickly Pear Cactus (1924)
Mabel Royds, The Waterfall (about 1938)

As well as gifting 500 masks to the local community in north Edinburgh, NGS commissioned Francia Frank, a locally based couturier and designer, and one of the original makers, to make a second batch of 500 face coverings for its staff.

Natalie Taylor, Community Development Officer at National Galleries of Scotland, said: “Having started my role with the National Galleries of Scotland in May, during the most intense part of lockdown, I was pre-occupied by the situation, as I think we all were. In the weeks before, I had been volunteering for Granton Community Gardeners by distributing food packages and some residents were asking us for fabric masks, but at that time non-PPE masks were few and far between.

I could see there was great need for help, and that the National Galleries of Scotland could play a small part by engaging people in the collection to give them a lift and make them feel safe. Our masks are obviously a drop in the ocean in comparison to the sustained local effort of food distribution, but I hope that our contribution will help as we ease our way out of lockdown.”

Designer and Machinist, Francia Frank, said: “It was such a pleasure working with the National Galleries of Scotland on this initiative. Between the first and the second commission, we have collectively made close to 1,000 face masks, and coordinating the last commission was such a joy. Together as a community here at North Edinburgh, we are pleased to have been part of this history.”

Francia can also be seen encountering Samuel Peploe’s ‘Tulips - The Blue Jug’ (about 1919) for the first time at the Granton Art Centre, which features on her masks in a new film that NGS will share as part of Virtual Doors Open Day on 26 and 27 September.

The makers who crafted each face covering worked from their homes to prepare the fabric, with volunteers later adding in elastic. The designs were printed on polyester fabric then layered with up-cycled cotton. A third disposable layer can also be placed inside. Each mask was made in line with W.H.O guidelines.

—ENDS—
Notes to Editors

National Galleries of Scotland
The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) looks after one of the world's finest collections of Western art, ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day, including masterpieces by Titian, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and Magritte. These holdings include the national collection of Scottish art, which is displayed in an international context. Each year NGS welcomes visitors from Scotland and the rest of the world to our three Galleries in Edinburgh: the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

North Edinburgh Arts
North Edinburgh Arts offers local residents a place to relax, explore, learn, meet, share, volunteer and have fun in. Last year over 40,000 visits were made to the venue that ‘floats like a bright bubble behind the Muirhouse shopping centre‘ (STV Local). NEA is based in the heart of Muirhouse and our venue incorporates two studios, a 96 seat theatre, recording studio, gallery, offices and the Pop In community café with children’s play area leading onto a large garden. NEA offers a safe, comfortable and creative space for people of all ages to develop within, in contrast to what can otherwise feel a harsh physical and social environment.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic over 30 hours of creative workshops were on offer each week, most with a family focus, alongside a wide range of other events from singing groups to circus skills workshops, exhibitions, community theatre, film clubs, and festival events. The venue is also home to Muirhouse Link Up, Firstport Social Enterprise, North Edinburgh Drug and Alcohol Centre, and the Tinderbox Orchestra, all working to serve the most disadvantaged children, families and individuals in the North Edinburgh area.

Covid-19 Food Share Group
Covid-19 Food Share Group was formed at the beginning of lockdown to support North Edinburgh residents during the pandemic. In total during the 13 weeks of lockdown, around 49,000 hot lunches, 53,000 packed lunches, and 16,000 food packs were distributed in the local area, providing vital emergency food to residents.

21 August 2020
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s Modern Two to reopen with landmark show on filmmaking icon Ray Harryhausen

RAY HARRYHAUSEN:
TITAN OF CINEMA
24 October 2020 — 5 September 2021
73 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DS
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two)
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Tickets: £14-12 (concessions available)
Ticketed access available online from 2 September.
Free for Our Friends
#Harryhausen100

A thrilling and immersive exhibition on the pioneering and unparalleled work of Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013), the cinematic titan whose movies shaped the face of modern cinema, will be coming to the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) this Autumn, as part of the late filmmaker’s centenary celebrations.

Working in close collaboration with The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation, the National Galleries are proud to present Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema, which will lead the reopening of Modern Two at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art from Saturday 24 October.

Titan of Cinema will be the largest and most comprehensive exhibition ever of the art of the legendary trailblazer Harryhausen, who elevated stop-motion animation to an art form between the 1950s-1980s, and whose exhilarating movies inspired a generation of the world’s greatest living filmmakers, among them Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Sir Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro.

The exhibition was originally scheduled for May this year and was delayed due to current events, but we are delighted to share that it will now lead the reopening of Modern Two with an extended run from October until September 2021. Visitors can secure their tickets via our new online booking system, available from Wednesday. 2 September on our website. Visitors can book tickets up to 3 months in advance.

Ray Harryhausen was responsible for some of cinema’s most magical moments. Titan of Cinema will showcase the original models that were miraculously brought to life on screen by Harryhausen’s mastery of stop-frame animation, such as the iconic skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts (1963), the Cyclops from his highly-influential Sinbad series, and his trademark UFOs from 1956’s Earth vs the Flying Saucers. The models shown will include those which would later inspire movies such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Pan’s Labyrinth and Mars Attacks!

Also on display will be the young Harryhausen’s very first models, including a marionette inspired by the gorilla from King Kong, conceived by the film’s special effects supervisor Willis O’Brien, and artwork from Mighty Joe Young, the first film that Harryhausen and O’Brien worked on together, and the movie which effectively launched Harryhausen’s career.

These miniature monuments to cinematic history are joined by a treasure trove of posters, personal memorabilia, original photographs, storyboard illustrations and the drawings and art that inspired Harryhausen’s creatures and films, all taken from his remarkable collection.

The Academy Award-winning filmmaker’s life story, work and boundless imagination will be explored in an immersive presentation that will reveal new insights to dedicated Harryhausen fans, and open up a whole world of wonder to visitors of all ages and interests.

Visitors will have the opportunity to meet face-to-face the models and memorabilia from the films of their childhood. Younger visitors can learn all about Harryhausen’s pioneering movie-making process, and the great influence he’s had upon many of the movies and animations of today, including Wallace and Gromit.

Californian-born Harryhausen was massively inspired by the work of Willis O’Brien after seeing King Kong at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in 1933. As a teenage boy, he went to see the film 33 times. Soon after, he was experimenting with models and stop-motion animation in his backyard, and was later mentored by O’Brien.

Titan of Cinema tells the story of how this young boy became so enraptured by O’Brien’s special effects , he devoted his entire life to filmmaking, invented ingenious techniques, created unforgettable cinematic moments, became what Aardman Animations’ Peter Lord described as a, “one-man industry” and inspired many of the world’s greatest movie-makers.

It also explores Harryhausen’s love of art and the impact certain artists had upon him, including the spectacular illustrations and paintings of Gustav Doré (1832-1883), and Joseph Michael Gandy (1771-1843), whose epic painting Jupiter Pluvius will be concurrently shown at the Scottish National Gallery. The filmmaker said Gandy’s paintings taught him, “to think big and give my imagination free reign”.

The exhibition also traces Harryhausen’s unique connection to Scotland. Harryhausen’s wife Diana was the great-great granddaughter of the Scottish explorer David Livingstone, and both she and her husband developed a strong affinity for the country. One of Harryhausen’s final projects was to design a statue of the legendary missionary, which now stands in the town of Blantyre.

Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema is presented in collaboration with The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation (Charity No. SC001419) to celebrate what would have been his centenary birthday year. As part of a series of events and initiatives under the banner #Harryhausen100, the exhibition will be accompanied by a programme of events, bringing his creations to life once again and celebrating the legacy of the filmmaker who shaped cinema as we know it today. Titan of Cinema would not be possible without the generous support of players of People's Postcode Lottery.

We want all visitors to stay safe while visiting our buildings, and new measures have been implemented so that the health and safety of our visitors, employees and volunteers can be ensured. We have secured the UK-wide industry standard ‘We’re Good to Go’ accreditation, which means businesses across the sector can demonstrate that they are adhering to the respective Government and public health guidance, have carried out a COVID-19 risk assessment and check they have the required processes in place.

Vanessa Harryhausen, daughter of Ray Harryhausen and a Trustee of The Ray and Dianna Harryhausen Foundation, said: “Our plans to celebrate Dad’s centenary at the National Galleries in Edinburgh are so exciting; if he was still around, he would be so enthused by all the centenary celebrations and plans! It’s wonderful that we are able to display so much of Dad’s collection: the space at the Galleries gives us great scope to display as many of his models and artworks as possible, as well as personal items which have never been exhibited before.”

“We at the Foundation are thrilled to work with the National Galleries on displaying Dad’s collection and celebrating his legacy. He established the Foundation in order to encourage future generations to enjoy stop-motion animation, and we hope the celebrations and activities in Edinburgh will encourage fans of all ages to be inspired by his creativity”.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “We are delighted to open Mod Two with the largest ever exhibition devoted to Ray Harryhausen. His creative vision, and ability to realise scenes of enduring dramatic and imaginative power, are as relevant now as they have ever been. The exhibition promises to transport all visitors, young and old, into the amazing world of one of the greatest innovators of special effects in the history of cinema.”

Stephanie Kerr, programmes advisor at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “I’m delighted this exhibition, which has been supported with funding raised by our players, is now able to take place. It’s sure to be an inspiring experience for everyone who visits.”

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

What to Expect

Titan of Cinema opens at Modern Two from 24 October.
The exhibition is ticketed access only. You can book your tickets on our website from Wednesday 2 September, up to 3 months in advance.
Stay safe while visiting and follow physical-distancing rules.
As of writing, face-coverings are mandatory if over 5 years old.
Please use the hand-sanitisers inside Modern Two.
Car parking at both Modern One and Two is now open, 9.45am-5.30pm. 

You can read more on our Visitor frequently asked questions here.

More information on the exhibition

Raymond Frederick Harryhausen was born in 1920 in Los Angeles, California, to parents Martha L. and Frederick W. Harryhausen. As a young boy in 1933, Harryhausen attended a showing of King Kong at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, whose special effects supervisor was Willis O’Brien.

It was a seminal moment, changing the course of his life: “I’ve never forgotten it”, Harryhausen said in 2005. “The dinosaurs, and King Kong particularly…For its time it was unique”. Remarkably, a note in his diary in 1939 mentions he’d just spent another evening in the cinema, watching King Kong for the thirty-third time.

Soon after, the teenage Harryhausen was building model dinosaurs and experimenting with stop-motion in his back garden. He contacted O’Brien and was invited – model dinosaurs in tow – to O’Brien’s studio at MGM Studios. Despite remarking that the legs on Harryhausen’s dinosaurs – shown in the exhibition - looked like sausages, and suggesting that he go and study the anatomy of creatures he was building - O’Brien would later become the budding filmmaker’s mentor, hiring him to work on Mighty Joe Young. Harryhausen would produce most of the movie’s accomplished animated scenes and the film’s massive success helped launched his career.

An original film poster of King Kong, a King Kong marionette made by a teenage Harryhausen in the 1930s, and an RKO original model gorilla from Mighty Joe Young, will be on display, alongside other early marionettes and sketches from both Harryhausen and O’Brien. Also on display are Harryhausen’s personal effects, and some of the many honours he was awarded in his lifetime.

Starting with his work on Mighty Joe Young, the impact Harryhausen had on modern cinema cannot be overstated. He singlehandedly changed what was thought possible with animation and special effects. Spielberg, Lucas and Jackson directly cite his movies as the reason they became filmmakers – and especially for the influence they had on the making of Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings respectively – as do Del Toro, James Cameron, John Landis, Tim Burton and JJ Abrams to name but a few. Del Toro has said, “No one will ever compare to Ray Harryhausen. He was a true pioneer... He was designer, technician, sculptor, painter and cinematographer all at once. To my generation, and to every generation of monster lovers to come, he will stand above all. Forever”. Titan of Cinema’s visitors can view these original models that had such a formative influence on the next generation of movie giants.

As a stop-motion trailblazer, one of Harryhausen’s ingenious inventions – first demonstrated in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms – was the creation of Dynamation. The phrase was coined by Harryhausen’s long-term friend, collaborator and producer Charles H. Schneer, to describe his unique process which successfully integrated animation and live action, and used perspective to portray scale and movement in ways that were both breathtaking and cost-efficient.

The larger stage sets of the past gave way to smaller models and inventive perspective techniques, freeing up budget for the taking of more exciting shots. Two-inch-tall figurines became towering, realistic monsters, and a fleet of flying saucers seamlessly crossed the skies of Harryhausen’s in breathtaking scenes, from Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956). Forty years later, Tim Burton paid homage in Mars Attacks! (1996), replicating both models and scenes in Harryhausen’s original film. These out-of-this-world UFO creations, still in pristine condition, will be shown, as will a full room revealing the Dynamation process.

Also on display will be a models, posters, drawings and photographs from Harryhausen’s blockbusters, including his hugely influential Sinbad series, Jason and the Argonauts, and Clash of the Titans. A single viewing of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad made a young John Landis commit to becoming a filmmaker. Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger did the same for Sir Peter Jackson. The childhoods of millions of others were filled with Sinbad’s swashbuckling adventures. Storyboards, sheet music, the original model of the cyclops will be some of the material from the series on show.

Just as Harryhausen inspired countless artists and succeeding generations, so artists and writers inspired the filmmaker himself. Their influence is seen in the dramatic backdrops, scenes and creatures of his movies. Harryhausen was a great lifelong friend of the sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury with whom he worked closely, and absorbed inspiration from ancient Greek mythology, the work of HG Wells (1886-1946) and Jules Verne (1828-1905), and the art of John Martin (1718-1854), Gustave Doré (1832-1883), and Joseph Michael Gandy (1771-1843), whom he recognised as imaginative visionaries of their time. Harryhausen was to say that Gandy’s paintings taught him, “to think big and give my imagination free reign”. Harryhausen, an incredible draughtsman himself, would skilfully illustrate the storyboards which wove together stories and images of such power and depth that, even now in our digital age, make his films so iconic.

Book

Titan of Cinema will be accompanied by a new publication especially commissioned for the exhibition, written by Harryhausen’s daughter Vanessa, that provides a very personal insight into her father’s ground-breaking career, collection and life. This book, part-biography and part-exhibition catalogue, marks the first ever time Vanessa has spoken about her father’s work in such detail, and includes a personal biography of her father from the beginnings in the 1930s through to projects he was working on throughout his ‘retirement’, less than 10 years ago.

Exhibition

Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema will take place at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two) from Saturday 22 October.

You can read more on Ray Harryhausen on the National Galleries website here and here.

Find out more about The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation and the #Harryhausen100 here (Charity No. SC001419): www.rayharryhausen.com

Vanessa Harryhausen and John Walsh, Trustees of The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation, and Connor Heaney, Collections Manager of the Foundation, are available for interviews and will be present for the press view on Thursday 22 October 2020.

More information on John Walsh can be found here: https://www.johnwalshfilmmaker.com

For press requests relating to The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation and the #Harryhausen100 please contact [email protected]

For enquiries relating to Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema at the Scottish National Galleries of Modern Art, please contact [email protected] or call 0207 292 7390.

For enquiries relating to the National Galleries of Scotland of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, please contact [email protected] or call 0131 624 6247.

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6 August 2020
Wonder awaits at the National Galleries of Scotland: first phase of reopening dates announced

The wonder of Scotland’s national art collection awaits visitors in-person as today the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) can share the dates and details of the first phase of our gradual reopening.

The Scottish National Gallery will reopen to the public on Monday 17 August, and the Modern One building at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art will reopen the following week, on Monday 24 August.

Those visiting will be able to enjoy a very special encounter with the much-loved artworks of the nation’s exceptional art collection, as we will be limiting the number of visitors in each gallery at any one time, to ensure physical distancing.

Visitors can book free time-slots for the Scottish National Gallery and for Modern One via our new online booking system, available from 10am on 12 August on our website. Admission remains free, but tickets must be booked online in advance. Tickets can be booked up to 2 weeks ahead.

We are delighted to welcome visitors back to the Scottish National Gallery, where they can reconnect with masterpieces such as Diego Velázquez’s Old Woman Cooking Eggs, Sir Edwin Landseer’s iconic Monarch of the Glen and Sir Henry Raeburn’s Reverend Robert Walker (1755 - 1808), famously known as the Skating Minister.

A treasure trove of modern art awaits visitors to Modern One, with works from Picasso to Jenny Saville via Francis Bacon, Scottish Colourist paintings and our world-class Surrealist collection featuring art from Salvador Dalí, René Magritte and others.

Visitors can immerse themselves in our specially-created sculpture trails in the grounds outside, or be mesmerised indoors by Katie Paterson’s Totality — the stunning centrepiece of our contemporary art series NOW — which brings together over 10,000 images of almost every solar eclipse documented by humankind in one monumental glitter-ball.

Both buildings will be open from 10am-5pm and final admission is at 3.45pm. Visitors can print off tickets to bring with them, or simply show the email attachment from their mobile phone at the entrance of the gallery.

We are implementing a one-way route around all our buildings. Those booking will receive a link to download a printable map of the Gallery so they can easily navigate each site. Some smaller rooms and spaces will remain closed so that we can conform with safe physical-distancing measures. Visitors can also use the Smartify app to delve deeper into the artworks on display, with our Smartify highlights tours revealing hidden details, stories and interpretations about key works.

As part of the gradual reopening, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two) will reopen in the Autumn. We are still finalising the specifics for both buildings and their exact reopening dates will be announced in due course. Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema will be taking place at Modern Two when it reopens.

Visitors can now wander through the serene grounds of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Admission to the grounds is free and unticketed, and there are specially-created sculpture trails for visitors of all ages to enjoy. A pop-up cafe in front of the main entrance to Modern Two is now offering takeaway coffee and snacks. Our Sculpture Trails would not be possible without the generous support of players of the People's Postcode Lottery.

Look out for updates on our website, social media channels and sign up for our email newsletters.

Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “We are delighted to now welcome visitors back to the Scottish National Gallery and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s Modern One, as part of the first phase of our reopening. It’s been a challenging time for all, but our reopening offers the public the opportunity to reconnect with the national collection and to view their favourite works in a more intimate setting. Whether that’s to find comfort, calm or spark creativity, visitors will have their very own close encounters with art from across the centuries, be that Constable, the Colourists or Katie Paterson’s cosmos”.

Stephanie Kerr, Programmes Advisor at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “I’m so pleased the National Galleries of Scotland are able to safely re-open to the public, in particular the sculpture trails which are supported by our players and assessible for people of all ages. The fun trail is full of wonderful sculptures, and provide a great way for those who aren’t yet comfortable with going indoors to experience some of Edinburgh’s finest culture."

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

Reopening Dates

Monday 17 August
Scottish National Gallery reopens.

Monday 24 August
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One) reopens.

Autumn (exact dates tbc)
Scottish National Portrait Gallery reopens.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two) reopens.

What to Expect

Scottish National Gallery and Modern One open from 10am-5pm.
Book your free time-slot on our website from 12 August (max 6 tickets per person)
NGS Friends can book from 10am on 10 August, and will have a limited number of priority booking slots.
An outdoor queuing system will be in place.
Stay safe while visiting and follow physical-distancing rules.
Face-coverings are mandatory if over 5 years old.
Please use the hand-sanitisers inside all our buildings.

You can read more on our Visitor frequently asked questions here.

Parking
There is metered, on-street parking near Scottish National Gallery and both car parks at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (One and Two) are open 9.45am-5.30pm. 

Toilets
Toilets  at the Scottish National Gallery  are available at gallery level, but only for those with a ticket.  Public toilets and Changing Places facilities are open 10am-5pm  at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One).  All facilities are cleaned regularly. 

Shops
The Scottish National Gallery shop at the East Princes Street Gardens Entrance will be open from 10am-5pm. There is no direct access up to the Galleries from the Gardens Entrance. 

You can read more on our Shop frequently asked questions here. If the FAQ doesn’t help with your query then please email us on [email protected] or call us on 0131 624 6494 (international customers call 0044 131 624 6494).

People’s Postcode Lottery

It costs £10 a month to play and winning postcodes are announced every day. The maximum amount a single ticket can win is 10% of the draw proceed. For details, please visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/prizes
New players can sign up to pay using direct debit by calling 0808 10 9 8 7 6 5. New players who sign up online at www.postcodelottery.co.uk can pay using direct debit, debit card or PayPal.

27 July 2020
Public appeal for stories, portraits and ideas to be displayed alongside the national collection
#youarehere2020

People across Scotland and beyond are being asked to submit stories, portraits and ideas about the future as part of a new display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. They will be shown alongside five striking examples of portraiture from the national collection in a display titled You Are Here| 2020: Stories, Portraits, Visions.

This display will explore the issues Scotland faces in 2020 by providing a platform for people to reflect on a year, which has seen the most unprecedented times in a generation.

People can respond to one or more of the three categories: stories, portraits and visions. The first, 2020 Stories is looking for a story about this year in 100 words or less which could be positive or negative, prose or poetry. The second, 2020 Portraits is a portrait that encapsulates something about this year. From the joyful to the tragic and everything in between; lockdown hair and extra time with family, social distancing to social isolation, PPE-clad shopping trips to food bank deliveries. Lastly 2020 Visions is asking for people’s thoughts on the future; what are the good things to come out of this year? What lessons have been learned that could be taken forward?

The public submissions will sit alongside artworks from the national collection, which were selected for their contemporary relevance. They speak of the health service, powerful cultural icons and under-represented demographics. The five works are: two bronze busts of influential women - Scots Makar (the national poet for Scotland) Jackie Kay and the pioneering Dr Elsie Inglis; a photograph and display of work prints by Iain Stewart from his series, Tender, for which he shadowed two Edinburgh GPs; Man Up, a video work featuring Mercury Prize-winning Edinburgh band Young Fathers and a new acquisition – a portrait of the international singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé, painted by Samira Addo, winner of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2018.

Learning and Engagement Outreach Officer, Richie Cumming who has devised this display, said: ‘We are asking the questions; “How are you doing?” How has your year been? We want this installation to be a broad representation of 2020 and hope people will be inspired to participate and share this call to action with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. The combined results will act as a portrait of the nation, offering the opportunity for work from members of the public to be displayed alongside portraits of these exceptional people from the national collection and give brief insights into the range of experiences people have had over this bizarre and troubling year.’

Members of the public can upload their submissions via the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) website and the project is open to all. As the project is based on 2020, works must have been created this year and should respond to the themes of stories, portraits, visions. The works to be displayed will be reviewed by a panel consisting of Learning and Engagement and Collection and Research staff from NGS. Each submission will be considered under the criteria of: creativity, originality, geographic spread and uniqueness of the submission.

The display will feature a selection of submissions and these will change on a rotational basis. The majority of all submissions will be displayed on the exhibition feature pages on the NGS website.

Notes to Editors

Submissions are now open until the end of the year.
The display will open when the SNPG reopens (date tbc).
Full terms and conditions for submissions can be found on the National Galleries of Scotland’s website.

National Galleries of Scotland

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) looks after one of the world's finest collections of Western art, ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day, including masterpieces by Titian, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and Magritte. These holdings include the national collection of Scottish art, which is displayed in an international context. Each year NGS welcomes visitors from Scotland and the rest of the world to our three Galleries in Edinburgh: the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

For further information please go to nationalgalleries.org or call 0131 624 6200. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

16 July 2020
A breath of fresh air awaits you in the serene grounds of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) are delighted to share that we will be welcoming visitors back to the grounds of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA) from today, Wednesday 15 July.

Visitors and families can take in the beauty of both works of art and nature as they wander within the landscapes of Modern One and Two, enjoying world-class sculptures with coffee and cake from our new pop-up cafe.

Whilst the grounds have been open throughout lockdown, today we can officially welcome visitors back with some specially-created sculpture trails and newly-adapted facilities. Entrance to the grounds remains free of charge.

All our Gallery buildings are currently closed, and we are currently working hard on all the plans for their phased reopening from August.

For the meantime, visitors can simply wander or become avid art explorers by taking part in our free, newly-developed Walk, Talk, Make sculpture trails, aimed at all ages. Highlights from the trail include the stunning Landform (2001) by the late Charles Jencks, with its undulating hills and calming lake, Tracey Emin’s Roman Standard (2005) and the first figure of the six that constitute Antony Gormley’s much-loved 6 TIMES (2010), a series of sculptures beginning at Modern One and which are sited along the picturesque Water of Leith.

Through the online version of a printed trail, families can discover the artists and their artworks on outside display, and receive some prompts to make their own art amongst the trees. Or even just absorb the timely and reassuring message of the Martin Creed artwork on the front of Modern One: WORK: NO. 203: EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT.

The grounds and the car park will be open from 9.45am-5.30pm daily. Toilets and a Changing Places facility are both available at Modern One, from 10-5pm.

Those visiting can be kept energised by freshly brewed coffee, snacks and sweet treats from our pop-up outside cafe (open from Thursday 16 July — takeaway only) beside the front door of Modern Two. The pop-up cafe will be open from 10am-3pm each day.

The gallery grounds at the SNGMA can be accessed via the gates on Belford Road, the Water of Leith and the Dean Graveyard.

We want all visitors to stay safe while visiting and follow physical distancing rules during their journeys around the two grounds. Your health and safety are important to us, and we look forward to welcoming you all back inside our galleries soon.

We have also secured the UK-wide ‘We’re Good to Go’ accreditation. The ‘We’re Good To Go’ industry standard and supporting mark means businesses across the sector can demonstrate that they are adhering to the respective Government and public health guidance, have carried out a COVID-19 risk assessment and check they have the required processes in place.

Look out for updates on our website, social media channels and sign up for our email newsletters.

— ENDS —

Notes to Editors

What to expect:

No need to book. Admission is free and unticketed.
Access is via the gates on Belford Road, the Water of Leith and the Dean Graveyard.
The grounds and car park are open from 9.45am-5.30pm daily.
Toilets and a Changing Places facility are both available at Modern One from 10-5pm.
Stay safe while visiting and follow physical distancing rules.

To find out more about the art in the Collection through the free mobile phone app Smartify. Download the app, scan the art, uncover the story.

Our Sculpture Trails would not be possible without the generous support of players of the People's Postcode Lottery.

People’s Postcode Lottery

People’s Postcode Lottery manages multiple society lotteries promoted by different charities and good causes. People play with their chosen postcodes for a chance to win cash prizes. A minimum of 32% from each subscription goes directly to charities and good causes across Great Britain and internationally -- players have raised £500 million so far. For details of the charities and good causes which are promoting and benefitting from the lottery draws, please visit https://www.postcodelottery.co.uk/good-causes/draw-calendar
It costs £10 a month to play and winning postcodes are announced every day. The maximum amount a single ticket can win is 10% of the draw proceed. For details, please visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/prizes
New players can sign up to pay using direct debit by calling 0808 10 9 8 7 6 5. New players who sign up online at www.postcodelottery.co.uk can pay using direct debit, debit card or PayPal.
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9 July 2020
Statement on reopening from the National Galleries of Scotland

Earlier today, Museums Galleries Scotland shared the news that museums and galleries including the National Galleries of Scotland, National Museums Scotland, Glasgow Life, V&A Dundee and Industrial Museums Scotland are now looking ahead to the imminent reopening of our respective cultural sites.

We can further share that we will be reopening our own gallery buildings through a phased manner from August.

We warmly welcome the Scottish Government’s announcement that museums and galleries can now be safely re-opened, and are very much looking forward to welcoming the public back.

We have been working hard on the plans for reopening, and the health and safety of our visitors, and the visitor experience, are at the very heart of this. The reopening of our sites requires complex logistical planning, and a gradual reopening allows us to prepare for and implement the appropriate measures that will ensure the health and safety of our visitors, volunteers and employees.

These measures will follow Government advice and include the implementation of physical distancing and PPE equipment, employee training and new temporary ticketing systems allowing visitors to book free timed slots to enjoy our sites and the national collection. We will also be working to securing the UK-wide ‘Good to Go’ accreditation.

The pandemic has been difficult and challenging for all, and we would like to express our gratitude to the public for their ongoing engagement and support through these testing times.

Whilst we gradually reopen, we will continue to support and work closely with our cultural partners. We will also continue to share Scotland’s wonderful national art collection online.

Museums and galleries play an integral role in the health and well-being of all our lives, and with our reopening, we hope our cultural organisation and collection — and that of our cultural counterparts across the country — will continue to calm, comfort, educate, spark conversations and inspire creativity.

— ENDS —

4 June 2020
The public's most-asked art questions explored in new six-part National Galleries video series

* View some of the Questions about Art videos here *

What makes a painting iconic? Who decides what art is worth? Why can’t I touch artworks when in a gallery?

Six in-depth videos will explore these and other common musings on art in Questions about Art, a brand-new, informative and unprecedented insights video series from the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS). All are explored through filmed interviews of expert analysis, archive material and animations, and never-before-seen ‘behind the scenes’ footage from within the National Galleries. The videos aim to investigate, analyse and share comprehensive insights into these questions, rather than provide definitive answers.

One video in the series is What Makes an Artwork Iconic? — now available on YouTube here — explores Ray Lichtenstein’s seminal large-scale painting In The Car (1963). The video focuses on how In The Car has become ingrained within our collective consciousness, the significance of the painting to both its own era and to art history, and how it continues to spread throughout culture even today, influencing advertisements, Snapchat filters, TV shows and the fashion industry. We explore the painting’s shifting perception from the initial controversy when it first entered Scotland’s national collection in the 1980s, to now becoming one of the Collection’s most loved artworks, and one of the most widely-recognised artworks in the world. For the first time, viewers can get a behind-the-scenes look at the Galleries’ Granton storehouse, and close ups of the painting itself.

Another video, Why can’t I touch art?, which can be viewed here, analyses the complexities around artworks being touched and how current pioneering artists are challenging the idea that art cannot be touched by incorporating the sense into their multi-sensory creations. For the first time, viewers can see our Conservation Team in action with insights into the many intricacies of preserving paintings, drawings, watercolours and other creative forms. These include some surprising details, such as how the lifespan of paper has changed considerably since the fifteenth century, meaning that countless artworks painted or drawn several hundred years ago have a much greater expected lifespan than many of those made not only in the last century, but remarkably, made today.

Other videos explore the value of art, how art records history, why there’s so few female artists and whether or not art is beneficial to your well-being. They feature a range of experts — including specialists from across the Galleries, the Deputy Director of Sotheby’s in Edinburgh and art therapist Lucy Bell.

To inform the series, NGS asked visitors for their most-common art queries in late 2019. Questionnaires were placed within our galleries, audiences could share questions through the NGS Research panel, and digital visitors could submit their queries through a Pop-up box on our website or use the #AskACurator hashtag on social media. The Galleries also utilised AnswerThePublic.com (which employs Google’s autocorrect function) to identify commonly searched questions relating to key art words. Our Security and Visitor Services team also shared the most frequently-asked art queries they receive when working in gallery spaces.

An incredible 260 questions were received in response, which were whittled down to the six queries the public were most keen to know. The questions were then divided by theme and key ones were identified using a scoring system based on frequency (ie ‘how many times has it been asked?’) and whether or not they were asked by Galleries audiences directly (doing so scored higher than those accrued through Google’s autocorrect). Soon after, six videos were produced by the Galleries’ digital team.

This new series builds upon the popularity of What is…?, our series of videos exploring of the origins of and ideas behind key art terms, such as Surrealism, Expressionism and Pop Art. Both Questions about Art and What is…? are part of the National Galleries of Scotland’s overarching vision Art for Scotland: Inspiration for the World, which aims to make both art and Scotland’s national collection accessible to everyone. This digital aspect of this vision has been built around the complete overhaul of the National Galleries website, making it easier than ever to view, read and enjoy artworks and art.

Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “Questions about Art is important to us not just in how these videos help make art more accessible to everyone, but in how the questions were initially collected. We wish to listen as much as we wish to inform, so we are delighted to share these fantastic insights into the public’s most sought-after queries. We hope the public absorb and engage with these videos and above all, continue to ask us questions about art and Scotland’s magnificent national art collection”.

— ENDS —

View some of the videos from Questions about Art video series on the Galleries’ YouTube channel here.

28 May 2020
Titian Announcement

We regret to announce that the National Galleries of Scotland exhibition Titian: Love, Desire, Death will no longer take place in Edinburgh. This exhibition was due to open in the Royal Scottish Academy building in July this year as part of an international tour in partnership with the National Gallery, London, The Prado in Madrid and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.

The exhibition opened in London on 16 March but closed after only 3 days due to the current lockdown and closure of the National Gallery. We have worked with our partners to consider options for re-scheduling the exhibition in Edinburgh at a later date but we have decided that this is not a viable possibility and have withdrawn from the tour. However, the exhibition will reopen in London later in the year.

Sir John Leighton commented; ‘We worked very hard with our partners to realise this important and ambitious project so it is sad for us that this cannot now be enjoyed by our public in Edinburgh. This show was originally planned as one of the highlights of our summer programme at the busiest time of the year during the Edinburgh Festival but without that context, against a backdrop of uncertainty around scheduling and visitor numbers, this project was no longer a viable proposition for us. We are however pleased to support our partners with our loans to the remainder of this tour.’

We understand that many will be disappointed and we do apologise for this unfortunate cancellation.

We will be in touch with those who had pre-booked tickets.

We are still hoping to open Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema at The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art later this year, and an opening date will be decided in line with the re-opening plan for the galleries

-ENDS-

26 May 2020
National Galleries of Scotland appoints new Director of Collection and Research

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Line Clausen Pedersen as our new Director of Collection and Research.

Dr Clausen Pedersen is an independent scholar and curator. From 2003 to 2019, she was employed in various curatorial roles at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (NCG) in Copenhagen, most recently as Head of the Modern Collection (from 2010). The NCG is one of Denmark’s leading museums and displays a world-renowned collection of 19th-century painting and sculpture as well as Greek, Roman, and Egyptian art. In her new role at NGS, Dr Clausen Pedersen will be responsible for leading on all aspects of the development, interpretation, research and display of Scotland's national art collection. She takes over the role from Professor Christopher Breward who was recently appointed Director of the National Museum of Scotland.

Educated in Copenhagen, London, and Florence, Dr Clausen Pedersen has been responsible for numerous international exhibitions and publications including, for example, exhibitions on Bonnard, Gauguin, Degas and Man Ray. As part of the Directorate at NCG she was responsible for leading curatorial strategic development and created innovative approaches to permanent collections, including extensive new installations and co-operation across departments. In addition, she was also responsible for several significant acquisitions, fundraising, and new international institutional collaborations. Pedersen is currently working on a Getty Research project involving technical art history and cross-disciplinary research, on Degas and reproduction. She is also a curatorial consultant for a Croatian/Italian exhibition project on treasures from a Venetian 16th-century shipwreck.

Sir John Leighton, Director-General, commented: ‘We began the search for our next Director of Collection and Research last October and we are thrilled to have a new director with an international vision and reputation. Throughout her career, Line Clausen Pedersen has shown strong leadership in developing the museum craft to the highest international levels, connecting research, exhibitions, and permanent collections. We are delighted to welcome her to our Leadership Team.’

Pedersen commented: ‘The NGS is a magnificent institution that I am honoured and delighted to join. Art is a medium for our shared human condition: in times of crises such as today, being relevant is even more important. I look very much forward to working with the whole organisation to develop our shared museum craft. Building on the NGS’s strong academic, professional, and institutional credentials, I aim to enhance our visibility, locally and internationally, among the public as well as among our global peers.’

Dr Line Clausen Pedersen will take up the role of Director of Collection and Research at NGS from the 15th June.

Monday 30 March 2020
Members appointed to the National Galleries of Scotland board

The Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Fair Work and Culture, Ms Hyslop, today announced the appointments of Rucelle Soutar, Andrew Wilson, Lynn Richmond and Chris Sibbald as Members of the National Galleries of Scotland Board.

NEWLY APPOINTED MEMBERS

Rucelle Soutar is the Chief Operating Officer at The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. She is a Chartered Accountant and was appointed Head of Finance at the Tattoo in 2014 before being appointed as COO in 2018. She has also held other senior financial roles in the voluntary and private sector, including Edinburgh Zoo, Valvona & Crolla and ProjectScotland. She has a breadth of commercial, audit and risk management experience, as well a keen interest in arts and culture.

Andrew Wilson is the founding Partner of strategic corporate advice company, Charlotte Street Partners. He is an economist, business analyst and public policy specialist. He is a Trustee of a number of charities, including the Edinburgh International Culture Summit, Sistema and the John Smith Centre for Public Service.

Lynn Richmond is a Partner at BTO Solicitors LLP and specialises in intellectual property and technology, data protection, freedom of information and commercial dispute resolution, advising on both contentious and non-contentious matters. Lynn was appointed Director of the Scottish Society for Computers and Law in 2007. She has a keen interest in the arts, advising and supporting not for profit arts organisations.

Chris Sibbald is a Managing Director at Finsbury, a global leader in Strategic Communications. Previously, Chris was Head of Communications at Tesco Bank and a member of the Tesco Group communications leadership team. Chris is a passionate advocate and supporter of organisations in the third sector, primarily The Prince’s Trust and The John Smith Trust Fellowship.

APPOINTMENTS

The appointments will be for four years. Rucelle Soutar and Andrew Wilson’s appointments will run from 16 March 2020 to 15 March 2024. Lynn Richmond and Chris Sibbald’s appointments will run from 1 November 2020 to 31 October 2024.

The appointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

REMUNERATION

The appointments are part-time with a time commitment of six days per annum and are not remunerated.

OTHER MINISTERIAL APPOINTMENTS

Rucelle Soutar, Andrew Wilson, Lynn Richmond and Chris Sibbald do not hold any other public appointments.

POLITICAL ACTIVITY

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.

Andrew Wilson campaigns locally during elections for the SNP and is Chair of the SNP’s Sustainable Growth Commission.

Rucelle Soutar, Lynn Richmond and Chris Sibbald have had no political activity in the last five years.

BACKGROUND

NGS is a vibrant organisation, employing around 300 staff at its three Edinburgh sites. Its mission is to care for, develop, research and display the national collection of Scottish and international art. This includes a lively and innovative programme of activities, exhibitions, education and publications, which aims to engage, inform and inspire the broadest possible public.

Today, its mission is based on the drive to make the greatest art available, free of charge, to a wide national and international public. NGS is one of Scotland’s most popular cultural destinations, and in 2018-19, NGS welcomed over 2.7 million visitors across its gallery sites, a record figure, up on previous years. It ranks within the top thirty most visited museums anywhere in the world.

Core funded by the Scottish Government, like all public bodies, it operates within a challenging financial climate and must make the most of opportunities to continue to collaborate with other key national and international institutions from a range of sectors and to generate income from a range of sources. It operates within the context of the Scottish Government’s national outcomes and strategic objectives, including public service reform.

The organisation is governed by a Board of Trustees which is accountable to the public through Ministers and the Scottish Parliament for the discharging of the functions defined in the National Heritage (Scotland) Act 1906 (as amended in 1985) -.http://origin-www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/16/contents

17 March 2020
Galleries closed until further notice

Statement from Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland

'In order to help protect the health of our staff and visitors during this difficult time, we are closing all of our Galleries from 5pm this evening, 17 March 2020. This includes the Scottish National Gallery, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One and Modern Two). We are aware that some people have bought tickets for upcoming events and exhibitions and we will be in touch as quickly as we can with further information.

'We appreciate your support during this time and hope to see you in the not too distant future. We will post any further updates on our social media channels and website (www.nationalgalleries.org).'

Thursday 13 February 2020
MacKinnon Collection show extended due to popular demand and Scottish tour announced

Scotland’s Photograph Album: The MacKinnon Collection, the exhibition showcasing highlights of an exceptional collection of historic photographs which capture over a century of Scottish life, will see its opening time extended for another two months, due to its remarkable reception with the public.

The display, which features more than 250 photographs from the treasure trove of over 14,000 images that the BBC recently described as, “one of the most significant photography collections in decades”, has proved so immensely popular with visitors, it will now run at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery until Monday 13 April, extending well beyond its original end date of 16 February. Admission for visitors remains free throughout.

The National Library of Scotland’s concurrent MacKinnon display, At the Water’s Edge, will close as scheduled on 15 February 2020.

Further to this, the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the National Library of Scotland are delighted to announce today that visitors from all across Scotland will get the chance to enjoy the MacKinnon Collection, with a national tour set to take place in three Scottish locations across the country from later this year.

Exhibitions showcasing these remarkable photographic documents of Scotland’s social and cultural history will commence in Kirkcudbright at Kirkcudbright Galleries before heading to Museum nan Eilean in Lews Castle in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, before culminating in Duff Hose in Banff in 2021. The nationwide tour starts in September 2020 and further information will be released in due course.

The MacKinnon Collection was jointly acquired by the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the National Library of Scotland in 2018, with assistance from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Government and Art Fund. The collection was slowly acquired by photography enthusiast Murray MacKinnon and began when he ran a successful chain of film-processing stores in the 1980s, starting from his pharmacy in Dyce, near Aberdeen. The images celebrate Scottish life and identity from the 1840s through to the 1940s and feature some of the earliest and most significant photographs not only in Scottish photography history, but in the history of photography itself.

Many of the first practitioners and visionaries who pushed the medium forward were based in Scotland or were inspired by Scottish subjects, and their works are on display in the exhibition. These include photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Thomas Annan, Roger Fenton, George Washington Wilson, and others who created stunning images of Scotland’s people and places and established precedents for photographers worldwide.

In a recent review, The Scotsman’s art critic Duncan MacMillan hailed the MacKinnon Collection as, “an extraordinary record of Scotland’s past, from the beginnings of photography until around 1940s” and awarded five stars to both the National Galleries and National Library’s displays.

The MacKinnon Collection has begun to be digitised by both the Galleries and Library and digitisation of the entire trove of photographs will be completed in 2021.

Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “The MacKinnon Collection demonstrates the important role Scotland had in shaping the history of photography, and we are delighted it has proved so popular with the public. Our aim is to make these images accessible to all, so we’re equally thrilled to announce together with the National Library that the collection will be going on tour around Scotland. The MacKinnon collection is a huge resource and we will continue to digitise and share the many images from this wonderful photographic archive of Scottish life.”

Dr John Scally, National Librarian of Scotland, said: “We’ve been delighted to see the public’s interest in the MacKinnon Collection since it went on display last November at the National Library and the National Galleries of Scotland. The extended run will give even more people the opportunity to visit this absorbing show”.

Caroline Clark, Scotland Director of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, added: “These fascinating historical images, taken in the pioneering days of photography, allow us a first glimpse of our ancestors going about their daily lives. The fact that the exhibition is extending is a real testimony to the thirst people have for exploring and celebrating their heritage and I’m delighted that, with the help of funding from The National Lottery, even more people around the country will be able to explore these treasures.”

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors:

SCOTLAND’S PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM:
THE MACKINNON COLLECTION
Until 13 April 2020
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission free

Acquired jointly with the National Library of Scotland with assistance from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Government and Art Fund.

The National Library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland is a major European research library and one of the world’s leading centres for the study of Scotland and the Scots – an information treasure trove for Scotland’s knowledge, history and culture.

The Library’s collections are of world-class importance. Key areas include rare books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, music, moving images, official publications, business information, science and technology, and modern and foreign collections.

The Library holds more than 30 million physical items dating back over 1000 years in addition to a growing library of e-books, e-journals and other digital material. Every week the Library collects around 5,000 new items. Most of these are received free of charge in terms of Legal Deposit legislation.

www.nls.uk / @natlibscot / facebook

National Lottery Heritage Fund

Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk.

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund

Art Fund

Art Fund is independently funded, with the core of its income provided by 151,000 members who receive the National Art Pass and enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions and subscription to Art Quarterly magazine. In addition to grant-giving, Art Fund’s support for museums includes Art Fund Museum of the Year (won by St Fagans National History Museum near Cardiff in 2019) and a range of digital platforms.

Find out more about Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org

7 February 2020

Construction is continuing on the Scottish National Gallery Project to create new, world-class galleries to house the national collection of historic Scottish art.

The first phase of the Scottish National Gallery Project was completed successfully in 2019. This included a new entrance area level with East Princes Street Gardens, a beautifully refurbished café, restaurant and shop, and new landscaping and paths in East Princes Street Gardens to improve access to the gardens and the Galleries.

Work is now on-going on the next phase, to convert areas originally built in the 1970s into the new suite of galleries, alongside newly created spaces.

Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, John Leighton, said:

“In the course of this work it has become apparent that there are some unexpected defects within the 1970s building which sits beneath the original nineteenth-century National Gallery. These include issues with damp penetration and inadequate drainage in and around the site. We are now addressing these issues to ensure that the building is fully protected and safeguarded for the future, so that it can better withstand any future extremes of weather.

In order to accommodate this extra work we have therefore revised our timescales for the project. We are now aiming to complete works on the new Gardens Level Galleries by the end of 2021, when we will be showcasing a brand new-space for our fantastic collection of Scottish art.

In the meantime, the Scottish National Gallery remains fully open to the public who can also enjoy the new restaurant, café and much larger shop. Disruption to visitors and the public during this construction phase will be kept to a minimum.

We look forward to unveiling our exciting new galleries which will be home to the world’s greatest collection of Scottish art, including some works that will be displayed for the very first time.”

Notes to Editors

The scope of the new displays will encompass the work of early 20^th-century artists such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Stanley Cursiter, Phyllis Mary Bone and the Scottish Colourists S J Peploe and F C B Cadell.

Specific activities on completion of the project include a dedicated family day one day a week, more volunteers in the galleries to connect visitors with our new offer and new audience-focused interpretation.

A fly-through animation of the Scottish National Gallery Project is available to view here

Read more on the Scottish National Gallery Project changes on our website here.

30 January 2020

An extraordinary painting of one of Scotland’s best-loved sporting icons, Doddie Weir, OBE, has gone on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) to mark the beginning of the Six Nations rugby championship this weekend. The portrait will be shown in the Great Hall for the duration of the rugby championship, after which it will feature in The Modern Portrait, an exhibition which includes portraits of notable Scottish figures such as Alan Cumming, Susie Wolff, Ewen Bremner and Tilda Swinton.

Standing at 6' 6", Weir is one of rugby’s most recognisable personalities, known for playing the position of lock for Stewart’s Melville RFC, Melrose RFC, Newcastle Falcons and the Border Reivers. He earned 61 caps for Scotland between 1990 and 2000, played in three World Cups and was selected for the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 1997. He also played six times for the Barbarians and was famously described by the legendary commentator Bill McLaren whilst on a forward run for Scotland, as being ‘on the charge like a mad giraffe’.

Renowned for his extraordinary good humour and tartan suits he also became an acclaimed public speaker. Following his retirement from rugby, Weir remained a familiar face on TV as a commentator for his beloved sport.

In 2016 Weir was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (MND). A year later he set up the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which raises funds to aid research into the causes of MND, investigate potential cures and make grants to individuals suffering from MND to enable them to live as fulfilled a life as possible. In its first two years, the Foundation has invested almost £4million into MND research projects and helped hundreds of families living with the disease. In 2018 The Doddie Weir Cup was established to bring awareness to the disease and is played for annually between Scotland and Wales rugby teams.

Born in Glasgow in 1961, the painter, Gerard M. Burns graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1983 with a degree in Fine Art. Drawing and painting have been his passion since childhood. He shared this enthusiasm throughout his teaching career, later leaving a successful post as principal of art at St Aloysius College, Glasgow to pursue his painting full time. Since 1999 this commitment has resulted in his current standing as one of Scotland’s most respected artists.

In 2016, Burns’ portrait of author Denise Mina entered the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) collection and is on display at SNPG as part of The Modern Portrait exhibition.

The portrait of Weir was auctioned in 2019 and raised over £80,000 for the Foundation and the buyers gifted it to them with a note saying: ‘To Doddie with love from your rugby friends in Hong Kong, to always remember the Daft Yin’s passion and inspiration in seeking a cure for MND’. The artwork will be accompanied by a plaque naming all those who made contributions during the auction of the painting.

On loan to the NGS from the Weir Family, the portrait by Gerard M Burns shows Weir in the Scottish Borders, where he grew up as part of a farming family, with the Eildon Hills behind him. In this portrait he wears one of his famous suits in the Doddie’5 tartan.

Doddie Weir, OBE, said: "It is a great honour to have Gerard's painting on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, among so many notable and notorious Scots. I have had a great deal of fun in Hong Kong over the years and the support of the Scottish and rugby communities there has been incredible since I shared my diagnosis. I would like to thank everyone involved for their contribution and especially Gerard for doing such a fine job with the limited source material! And a big thank you to the National Galleries of Scotland for including the painting in their fine collection.”

John Leighton, Director-General at the NGS, said: “Doddie is an extraordinary person and an iconic figure in sporting history. The work that the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation is achieving is monumental and I am thrilled to have his portrait hanging in our Great Hall for the duration of the Six Nations rugby championship.”

Painter, Gerard M. Burns spoke about the portrait, saying: “I felt strongly from the very beginning that this painting should show some of Doddie’s inner strength, that to make something too trivial would have been completely wrong given the circumstances of his life at this point.”

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

The portrait of Doddie Weir, OBE by Gerard M. Burns is on display in the Great Hall at the SNPG now. Following the Six Nations rugby championship (Saturday 1^st February – Saturday 14^th March) the portrait will feature in The Modern Portrait exhibition at the SNPG.

Weir's autobiography My Name'5 Doddie was published in 2018 and has been nominated for the Heineken rugby book of the year 2019: 'a brilliant, emotional and compelling read from one of Scotland’s best‑loved sporting icons’.

The BBC documentary Doddie Weir: One More Try was released in December 2019. It follows fellow Scottish rugby legend John Beattie who has followed Doddie and his family over the past two years, gaining a unique insight into the life and mission of the man behind the famous tartan suit. Watch it here: bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000c2c6/doddie-weir-one-more-try

My Name’5 Doddie Foundation website can be found here: myname5doddie.co.uk/

Gerard M. Burns’s website can be found here: gerardmburns.com/

6 January 2020

DRINKING THE RAIN
Friday 10 January – Sunday 2 February 2020
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One)
75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission FREE
#ScotModern

After nearly six years, Pig Rock Bothy (the wooden structure alongside the path up to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art One (SNGMA)) is moving on from the grounds in March 2020. It will eventually be relocated to Assynt in the North West Highlands of Scotland, the landscape that inspired its design and purpose.

The new and final exhibition will display material from recent Bothy Project residencies at Sweeney’s Bothy on the Island of Eigg and Inshriach Bothy in the Cairngorms National Park. Including work by: Siân Robinson Davies; This Way - Emily Macaulay and Felicity Rowley; Ashanti Harris; Lydia Honeybone; James N. Hutchinson and Sarah Rose.

Bothy Project was commissioned to create Pig Rock Bothy as part of GENERATION in 2014 – an exhibition celebrating 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland. It was made as a collaboration between artists, Bobby Niven and Laura Aldridge, and architect Iain MacLeod, in response to the landscape and community in Assynt. The structure was conceived as part of a network of residency bothies by Bothy Project, on the Island of Eigg and in the Cairngorms National Park. Pig Rock Bothy, at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art One, acted as a temporary venue for talks, performances and events.

Since 2014 it has hosted an experimental and collaborative programme, including exhibitions with Torsten Lauschmann, Stacey Tyrell with Mother Tongue and David Faithfull; performances by Calvin Laing & Stephanie Mann and Rhubaba Choir; projects with Atlas Arts, Action for Children and Artlink; and residencies with creative arts courses including Edinburgh College, Edinburgh College of Art and The Glasgow School of Art. This year, Pig Rock Bothy hosted HappyHere, a participatory, immersive light installation, which used colour and light to visualise thoughts and feelings.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at NGS, said: ‘We’ve loved being home to the Pig Rock Bothy – hand-built to a design by architect Iain MacLeod & artists Bobby Niven and Laura Aldridge - whose leaning end gable has become an iconic sight in its own right. It has given us the opportunity to showcase the creativity of organisations and individuals from across the whole of Scotland in a variety of different art forms. The initial plan was for it to stay with us for just a year and, given our commitment to continually evolve our art programme, it is timely for it to move onto the next stage in it journey.’

David Cook, Chair, Bothy Project board said: ‘Artists Bobby Niven and Laura Aldridge, and architect Iain MacLeod were delighted to work with the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art One to realise Pig Rock Bothy, bringing a sense of Assynt to Scotland’s central belt, and adding this ambitious structure, to the Bothy Project’s network of bothies on the Isle of Eigg and Cairngorms National Park. After nearly six years of activity Pig Rock Bothy at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art One it will begin its journey to Assynt, the area that inspired it and where we are working with The Assynt Foundation.’

Thanks to Hope Scott Trust and William Grant Foundation for supporting residencies and MAP Magazine for publishing new writing.

Notes to Editors

Saturday 18 January 2020 (2-5pm) – Take Yourself Out Of Your Usual Structure with Anna McLauchlan plus artists James N. Hutchinson and Sarah Rose, who will be exploring the themes of their Inshriach Bothy inspired writing. Find the event via this link.

Friday 31 January 2020 (5.30-7.30pm) – To See and Know More where writer Maria Fusco will present work in relation to her residency at Sweeney’s Bothy on Eigg. Find the event via this link.

More information on The Bothy Project can be found via this link.

The exhibition page can be found via this link.

11 December 2019

Experience the dazzling and fascinating life of King James VI & I

Bright Star: The Art and Life of King James VI & I
20 June 2020 – 21 November 2020
Scottish National Portrait Gallery 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org Tickets: £14-£12
Supported by the Friends of the National Galleries of Scotland and Players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

A major exhibition exploring the extraordinary life of King James VI & I (1566-1625) will be one of the headline shows in the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) summer 2020 programme.
This is the first exhibition in over 40 years devoted to the man who united the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603 and was the son of Mary Queen of Scots.

Bright Star: The Art and Life of King James VI & I will uncover a wealth of artistic and cultural riches of the Jacobean period. It will feature an extraordinary variety of artworks and objects such as paintings, dress and textiles, miniatures, drawings, books, manuscripts and jewellery. These include highlights from the famous Cheapside Hoard, an accumulation of jewellery from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, discovered in London in 1912, which have not been on display in Scotland for over 40 years. The exhibition will bring together outstanding works by artists such as Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619) and Inigo Jones (1573-1652), and will include significant loans from public and private collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate, Blair Castle, the National Portrait Gallery, London and National Museums Scotland and works lent by Her Majesty The Queen from the Royal Collection.

James was the only son of Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587), one of the most notorious and romantic figures in Scottish history. He was crowned when only a year old, during a period of great unrest and uncertainty which followed the death of his parents. The exhibition will begin by focussing on James’ turbulent childhood and youth, and will move through the defining moments of his life, including his coming of age; his marriage to Anna of Denmark (1574-1619), the birth (and deaths) of his children, the Union of the Crowns, when he proclaimed himself ‘King of Great Britain’; and the move of his family and court to London. The key moments presented within the exhibition provide a rich historical context for contemporary debate.

A prolific scholar and author, James was highly cultured and known for writing about many subjects, including government, witchcraft and tobacco. His court, both in Scotland and London, became a great centre for creative and artistic innovation and renowned as a centre for literature and entertainment.

Speaking about the exhibition, Christopher Baker, Director of European and Scottish Art and Portraiture at the NGS, said: “Visitors to this important exhibition will be immersed in the visually dazzling culture of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries – a time when many questions we are now concerned with, such as what sort of government is legitimate, were being first asked. James’ court was sophisticated and European in outlook and ‘Bright Star: The Art and Life of King James’ will reveal its full splendour. ”

Kate Anderson, Senior Curator, European & Scottish Art and Portraiture said: “The objects in this exhibition not only shed light on the fascinating life of James VI & I, his family and members of his court, but are unique and exquisite works of art made by highly skilled artists and craftspeople. Highlights include a miniature portrait of Queen Anna of Denmark set in a diamond and enamel case made by the Edinburgh goldsmith George Heriot, and the brilliantly coloured drawings of costume for court masques designed by Inigo Jones.
When James arrived in London in May 1603 he was met by the lawyer and orator Richard Martin who proclaimed that James was the ‘Bright Star of the North’, alluding to both the King’s homeland of Scotland and the optimism associated with his future reign.”

-ENDS-
Notes to Editors:

The exhibition will be accompanied by a sumptuous and authoritative catalogue, Art & Court of James VI & I: Bright Star of the North, published by the NGS and available for £30.00. It includes contributions from a number of key scholars and features over 120 colour illustrations.

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11 December 2019

National Galleries of Scotland announces a season of wonder with its 2020 summer programme

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) announced today a season of wonder with an extraordinary programme of ticketed and free exhibitions for its 2020 summer programme across all three gallery sites in Edinburgh.

Highlights of the season include the first exhibition in over 40 years devoted to exploring the fascinating life of King James VI & I; the once-in-a-lifetime reunion of five of Titian’s greatest works, together for the first time since 1704; and a ground-breaking display celebrating the career of special effects superstar Ray Harryhausen in the largest and widest-ranging exhibition of his work ever seen.

RAY HARRYHAUSEN: TITAN OF CINEMA
23 May 2020 – 25 Oct 2020
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two)
73 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DS
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Tickets: £14-12 (Concessions available)
Free for our Friends
#Harryhausen100

Next summer, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA) will host the largest and widest-ranging exhibition ever seen of the work of cinema titan Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013).

In collaboration with The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation, the NGS will unveil iconic original models and the matchless archive of the pioneering legend, who elevated stop-motion animation to an art form during the 1950s to 1980s. Harryhausen’s movies, such as Clash of the Titans and Mighty Joe Young, inspired a whole generation of the world’s greatest moviemakers, including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, and his impact on modern cinema is without parallel. Spielberg, Lucas and Jackson credit Harryhausen’s art as the direct inspiration for their careers, and for the creation of Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings respectively.

Newly-restored models from movies such as Jason and the Argonauts and his Sinbad series, as well as previously unseen material from Harryhausen’s all-encompassing collection, will go on display in an immersive exhibition quite unlike anything the Gallery has ever hosted before, from 23 May 2020.

ARRIVALS | NEW ACQUISITIONS FROM PABLO PICASSO TO JENNY SAVILLE
Summer 2020
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One)
75 Belford Road, Edinburgh EH4 3DR
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission Free
#OurNewArrivals

Next year will bring a fascinating showcase of our most recent acquisitions to the SNGMA. This exhibition will offer a stunning range of modern and contemporary work including painting, sculptures, films and more by artists such as Damien Hirst, Jenny Saville and Pablo Picasso. Take a look at the latest additions to the national collection in a unique and stunning display.

BRIGHT STAR: THE ART AND LIFE OF KING JAMES VI AND I
20 June 2020 – 21 November 2020
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Tickets: £14-£12 (Concessions available)
#JamesBrightStar

A major exhibition exploring the extraordinary life of King James VI & I (1566-1625) will be the first exhibition in over 40 years devoted to the man who united the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603 and who was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Bright Star: The Art and Life of King James VI & I will uncover a wealth of artistic and cultural riches of the Jacobean period. It will feature an extraordinary variety of artworks and objects such as paintings, dress and textiles, miniatures, drawings, books, manuscripts and jewellery. These include highlights from the famous Cheapside Hoard, an accumulation of jewellery from the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries, discovered in London in 1912, which have not been on display in Scotland for over 40 years.

The exhibition will bring together outstanding works by artists such as Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619) and Inigo Jones (1573-1652), and will include significant loans from public and private collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate, Blair Castle, the National Portrait Gallery, London and National Museums Scotland and works lent by Her Majesty The Queen from the Royal Collection.

TITIAN: LOVE, DESIRE, DEATH
11 July 2020 – 27 September 2020
Royal Scottish Academy
The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Tickets: £15-£10 (Concessions available)
#LoveTitian

Five of the greatest paintings in the world, from Titian’s epic series of large-scale mythological paintings known as the ‘poesie’, will be brought together for the first time in over 300 years in an exhibition jointly organized by the National Gallery in London, the NGS, the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Titian’s poesie is one of most significant groups of paintings of the high Renaissance. Painted between 1551-62 at the request of Philip II of Spain, these rich, exquisite paintings are among the most original visual interpretations of Classical myths and are key works in the history of European painting.

Titian: Love, Desire, Death will reunite Danaë (1551–3, The Wellington Collection, Apsley House); Venus and Adonis (1554, Prado, Madrid); Diana and Actaeon (1556-9) and Diana and Callisto (1556-9), jointly owned by the National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland; and the newly conserved Rape of Europa (1562) from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.

The history and significance of Titian’s ‘poetry in painting’ will be conveyed through exciting interpretations and unique exploratory insights on the Venetian master’s technique, and will be accompanied by both portraits and translations of Ovid’s Metamorphosis, the book which Titian based most of the works upon.

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition will first be shown in London, then travelling to the Royal Scottish Academy for the summer, before leaving for Spain in late 2020. The worldwide tour will culminate in Boston in February 2021.

TEMPLES TO TENEMENTS: PHOTOGRAPHS OF ARCHITECTURE
25 July 2020 – 10 January 2021
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission Free
#TemplesToTenements

Following the successful launch of Scotland’s Photograph Album: The MacKinnon Collection this winter, NGS will continue to explore the rich history of photography in a new exhibition dedicated to architecture. Temples to Tenements: Photographs of Architecture, which opens in July 2020 at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, will be the fourth instalment of a popular series of free exhibitions which use a central theme in the history of photography to explore the richness of the NGS collection.

Architecture is a record of human life past, present and predicted future. From early photographic experiments to the manipulation of digital images, the built environment is one of the most enduring themes in the story of photography. Temples to Tenements explores the world around us through the work of photographers as diverse as David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson, Thomas Annan, Andreas Gursky and Chris Leslie.

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors:

People’s Postcode Lottery

People’s Postcode Lottery manages multiple society lotteries promoted by different charities and good causes. People play with their chosen postcodes for a chance to win cash prizes. A minimum of 32% from each subscription goes directly to charities and good causes across Great Britain and internationally -- players have raised £500 million so far. For details of the charities and good causes which are promoting and benefitting from the lottery draws, please visit https://www.postcodelottery.co.uk/good-causes/draw-calendar
It costs £10 a month to play and winning postcodes are announced every day. The maximum amount a single ticket can win is 10% of the draw proceed. For details, please visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/prizes
New players can sign up to pay using direct debit by calling 0808 10 9 8 7 6 5. New players who sign up online at www.postcodelottery.co.uk can pay using direct debit, debit card or PayPal.
Postcode Lottery Limited is regulated by the Gambling Commission under licence numbers: 000-000829-N-102511 and 000-000829-R-102513. Registered office: Titchfield House, 69/85 Tabernacle Street, London, EC2A 4BD
Follow us @PostcodePress

Press releases 2019

15 November 2019

Monumental Vulcan Gets a Makeover

Vulcan, the 7.4m high sculpture by Eduardo Paolozzi, at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two) in Edinburgh is undergoing a thorough clean and dusting off. The work is being done whilst the Gallery is temporarily closed to allow the café to be refurbished and a new exhibition installed.

Modern Two reopens on 23 November with the start of Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance, the first major retrospective of the artist’s work to be shown in Scotland and Vulcan will be back on display when the café reopens in December.

Specially commissioned for the Gallery’s Great Hall, Vulcan is a 7.4m high sculpture, spanning two floors of the Gallery, looming above the diners in the café with its head skimming the ceiling of the second floor. A team of skilled conservationists from National Galleries of Scotland is undertaking this epic cleaning task over the course of three days where they will carefully wrap and unwrap different areas in protective layers and use a variety of tools and solutions to restore the Vulcan to its original glory.

Inspired by the Roman god of fire Vulcan and Hephaestus, his Greek counterpart, Paolozzi’s monumental sculpture is constructed of welded steel. Vulcan was lame, which is the reason he is aided by a support here. In Paolozzi's work, Vulcan is shown swinging his hammer and marching across the Great Hall. He is half-man and half-machine - a monument to the modern age.

Born into an Italian-Scots family Sir Eduardo Paolozzi grew up in Leith, Edinburgh, later moving to London. He is considered one of the most versatile sculptors in post-war Britain. Throughout his career, Paolozzi combined his work as an artist with teaching in art colleges in Britain and, for periods, in Germany. He had an enthusiastic and encyclopaedic variety of interests in the world and this was reflected by his frequent changes of media and styles in which he worked.

Studying in Edinburgh and London he also spent two years in Paris from 1947, where he produced enigmatic, bronze sculptures reminiscent of those by Giacometti. During the same period he made a series of Dada and Surrealist-inspired collages in which magazine advertisements, cartoons and machine parts are combined, thus becoming a pioneer of Pop Art. He also continued to develop his printmaking and sculpture. Paolozzi was particularly interested in the mass media and in science and technology.

Originally built as the Dean Orphan Hospital in 1833 by Thomas Hamilton, Modern Two was converted into a gallery by Terry Farrell and Partners in 1999 in order to show the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s extensive collection of Dada and Surrealist art and also to house a generous gift by Paolozzi, in 1994, of a large collection of his work. Modern Two also has a recreation of Paolozzi’s London studio, giving an unprecedented insight into the man and the source of his ideas. The studio is divided into areas for different types of activity: desks for reading and working with paper, shelves of reference books, a large central table for modelling, and working with plaster casts, and a bunk for resting. Paolozzi was interested in a number of themes and by seeing his studio, visitors are able to get an idea of the ways he worked and the inspiration he drew from the world around him.

—ENDS—
Notes to Editors

Working alongside catering partner, Heritage Portfolio an extensive refurbishment programme will be carried out of the Modern Two café over the next few weeks.

When the Modern Two café reopens its doors in December, it will be known as Paolozzi’s Kitchen.

Modern Two reopens on 23 November with the start of Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance, the first major retrospective of the artist’s work to be shown in Scotland. The exhibition confronts topical issues such as gender discrimination, poverty, abortion, female genital mutilation, political tyranny and the death of civilians in war. Further works in the exhibition begin with memories of the artist’s childhood in Portugal and other lived experiences, often responding to stories from literature, cinema, folklore, mythology and art history.

24 October 2019

ART COMPETITION FOR SCHOOLS 2020

Entry: open now until Friday 24th April 2020
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
#ArtCompSchools #ScotModern

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) art competition for schools 2020 is now open for entries. It is a yearly event run by NGS for schools and nurseries across Scotland. The 2019 competition, the 16^th year it has been running, received over 8,600 entries from schools and nurseries across 31 local authorities and had 53 winners across six categories – Nursery, P1-3, P4-7, S1-3, SEN and Group entries.

The Art Competition for Schools, supported by player’s of People’s Postcode Lottery, aims to encourage nursery and school children to interact with and be inspired by art works in the national art collection. The competition and its themes contribute to the teaching of the curriculum for excellence and inter-disciplinary learning and designed with age groups in mind. As well as an inspiring theme to engage learners, each category has further resources based on the national art collection to support teachers and inspire students to talk about, look at and create their own artwork that they can enter into the competition.

53 winners will be chosen by a panel of judges who are looking for: originality and creativity; confident handling of materials; and boldness and impact. Every winning artwork will be exhibited at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA) and every winner is invited to a special prize ceremony and will receive a prize of art materials. As well as seeing their work in the SNGMA, a selection will have their works featured in a calendar that will be sent to every school in Scotland and is available for sale in the gallery shop.

When submitting their entries, teachers can also apply to win art supplies or an artist-led workshop for their class. A total of twelve £100 vouchers for materials and twelve workshops are up for grabs.

Kim Tremlett, art teacher at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, said “I've submitted work by children in my school over the past eight years and it's been a wonderful experience as a teacher to see how much the children enjoy taking part.

The themes have consistently been inspiring and I've had so much fun helping children rise to the challenge of making great visual responses to the brief. The National Galleries Competition for Schools is a key part of my annual art plans and I always look forward to what a new year taking part again will bring.”

Debbie Wood, Head of Art at St Mary’s Melrose, said “As a teacher I always enjoy this competition. The themes are always stimulating and allow for lots of creative thinking from the children.”

How to enter:

You can get involved in the Art Competition for Schools 2020 by following this link. All you need to do is find the right category for your class, read through the theme and requirements, and then set your creative students to work. Information on how to submit your entries and the terms and conditions are available via this link. The closing date is Friday 24^th April 2020. The schools who have winners will be contacted following the closing date.

See the 2019 Art Competition for Schools:

The response to the 2019 art competition was overwhelming. The submitted work covered a range of media, from pen and paper, paint, pastel, photography, mixed media and more. Such as Ben Brown’s winning entry (below) which involved mixing paint and newspapers for a fantastic fish n’ chips.

Ben’s mother, Karen Brown, said “We were so proud of Ben and his achievement. He worked really hard on his painting. Ben did so well on the day of the Award Ceremony to go up and receive his prize - it really shows how much he has progressed with the help of his school, Kilmaron, and the input of the staff there. It really is a testimony to how they recognise a young person's talent and allow it to develop. After Ben won, everyone was so pleased for him and he has received letters of congratulations from his local MP Stephen Gethins and from Fife Council. The art contest has been a wonderful and rare opportunity for Ben to take part in something alongside his peers and has been a hugely positive experience for him and us as a family.”

Sholto Key, St Mary's Melrose school, was awarded Special Merit in Category B for this fantastic artwork on ‘dragons’. It’s an inventive, expressive and brilliant interpretation of the theme.

“We loved seeing all the children’s artwork (wow, there is some amazing young talent out there) and especially enjoyed seeing Sholto’s painting on display. We had a memorable day and, at the tender age of 5, Sholto has no idea how special it will be in adulthood to say he has exhibited at the National Galleries of Scotland!” said Sholto’s mother, Viv Key.

Ellie Stewart, Belmont House School, received a Special Merit in Category C for her brilliant collaged piece interpreting the theme ‘Spark, Flicker, Flame’.

“My daughter, Ellie received a merit award for Primary 4-7 category. I think winning this award has been a great boost for Ellie’s confidence, and I am sure it will only encourage her to explore her imagination further for future art projects.

Other family members and friends, who may not necessarily go to an Art Gallery, are going to visit this summer also, which is good to hear it has encouraged others to visit this beautiful gallery,” said Ellie’s mother, Heather Stewart.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at NGS, said “The great artist Pablo Picasso always maintained that ‘Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once grown up.’ We are proud to show and celebrate the amazing creativity of children from across Scotland at Modern One, and we can’t wait to see what wonderful pieces are produced in 2020.”

Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said “We are proud that players of People’s Postcode Lottery are supporting the National Galleries of Scotland Art Competition for Schools. Children at schools across the length of Scotland will have the opportunity to unleash their creativity, taking inspiration from the national collection to make masterpieces of their own. We hope many children will be inspired to take part and look forward to seeing the entries!”

Siobhan McConnachie, Head of Learning and Engagement at NGS, said “When we look at the work that has been submitted we can see the enjoyment that the young people have had in creating their wonderful art - that is the great pleasure of being involved in the art competition. It’s wonderful that so many schools take part and I hope many more do this year.”

The winning entries for 2019 are currently on display at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall until 2 January 2020 and will go from there to Borders General Hospital between 8 January – 30 April 2020. This follows the exhibition at the SNGMA over the summer between 1 June – 22 September 2019.

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors

Further information about the National Galleries of Scotland Art Competition for schools can be found via this link.

18 October 2019

Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance

23 November 2019 – 19 April 2020
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two)
73 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DS
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Tickets: £11.50-£10.50 online (Concessions available)
25 & under: £7.50-£6.50 | Free for our Friends

The first major retrospective of Paula Rego’s (b.1935) work to be shown in Scotland is to be held at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art this winter. The exhibition, Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance, confronts topical issues such as gender discrimination, poverty, abortion, female genital mutilation (FGM), political tyranny and the death of civilians in war. Further works in the exhibition begin with memories of the artist’s childhood in Portugal and other lived experiences, often responding to stories from literature, cinema, folklore, mythology and art history.

Rego is one of the most important artists living in Britain today. She is celebrated for her outstanding and suggestive story-telling abilities. Obedience and Defiance spans over fifty years of her international career, from the 1960s to the 2010s. It features more than 80 works, lent from public and private collections, including gifts from the artist to her friends.

Rego is admired for her courageous exploration of moral challenges to humanity. Current affairs have led to some of her most powerful works, such as the 1998 referendum on legalising abortion in Portugal, the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the United States and its allies and, from 2008, FGM. This will be the first time paintings addressing political and social repression in Portugal in the 1960s, under the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar, will be shown in Scotland.

Highlights of the exhibition include:

Salazar Vomiting the Homeland (1960) which protests against the authoritarian regime of Salazar, prime minister of the country between 1932 and 1968
Dancing Ostriches (1995) inspired by Walt Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia and the comic sequence of animated ostriches, hippos, elephants and alligators ballet-dancing. Rego’s sweaty protagonist drawn from a surrogate self-portrait, her assistant Lila Nunes, appears 18 times.
Angel (1998), is Rego’s imagining of the revenge of the Father Amaro’s disgraced girlfriend, Amélia, in the controversial Portuguese novel of 1875, The Crime of Father Amaro by José Maria de Eça de Quierós and indeed, all women thus wronged.
Untitled No. 4 (1998) from Rego’s Abortion series, made in response to the failure of Portugal’s 1998 referendum to legalise the procedure; a second referendum in 2007 was successful.
War (2003), triggered by a newspaper photograph taken after a bomb explosion in Basra, Iraq, employing disfigured, hybrid animal-humans
Painting Him Out (2011) which reverses the traditional relationship between a male artist and his female muse

Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance has been curated by the distinguished art historian and former director of the Whitechapel Gallery, London, Catherine Lampert, who has been friends with Rego for thirty years. It comes to Scotland following a very successful run at MK Gallery in Milton Keynes and will tour from Edinburgh to IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) in Dublin.

Speaking about the exhibition, Curator, Lampert, said: “It is tempting to focus on the moral, political and narrative significance and the meaningful details of a single work or a series, however, seeing Paula Rego’s paintings on the wall, to me they appear so grand and museum-like, more like nuanced, mesmerising portraits of the people closest to her.”

Speaking about Rego, Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the NGS, said: “We are delighted to be showing this major body of work by one of the world’s most extraordinary artists. Over the course of her lifetime, Rego has shown herself to be an unflinching witness of her times, and one of the most imaginative and compelling image-makers of her generation. She is one of the few artists that consistently speaks of and for her times.”

Rego has generously made a limited edition print from her Abortion series available for sale during the exhibition, to support NGS. A major new publication will accompany the exhibition with texts by Catherine Lampert and the American writer and novelist Kate Zambreno, published by ART/BOOKS, see nationalgalleries.org for further details.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:
An exhibition organised by MK Gallery, Milton Keynes with the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh and IMMA, Dublin

The exhibition will tour to IMMA, Dublin (keep an eye on imma.ie/ for dates) where it will be the first ever survey of the artist’s work in Ireland.

Please note that this exhibition addresses challenging subjects, including abortion, female genital mutilation (known as FGM) and gender discrimination; it also includes images of a suggestive and / or graphic nature. Parental and carer discretion may be required.

In 2017 Rego’s son, Nick Willing, released an award-winning documentary about his mother called Secrets and Stories. It will be shown as part of the exhibition.

Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance related events can be found via nationalgalleries.org/whats-on?
Born in Lisbon in 1935, Rego trained at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. She is one of Europe’s most influential contemporary figurative artists. A contemporary of Frank Auerbach and David Hockney, Rego’s work is represented in many public collections including the Tate Gallery, British Museum, National Gallery, London, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon and the Serralves Museum, Porto. A museum dedicated to Rego, Casa das Histórias, opened in Cascais, Portugal in 2009. She is represented by Marlborough Fine Art.

18 October 2019

Scotland’s Photograph Album: The MacKinnon Collection

16 November 2019 – 16 February 2020
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission free

An exceptional collection of historic photographs that captures a century of life in Scotland will be showcased in a special exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) in collaboration with the National Library of Scotland this autumn, with a plan to tour the collection to three venues around Scotland in 2020/21.

Acquired jointly with assistance from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Government and Art Fund, Scotland’s Photograph Album: The MacKinnon Collection celebrates Scottish life and identify from the 1840s through to the 1940s. The collection, which was acquired by photography enthusiast Murray MacKinnon, began when he ran a successful chain of film-processing stores in the 1980s, starting from his pharmacy in Dyce, near Aberdeen.

Showcasing a century of dramatic transformation and innovation, the exhibition features more than 100 selected images from MacKinnon’s collection which brilliantly transports the audience back to a period of changing rural communities, growing cities and enduring historic sites.

The chronicle of Scotland’s culture during the mid-19th to early 20th centuries is inseparable from its leading role in the early history of photography itself. Many of the first practitioners and visionaries who pushed the medium forward were based in Scotland or were inspired by Scottish subjects. The exhibition includes photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Thomas Annan, Roger Fenton, George Washington Wilson, and others who created stunning images of Scotland’s people and places and established precedents for photographers worldwide.

National Galleries of Scotland, Director General Sir John Leighton, said: “Scotland’s Photograph Album: The MacKinnon Collection allows audiences the chance to be transported back to a century of change and growth. It is not only a fascinating look at historical Scottish life that sits just on the edge of living memory, but also an important showcase of the innovative progression of photography in Scotland.”

National Librarian, Dr John Scally, said: “Scotland has a special relationship with photography which dates back to the work of early pioneers such as David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson in the 1840s. The remarkable MacKinnon collection tracks that unique connection between Scotland and photography through its 14,000 pictures spanning 100 years. The exhibition presents a stunning selection of images which will spark memories and emotional connections in every visitor. It is truly Scotland’s photograph album.”

Caroline Clark, Scotland Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, added: “Taken in the pioneering days of photography, these historical images allow us a first glimpse of our ancestors going about their daily lives. This fascinating exhibition opens the week we celebrate 25 years of The National Lottery, one of the thousands of projects celebrating and exploring Scotland’s rich heritage made possible by National Lottery players.”

While photography is known for its reproducibility, many of the artworks contained within the collection are unique, including daguerreotype portraits and hand-made albums. Highlights of the exhibition include:

Original photographs from the pioneering days of photography featuring work from David Octavius Hill (1802-1870) and Robert Adamson (1821-1848), James Ross (d.1878) and John Thomson (d.1881), Cosmo Innes (1798-1874) and Horatio Ross (1801-1886)
Work from Thomas Annan (1829-1887) and his son, James Craig Annan (1864-1946) including examples of their photographs of Glasgow
Images from George Washington Wilson (1823-1893) and James Valentine (1815-1880), who travelled across Scotland photographing its people and places
An exquisite view of Loch Katrine by William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877), who travelled to Scotland in the autumn of 1844. Talbot was the inventor of the calotype, a negative-positive paper process that was patented around the world, except, importantly, in Scotland, allowing for free use and experimentation
Portraits of Scottish regiments from the Crimean War by Roger Fenton (b. 1819-1869)
A series of albums and prints depicting life in the main Scottish towns and cities from the late 1800s and early 1900s
Studies of farming and fishing communities in remote villages and hamlets
Scenes of shipbuilding, railways, herring fishing, weaving, whisky distilling, dockyards, slate quarries and other working environments

-ENDS-
Notes to Editors:
Acquired jointly with the National Library of Scotland with assistance from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Government and Art Fund.

The National Library of Scotland will also display a selection of images from The MacKinnon Collection at its George IV Bridge Building, curated to chime with Scotland’s themed Year of Coasts and Waters (2020). At the Water’s Edge opens to the public on Saturday 16 November and runs until Sunday 16 February 2020. Admission is free.

The National Library of Scotland

www.nls.uk / @natlibscot / facebook

National Lottery Heritage Fund

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund

Art Fund

Find out more about Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org

10 October 2019

Visitors shopping for Christmas gifts at the National Galleries of Scotland this year will experience a newly refurbished flagship store at the Scottish National Gallery on the Mound.

The new look shop opened at the beginning of October, along with a new Gardens entrance. This forms part of the major redevelopment of the SNG to create brand new, light-filled gallery spaces for the nation’s unrivalled collection of Scottish art, and to ensure the galleries and East Princes Street Gardens are accessible for all, with the introduction of new paths and landscaping.

The newly opened shop stocks Scottish gifts, art prints, stationery, fashion accessories, craft, design and exclusive products featuring images from the nation’s world-class art collection. There is an enhanced book area promoting our own NGS publications and a wider range of art books.

As a shopping destination this Christmas, shoppers can seek out art-inspired gifts which represent the rich culture and heritage of Scotland. Visitors shopping for Christmas gifts can browse and buy greeting cards, prints, scarves, mugs and other classic gallery mementos carrying well-loved images from Scottish artworks including the Skating Minister, Monarch of the Glen and Lady Agnew.

Whilst construction work continues within the Scottish National Gallery, gallery shoppers can enter via the newly landscaped entrance and accessible path at the East Princes Street Gardens level of the Gallery, in the heart of Edinburgh’s bustling city centre.

Patricia Allerston, Co-director of ‘Celebrating Scotland’s Art’: The Scottish National Gallery Project, said: “The fabulous new Gallery Shop, along with the beautifully refurbished Scottish Cafe & Restaurant are fantastic assets to the Scottish National Gallery, and easily accessible via the new Gallery entrance. A smart, new self-service café, Espresso is also available at the upstairs door of the Gallery accessible from the precinct.

“We are keen to ensure that Scotland’s art and East Princes Street Gardens are both readily available for all. As part of our major redevelopment, we have created a new, accessible path. This makes it much easier for everyone to explore the Gardens. It also enables visitors to enter the Scottish National Gallery via the Gardens level and enjoy our new shopping and catering offer.”

Notes to editors

Once construction of the new gallery spaces is completed in 2021, the Gardens entrance will become the main point of entry for the Scottish National Gallery, offering instant access to the world’s largest collection of Scottish art.

In August, a refreshed The Scottish Cafe & Restaurant opened its doors, revealing stylish new interiors and a delicious menu using the best Scottish produce.

All purchases from the gallery shops help the National Galleries of Scotland continue their work to care for, develop, research and display the national collection of Scottish and international a

3 October 2019

A DAZZLING END TO NOW: HUMANITY, TIME AND THE COSMOS

Don’t miss the sixth and final instalment of the ground-breaking NOW Series – featuring dazzling work about the relationship of humankind to the cosmos and time. It includes the first major showing in Scotland of Scottish artist, Katie Paterson, whose incredible works are made possible through extensive collaborations with scientists, specialists, writers and others in the forefront of their fields. She translates complex ideas into physical, often poetic, works of art.

This exhibition will premiere a completely new moving image work by Paterson, commissioned especially for NOW by the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) with support from the Future Library Trust. This new piece relates to the artist’s extraordinary and expansive 100-year-work, Future Library 2014-2114. For Future Library Paterson has planted a forest in Norway, which will supply paper for a special anthology of books to be printed in 2114. From 2014 until then, one writer a year will contribute a text, with the writings held in trust (unread and unpublished), until the hundred years has passed. The manuscripts will be stored in a specially designed room in the new Oslo Public Library. Writers to date include Margaret Atwood (2014), David Mitchell (2015), Sjón (2016), Elif Shafak (2017), and Han Kang (2018).

The exhibition will also include Paterson’s work Totality (2016): a large scale mirror ball created from almost all known images of solar eclipses ever captured; Light Bulb to Simulate Moonlight (2008): 289 bulbs providing a lifetime’s supply of moonlight based on the average lifespan of a human and Ara (2016): a string of festoon lights in which each bulb produces a luminosity relative to the brightness of each star in a constellation.

Born in Glasgow, and a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art and Slade School of Fine Art, London, Paterson is considered one of the leading artists of her generation with an extensive international reputation. Her works are the result of long periods of research and involve collaborating with specialists in scientific and other fields. Paterson was the first Artist in Residence at the Physics and Astronomy Department, University College London in 2014. The resulting spectacular artworks are a stunning conduit for intricate ideas across a range of disciplines.

NOW will trace Paterson’s exploration of deep time, the cosmos and the place of humans in relation to these phenomena – themes that have been central to the artist’s work for more than a decade. Delving into the theme of time further will be artists Darren Almond, Shona Macnaughton and Lucy Raven.

Darren Almond is a British Artist who in 2005 was shortlisted for the Turner Prize. He was born August 1971 in Appley Bridge, Lancashire and studied fine arts at Winchester School of Art. He works in a variety of media including photography, film, installation, sculpture and painting. NOW will focus on his evocative series Fullmoon, a collection of long exposure photographs made by the light of the full moon. Time is a central aspect of the creation and subject of these ethereal works.

Shona Macnaughton is an artist based in Glasgow who completed her MFA at Edinburgh College of Art in 2009. Her practice is rooted in performance, writing and film, as well as questions of technology, subjectivity and labour. Her work is responsive to the political conditions around specific architectures, which can be both physical and virtual spaces. Progressive 2017 brings together a script, photographic documentation and props from a performance made by the artist in the east end of Glasgow in 2017. Performed when she was nine-months pregnant, the work responded to the politics of change embedded in regeneration projects, as well as the changing nature of the pregnant body.

Lucy Raven is an American artist born in Tuscon in 1977 with a BFA in studio art and a BA in art history from the University of Arizona and an MFA from Bard College’s Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts in New York. Raven’s work focuses on animation and moving image, incorporating multiple disciplines including still photography, installation, sound and performative lecture. In her short video work The Deccan Trap, 2015, Raven animates collaged photographic images to explore image-making through time, from the prosaic computer screens and technology used to develop 3D imaging for Hollywood films, back to ancient carved reliefs, opening up questions about what and how we see.

The NOW programme is being made possible thanks to the support of the NGS Foundation, Kent and Vicki Logan, Walter Scott and Partners Limited, Robert and Nicky Wilson, Boris Yeung and Amy Ng, and other donors who wish to remain anonymous. Katie Paterson’s presentation is generously supported by the Katie Paterson Exhibition Circle (Robert Devereux, Geoff Ainsworth and Johanna Featherstone, Francis H Williams, Alistair and Susan Duff, Anthony and Jean Harrison and Chris O’Hare), and Ingleby Gallery.

Katie Paterson said: “I have visited the galleries at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art my whole life, and I’d never once imagined my artwork being shown here. This exhibition means so much to me. It brings together a decade of work spanning subjects from the colours of the early universe to the sound of music beamed from the moon. I hope it creates meaningful and lasting experiences for visitors.”

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at NGS, said: “NOW has offered the opportunity to over half a million visitors to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art to experience the incredible variety and range of work being made by some of the world’s leading artists today. We are delighted to be bringing a major show of such a key figure in contemporary art to a public institution in Scotland for the first time. NOW finishes on a triumphant high with this exhibition that features a series of works that are literally out of this world.”

NOW is part of our new season of exhibitions opening across NGS this autumn. Look out for our exhibitions overview with details of our upcoming shows, such as the incredible Scotland's Photograph Album: The MacKinnon Collection, an unparalleled collection of Scottish photography recently acquired and shared by NGS and the National Library of Scotland and Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance, an ambitious retrospective of the Portuguese artist’s work that brings politics to the fore.

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

NOW is a dynamic programme of six exhibitions at the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS), which brings together some of the most innovative and exciting contemporary art from the UK and beyond. It is part of NGS’s ambition to share contemporary art with a wider audience. The NOW series in total will have featured 37 artists across six exhibitions over three years.

NOW Opening Talk: Katie Paterson 'in conversation' will take place at the Scottish National Gallery on Saturday 26 October 2019 at 12-1pm.

In the Mind's Eye: NOW will take place at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One) on Tuesday 21 January at 12:45-1:15pm.
Further NOW-related events can be found via this link.

12 September 2019

Scotland's national art collection gifted powerful Damien Hirst sculpture

A powerful and poignant sculpture by one of the world’s leading living artists, Damien Hirst (b.1965), has been donated to Scotland’s national art collection by the artist’s business manager of two decades, Frank Dunphy, it is announced today.

Wretched War (2004) shows a poignant and moving bronze sculpture depicting a pregnant woman whose body has been fractured and decapitated. It is partly based on anatomical models, while the pose is borrowed from Edgar Degas’s famous sculpture, Nude Study for 'The 14-Year-Old Dancer' (c.1880), a bronze cast of which is in the National Galleries of Scotland’s collection. The sculpture encapsulates the theme which has been central to Damien Hirst's art: life versus death. It has been given to the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) through the Cultural Gifts Scheme, administered by the Arts Council, by Frank Dunphy.

Hirst first came to public attention in 1988 when he conceived and curated Freeze, an exhibition staged in a London warehouse which featured his own work, and work by his friends and fellow Goldsmiths College students. In 1991 he gained worldwide fame when, at the Saatchi Gallery in London, he exhibited a shark preserved in formaldehyde (The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living) and A Thousand Years, a vitrine containing a cow's head, maggots and flies. In these works, and ever since, Hirst has tackled the great historical themes of art: birth, life, death and the fragility of existence.

Between 1995 and 2015 Frank Dunphy was Hirst’s business manager and financial advisor. During that time, Dunphy revolutionised the market in contemporary art. He conceived the auction sale of the artworks in Hirst’s Pharmacy restaurant at Sotheby’s in 2004 and in 2008 went further, sidestepping the traditional Gallery route and taking Hirst’s new work direct to auction. The sale at Sotheby’s in London made over £100million and changed the art world forever. Hirst told the Wall Street Journal that “every artist should have someone like Frank.” During their professional relationship, Dunphy and his wife, Lorna, assembled a collection of Hirst’s work, including gifts from other artists and works acquired through galleries and auctions.

Frank and Lorna are long-term supporters and Patrons of NGS. Based in London and West Sussex, they have been regular visitors to Edinburgh and the NGS for more than twenty years. They have generously placed works from their collection, including Wretched War, on long-term loan to us over the years.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “We are enormously grateful to Frank for gifting this incredible sculpture to the Galleries. It originally came on loan in 2007 and has been seen in many different displays over the years. It’s one of the most popular works we have. I am thrilled that our visitors can continue to see this iconic sculpture and that it finds its permanent home here.”

Speaking of the gift, Frank Dunphy said: “We have had a long association with the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art and felt that this was an appropriate home for Wretched War. We are very grateful that the Gallery, through the Cultural Gift Scheme, have accepted this work.”

Edward Harley OBE, Chairman, Acceptance in Lieu Panel said: “This arresting and thought-provoking sculpture has been at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art for over a decade, and I am delighted that it will continue to have pride of place there. I hope that this generous gift will encourage others to use the Cultural Gifts Scheme to enrich public collections throughout the UK.”

Introduction on Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst was born in Bristol in 1965 and grew up in Leeds. He studied at Goldsmiths’ College of Art, London, from 1986-89. While still a student he organised a series of exhibitions which launched the generation of artists who became known as ‘YBAs’ (Young British Artists). He won international fame when in 1991 he showed works including a shark preserved in formaldehyde (The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living) at the Saatchi Gallery, London. He is the most prominent British artist of his generation.

Introduction on Frank Dunphy

Dunphy was Hirst’s financial advisor and business manager for twenty years, conceiving the celebrated Sotheby’s sales of Hirst’s work, and playing a major role in the development of the YBA art market from the mid-1990s. He was also financial advisor to artists including Rachel Whiteread and Tracey Emin. He retired in 2016. Since then, Frank and Lorna have donated major works from their collection, via the Arts Council of England’s Cultural Gifts Scheme, to Pallant House Art Gallery, in Chichester, West Sussex, and to the British Museum in London.

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

The acceptance of this gift generates a tax reduction of £90,000 for the donor.

Cultural Gifts Scheme

The Cultural Gifts Scheme was launched by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport in March 2013 as an important element of its expanding programme to encourage philanthropy for the arts. It is administered by the Arts Council and enables UK taxpayers to donate important objects to the nation during their lifetime. Items accepted under the Scheme are allocated to public collections and are available for all. In return, donors will receive a reduction in their income tax, capital gains tax or corporation tax liability, based on a set percentage of the value of the object they are donating: 30 per cent for individuals and 20 per cent for companies. For more information please go to the Arts Council website.

Arts Council England

Arts Council England is the national development body for arts and culture across England, working to enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to visual art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. artscouncil.org.uk

30 August 2019

Spellbinding surrealist painting becomes first Dorothea Tanning work acquired for Scotland's national art collection

This new addition to the collection has been purchased with assistance from the Henry and Sula Walton Fund and Art Fund.

A captivating painting by Surrealist painter Dorothea Tanning (1910-2012), created at a turning-point in her career and kept in her possession for the remainder of her exceptionally long life, has become the first of the artist’s works to enter Scotland’s national art collection, the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) are thrilled to announce today.

One of the world’s greatest collections of Surrealist art now welcomes Tableau Vivant, an outstanding painting with a rich and fascinating history. It has been purchased with help from Art Fund and the Henry and Sula Walton Fund and follows the Galleries’ acquisition of major artworks by Surrealists Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí and René Magritte. It will go on immediate display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA).

Tableau Vivant, painted by Tanning nearly sixty years ago, featured in the artist’s first exhibition in France at the Galerie Furstenberg, Dorothea Tanning: Peintures 1949-1954 (7-30 May 1954). Tanning had inscribed the title L’Etreinte on the verso, which can be translated as ‘The Embrace’ or conversely ‘The Grip’ or ‘The Stranglehold’. A few months later it was crossed out and substituted with Tableau Vivant. Under its new title, Tableau Vivant was included in the artist’s first exhibition in Britain, at the Arthur Jeffress gallery, London in 1955.

In the late 1940s and 1950s in Paris, Tanning made her first etchings in the printmaking studio of Georges Visat. Here, she began to introduce the image of the giant dog, Katchina, who belonged to her and her husband, the Surrealist artist Max Ernst (1891-1976). Numerous Surrealist artists took animal avatars which play the role of alter-ego in their work: Ernst took a bird, Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) chose a horse; Tanning took Katchina. Unlike most artists’ avatars, Tanning’s was a specific animal – her own pet. Moreover, Katchina appears in Tanning’s work, not necessarily as an embodiment of the artist; sometimes witness, sometimes protagonist, the dog assumes different roles in different works. These pieces marked Tanning’s shift away from the meticulous, controlled, illustrative technique which was the hallmark of her Surrealist work. Instead, she began to opt for a much looser, softer, more painterly brushwork and her colour switched from bright, intense primaries to ashes and ochres.

An elliptical comment on power, love, the erotic, the humorous, the dream and the nightmare, Tableau Vivant unites key moments in the artist’s life and career. It was a painting that Tanning held very dear and it was included in virtually every major show of her work, notably her solo shows in Brussels in 1967, Paris in 1974, and the Malmö Konsthall and Camden Art Centre in 1993. She kept it for the remainder of her life until 2012, when she died at the age of 101, nearly sixty years after painting it. Towards the end of her life, she specified it as one of a small number of works reserved only for sale to a museum. It was purchased through the Alison Jacques Gallery, London.

Speaking of the acquisition, Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland said: “We’ve been looking for a major painting by Dorothea Tanning for many years. This was one of her favourite works: she kept it for more than sixty years, hanging it above her desk in her apartment in New York. It’s a stunning addition to the Galleries’ world-famous collection of Surrealist art.”

Sarah Philp, Director of Programme and Policy at Art Fund, said: “Tableau Vivant is an astonishing work with a fascinating biography and we are proud to help National Galleries of Scotland purchase this painting for their outstanding Surrealist art collection.”

Introduction on Dorothea Tanning

Dorothea Tanning was born in 1910 in Gaelsburg, a provincial town in Illinois, to Swedish parents. She left home in 1930 for Chicago, and briefly attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Art but was largely self-taught, before settling in New York in 1935. The exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism, held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York the next year, had a profound effect upon her. She earned her living at the time as a commercial artist, producing magazine advertisements, but also began painting in a Surrealist manner. She visited Paris in August 1939 armed, she recalled, with letters of introduction to Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Yves Tanguy and Salvador Dalí, but by the time she arrived they had all fled the city ahead of the outbreak of the Second World War that September.

In 1941 Julien Levy signed Tanning on for his gallery, which specialised in Surrealist art. It was there that she came to the attention of Peggy Guggenheim who was, at the time, organising an exhibition of thirty women artists, to be held at her newly-opened Art of this Century gallery in New York. Amongst the advisors for the exhibition was Guggenheim’s then husband Max Ernst, who visited Tanning’s studio in 1942. Tanning was a late addition to the show, now titled Exhibition by 31 Women, which opened in January 1943. Ernst moved in with Tanning shortly after. Guggenheim later lamented that she should have kept the number of artists in her exhibition to thirty. When she and Ernst separated, Guggenheim recalls, ‘Max rushed downstairs and seized our dog Kachina from my arms as though she were the child in a divorce.’ Taking this Lhasa Apso terrier with him to live with Tanning, Katchina (sometimes spelt Kachina) was to become a recurrent motif in Tanning’s art, even appearing in her later works, long after the dog’s death.

First appearing in Maternity (1946-47), where she lay at the feet of a mother-and-child group and was given a child’s face, Katchina also featured sporadically in other paintings from around that time. Across 1953-54, however, Katchina featured prominently in almost every one of Tanning’s works. In a 1953 etching, the giant dog was imaged dancing a tango with a naked woman. A second etching with aquatint, Red Drama (1954), takes the scene a step further: here the dog seems to dominate the woman. In The Blue Waltz and Tableau Vivant (both 1954) Tanning’s brushwork is looser, more painterly, and her palette is muted. These works – both the etchings and the paintings – impart a commentary on relationships and absurdity, and part of their appeal lies in their ambiguity: each presents an unclear power dynamic.

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

Breakdown of funding for the acquisition:

Henry and Sula Walton Fund £75,000

Art Fund £60,000

National Galleries of Scotland £70,000

TOTAL £205,000

Art Fund

Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. In the past five years alone Art Fund has given £34 million to help museums and galleries acquire works of art for their collections. It also helps museums share their collections with wider audiences by supporting a range of tours and exhibitions, and makes additional grants to support the training and professional development of curators. Art Fund is independently funded, with the core of its income provided by 151,000 members who receive the National Art Pass and enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions and subscription to Art Quarterly magazine. In addition to grant-giving, Art Fund’s support for museums includes Art Fund Museum of the Year (won by St Fagans National History Museum near Cardiff in 2019) and a range of digital platforms.

Find out more about Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org

The Henry and Sula Walton Fund

Henry Walton (1924-2012) and Sula Walton (1924-2009) were prominent and highly-regarded figures in Edinburgh academia for more than fifty years. Married in 1958, they moved to Edinburgh in 1962. They worked in the field of psychiatry, Sula as a child psychiatrist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Henry at the University of Edinburgh. Passionate about the arts, they left their art collection to the National Galleries of Scotland and also established a Fund to help support acquisitions made by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Important works by Picasso, Toyen, Carrington, Dalí and Jenny Saville have been bought with help from the Walton Fund.

12 July 2019
Outstanding Georges Seurat painting to be shown in Scotland for first time

An important painting by Post-Impressionist and Pointillist pioneer Georges Seurat (1859-1891) will soon go on display in Scotland for the first time, having been loaned to the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) from one of Europe’s most significant collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, The Courtauld Gallery, it is announced today.

Young Woman Powdering Herself, which has never previously been shown north of the border, was painted between 1888 and 1890 and is an unusual portrait depicting Seurat’s mistress Madeleine Knobloch (1868-1903). Knobloch’s identity was kept concealed even after this artwork was first exhibited in 1890, and their clandestine relationship, which included having a child together, remained a secret to all but the artist’s closest friends until after the Seurat’s premature death in 1891.

Visitors to the Scottish National Gallery have until the autumn of 2020 to view the painting, which The Courtauld has lent to the Galleries whilst the London-based institution is in the midst of a two-year transformation project, Courtauld Connects.

The Courtauld’s substantial collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art is one of the most important in Europe, thanks to the generosity of the textile tycoon Samuel Courtauld, who acquired outstanding examples of the work of Claude Monet (1840-1926), Vincent van Gogh (1853-90), Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and others during the 1920s.

Speaking about this loan, Christopher Baker, Director of European and Scottish Art and Portraiture at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “This exceptional and very generous loan provides a fascinating complement to the major Post-Impressionist paintings in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. A deeply personal portrait, executed in Seurat’s distinctive and shimmering technique, it gives a glimpse of the private bohemian world of 1880s Paris. It also demonstrates the skills of one the most experimental artists of the age, who celebrated modern subjects and so carefully calibrated every aspect of his mesmeric works.”

The National Galleries of Scotland also has an impressive Impressionist collection and Young Woman Powdering Herself will enhance the small group of Seurat works currently held in its collection. This includes two works related to the masterpiece with which the French artist made his name, The Bathers, Asnières, now in the collection of the National Gallery in London.

Even though he died tragically early at the age of just 31, Seurat was the inventor and leading exponent of the scientific style of painting known as Neo-Impressionism, whereby the paint is applied using small dots of colour, often referred to as ‘pointillism’.

Like the Impressionists, Seurat painted landscapes and modern urban subjects: people walking in the park, at the circus or at the musical hall. Unlike the Impressionists, however, Seurat preferred to work in the studio, often building up his finished compositions from a series of drawings and oil studies made out of doors. His manifesto painting, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte (Art Institute of Chicago) was exhibited at the eighth and final Impressionist exhibition in 1886, where it caused a sensation.

Seurat was interested in optical physics and was influenced by the theories of, among others, Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889), Ogden Rood (1831-1902) and Charles Henry (1859-1926). He experimented with colour contrasts and optical mixing, as well as exploring the emotional impact of colour and line.

In Young Woman Powdering Herself, Seurat has built up the composition in areas of light and shade, exploring contrasts between rounded and more angular forms. His mistress is portrayed in a humorous way, her curvaceous figure contrasted with the tiny table at which she is seated. She is applying make-up, and the painting and its laborious technique can be read as a conceit; a satire on the artifice of modern urban life.

An x-ray reveals that Seurat originally painted a face (said by some to be a self-portrait) in the frame on the wall, but was persuaded by a friend to paint it out and replace it with a vase of flowers.

Young Woman Powdering Herself joins two studies for his large-scale The Bathers, Asnières: a drawing called Seated Nude: Study for 'Une Baignade' and a small preparatory oil study of the artwork, as well as a third entitled La Luzerne, Saint-Denis, 1884-5, a larger oil painting and an excellent example of the artist’s move towards Neo-Impressionism.

The first owner of Young Woman Powdering Herself was the well-known critic and art dealer Félix Fénéon. There exists an interesting parallel with La Luzerne, which was owned by the English critic Roger Fry, one of Courtauld’s chief advisors and the man who invented the term ‘Post-Impressionism’.

The painting’s arrival also coincides with the opening of our Bridget Riley exhibition. Riley was profoundly influenced by Seurat’s work and it was her early encounters with the artist’s paintings in the Courtauld collection in the late 1950s that inspired her journey towards abstraction.

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors
Young Woman Powdering Herself by Georges Seurat will be on show at the Scottish National Gallery from the end of June until October 2020.

4 June 2019
Beyond Realism | Dada and Surrealism from the National Galleries of Scotland

From 15 June 2019
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One)
75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission FREE
#NGSBeyondRealism

Fantastical works by Leonora Carrington (1917-2011), Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), René Magritte (1898-1967) and many others will go on show as part of an expanded display of Dada and Surrealist work opening at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Modern One (SNGMA) this June. Beyond Realism | Dada and Surrealism from the National Galleries of Scotland acts as a brilliant accompaniment to the SNGMA’s major summer exhibition Cut and Paste | 400 Years of Collage, providing insight into the time and place which formed the backdrop for so many experimental collage works of the early 20th century.

Normally displayed at Modern Two, the new room at Modern One gives the Dada and Surrealist collection twice the space, allowing visitors to appreciate the extraordinary depth, range and quality of our world-class holdings.

Founded by the poet André Breton in 1924, Surrealism was one of the most radical art movements of the 20th Century. It sought to challenge conventions through the exploration of the subconscious mind, invoking the power of dreams and elements of chance with unexpected and fantastical juxtapositions.

The germ of Surrealism lies in Dada, which sprang up in several cities almost simultaneously during the First World War. Dada artists discussed their passion for the irrational and the nonsensical in terms of a rejection of the bankrupt political, cultural and nationalistic values which, they argued, had created the war in the first place.

With over 40 works by 17 artists, Beyond Realism explores the two principal forms of Surrealist work. The first form is unpremeditated art that relies upon chance effects such as random mark-making and scraping – the type of work practiced by artists like Joan Miró (1893-1983). The second form is the creation of apparently irrational images that occurred to the mind, particularly in dreams, in a realistic style. This route was favoured by artists like Toyen (1902-1980) and Paul Delvaux (1897-1994). Other artists like Max Ernst (1891-1976) combined both approaches in their work.

The National Galleries of Scotland’s holdings of Dada and Surrealism were transformed in 1995, with the acquisition of part of the celebrated collection formed by the Surrealist artist Roland Penrose; a few months later came the bequest of Gabrielle Keiller’s magnificent collection of Dada and Surrealist art and her library of rare books and archival material. The addition of the Penrose and Keiller holdings made the Gallery’s collection of Surrealism into one of the best in the world. We have recently made several major acquisitions of works by Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, René Magritte and Toyen, thanks to support from the Henry and Sula Walton Fund, the Art Fund and the Estate of Drue Heinz.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland said: “This new display will give our visitors an intimate view of one of the world’s finest collections of Dada and Surrealist art, and an opportunity to discover new additions to the National Galleries of Scotland collection, with iconic works by Dalí and Magritte. It also provides a fantastic context for the often mind-bending works explored in the accompanying exhibition at Modern Two, Cut and Paste: 400 years of Collage.”

Notes to Editors:

Cut and Paste | 400 Years of Collage
29 June – 27 October 2019
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two)
75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Monday – Friday - £11 (£9 concessions)
Saturday – Sunday - £13 (£12 concessions)
#NGSCutPaste

Consisting of work by anonymous amateurs, famous artists and forgotten figures alike, Cut and Paste | 400 Years of Collage is the first survey exhibition of collage ever to take place anywhere in the world. This wide-ranging exhibition dispels the myth that collage is a 20th Century invention set in motion by cubist artists such as Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris, and points to a richer and much more diverse history.

14 May 2019
Decades-spanning survey of one of the most original artists of our time to open at National Galleries of Scotland

BRIDGET RILEY
15 June – 22 September 2019
Royal Scottish Academy
The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2EL
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Tickets: £15 to £13 (Concessions available)
25 & under: £10-£8.50 | Free for our Friends
#NGSRiley

Part of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2019

Supported by Players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and Our Friends

The work of one of the most original artists of our time will be celebrated at the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) this summer with a decades-spanning survey of the stunning paintings of Bridget Riley (b. 1931), in what will be the Galleries’ major summer and Festival blockbuster.

Over the course of a remarkable career, which has spanned seven decades, Bridget Riley has developed a unique visual language, making dazzling and compelling abstract paintings which explore the fundamental nature of our perception. Her earliest abstract works were closely associated with the emergence of Op Art, one of the last modern movements in art, which appeared in the mid- 1960s. In the following 50 years she forged a singular path, extending her means in new and ground-breaking ways, and her work has been exhibited and collected across the world. She is one of the most distinguished and internationally renowned artists working today.

Bridget Riley will be the first major survey of Riley’s work to be held in the UK for 16 years, and the largest ever Bridget Riley exhibition to be staged in Scotland. Organised by the NGS in close collaboration with the artist herself, and presented in partnership with Hayward Gallery, London, the exhibition will be shown first in Edinburgh, in the Royal Scottish Academy, from June to September 2019, before travelling to Hayward Gallery in London, where it will be shown from October 2019 until January 2020.

Through her observations of nature and the world around us, her careful study of the work of other painters – in particular Georges Seurat (1859-91), Claude Monet (1840-1926), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Henri Matisse (1859-91), Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) and Paul Klee (1879-1940) – and through her own sustained experimentation, Riley has made a long and penetrating investigation into the art of picture-making, and how we see. Her work explores the ways in which we learn through looking, using a purely abstract language of simple shapes, forms and colour to create sensations of light, space, volume, rhythm and movement.

This exhibition will place particular emphasis on the origins of Riley’s work, and will trace pivotal, decisive movements in her acclaimed career. It will feature early paintings and drawings, iconic black-and-white paintings of the 1960s, expansive canvases in colour, wall paintings and recent works, as well as studies that reveal Riley’s working methods.

Highlights will include early paintings inspired by the work of Georges Seurat, such as Pink Landscape (1960); Riley’s first abstract paintings, Kiss and Movement in Squares (both 1961); and other iconic works of the 1960s and 1970s, including Fission (1963) and Current (1964), from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Paean (1973) from Tokyo’s Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition will also include Drift 2 (1966), and Late Morning (1967-8) and Rise 1 (1968), both key, large-scale colour paintings first shown at the 1968 Venice Biennale, where Riley won the International Prize for painting, the first British contemporary painter to do so.

The exploration of colour’s relativity has been the driving force of Riley’s work, and the exhibition will trace the development of this interest: from her early vertical and horizontal stripe paintings; through her twist and curve paintings of the 1970s such as Persephone 2 (1970), Aubade (1975) and Clepsydra (1976); the second series of stripe paintings using her ‘Egyptian’ palette, such as Ra (1981); through to the introduction of the diagonal in the vibrantly orchestrated ‘rhomboid’ paintings and curvilinear paintings of the 2000s. Recent developments in Riley’s practice will be presented, including her re-engagement with black and white in Cascando (2015), shown with Tremor (1962), a recent series of disc paintings, entitled Measure for Measure, and a new painting made this year, Intervals 2 (2019).

A feature of the exhibition will be the bringing together of a number of key works in a series, which offer fascinating insights into how Riley has developed, as she says, through ‘the spirit of enquiry’. Riley makes many preparatory studies and drawings en-route to a painting, relying essentially upon her eye to judge the unfolding of a motif as she works, constantly making decisions about scale, format and colour, in order to arrive at the resolution of tensions and tempo which mark a completed work. As well as paths followed and developed, the exhibition will show some areas of enquiry, which the artist chose not to follow, for example, Continuum (1963/2005), her only 3 dimensional work.

The exhibition will bring together some 50 major paintings from public and private collections around the world, as well as a large number of works on paper, including a selection of works from Bridget Riley’s early years, many of which are being shown for the first time.

Speaking about the exhibition, Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the NGS, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be bringing together so many major paintings from across Riley’s long and distinguished career to show the radical development and constant creative evolution of work by an artist who has been at the forefront of the international avant-garde since the early 1960s. In pioneering such a distinctive body of work, Riley has expanded the possibilities for painting, as she has profoundly changed the way we think about – and look at – art.”

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

Exhibition dates:

Royal Scottish Academy
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
15 June to 22 September 2019

Hayward Gallery, London
23 October 2019 to 26 January 2020

For press information about the Hayward showing, please contact: Isabelle Finn at Sutton PR at [email protected].

Survey exhibitions devoted to Riley’s work have been held at:

Hayward Gallery, London (1971)

Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (2008)

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), Sydney Australia (2004-5; with tour to City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand and Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland)

Tate Britain, London, UK (2003)

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9 May 2019
Antony Gormley sculptures to be reinstalled along Edinburgh's Water of Leith

Work will begin this coming Saturday (11 May) to reinstall Turner Prize-winning artist Antony Gormley’s (b. 1950) 6 TIMES along the Water of Leith in Edinburgh. This multi-part sculptural project was originally installed in 2010, and having resolved the complications leading to the removal of four elements of the work installed in the Water of Leith itself, we are now reinstalling these sculptures in the river.

Commissioned by the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS), 6 TIMES consists of six life-sized figures positioned between the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA) and the sea. Four of the figures are sited in the Water of Leith itself, acting as gauges for the height of the river as it swells and recedes. This enigmatic, provocative and stimulating work conveys a sense of mystery and quiet monumentality, and draws attention to the important natural environment of the Water of Leith, which runs through the heart of Edinburgh.

The first figure is located within the grounds of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA). Although a full-length cast, it is buried in the ground up to neck-level. The next figure will be reinstalled within a basin of the river immediately behind the gallery. A further three figures will be reinstalled at separate points downstream in Stockbridge, Powderhall and Bonnington. The final figure, situated at the end of an abandoned pier in Leith Docks, looks out to the point where the river course finally meets the sea.

The National Galleries of Scotland has worked closely with the City of Edinburgh Council to resolve the issues relating to the removal of elements of 6 TIMES in 2012, and has received permission to reinstall the four sculptures at Cauldron Weir, Stockbridge, Powderhall and Bonnington.

Modifications have been made to the fixings so that the sculptures are now permanently fixed to their mounts. The original design allowed them to tilt and submerge when the river flow reached certain levels.

Work will be undertaken by Caldive Ltd., expert marine contractors, and is due to be completed by early summer 2019.

A number of stakeholders have been consulted during the re-installation process including: Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Local Wildlife Crime Officers, City of Edinburgh Council, The Honorary Water Bailiffs of the Water of Leith and the Water of Leith Conservation Trust to ensure that works will be undertaken with as little disruption to the environment as possible.

The reinstallation of 6 TIMES was made possible by an anonymous supporter who recognises the Work’s importance to the city of Edinburgh.

The National Galleries of Scotland will cover costs associated with conservation and debris maintenance.

Antony Gormley said: “It was a privilege to make these works for Edinburgh and now they are coming back to stay — I’m delighted”.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland said: “We are thrilled to announce the reinstallation of Antony Gormley’s 6 TIMES, which captured the imagination of so many locals and visitors alike when it was first installed in 2010. We are extremely grateful to Antony, his studio, Edinburgh City Council and everyone else who has played such an active part in ensuring the success of the project. This is a meditative and reflective work, which brings art out into the wider community along Edinburgh’s beautiful Water of Leith”.

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

Artwork credit:
Antony Gormley (b. 1950)
6 TIMES, 2010
Six cast iron figures, each 191 x 50 x 36 cm
Commissioned by the National Galleries of Scotland, with support from the Art Fund, The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, The Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland, Claire Enders and The Henry Moore Foundation
Permanent installation, Water of Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland
Photograph by Keith Hunter
© The artist

Artist’s Biography

Born in London in 1950, Antony Gormley has had a number of solo shows at venues including Uffizi Gallery, Florence (2019); the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia (2019); Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (2018); the Long Museum, Shanghai (2017); National Portrait Gallery, London (2016); Forte di Belvedere, Florence (2015); Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern (2014); Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (2012); Deichtorhallen Hamburg; State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (2011); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2010); Hayward Gallery, London (2007); Kunsthalle zu Kiel; Malmö Konsthall (1993); and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen (1989). A major solo exhibition of his work will be presented at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in September 2019. Permanent public works include the Angel of the North (Gateshead, England), Another Place (Crosby Beach, England), Exposure (Lelystad, The Netherlands) Chord(MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA). He has also participated in major group shows such as the Venice Biennale and Documenta 8, Kassel, Germany. Gormley won the Turner Prize in 1994 and has been a member of the Royal Academy since 2003. He was made an Officer of the British Empire in 1997 and knighted in 2014.

For further details see: http://www.antonygormley.com

5 May 2019
First survey exhibition of collage ever to take place anywhere in the world at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Cut and Paste | 400 Years of Collage
29 June – 27 October 2019
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two)
75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DS
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Monday – Friday - £11 (£9 concessions)
Saturday – Sunday - £13 (£12 concessions)
#NGSCutPaste

Consisting of work by anonymous amateurs, famous artists and forgotten figures alike, Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage is the first survey exhibition of collage ever to take place anywhere in the world. This wide-ranging exhibition dispels the myth that collage is a 20th-Century invention set in motion by cubist artists such as Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris, and points to a richer and much more diverse history.

The word ‘Collage’ comes from the French verb ‘coller’, meaning ‘to glue’, and it is often associated with cut-and-pasted paper, photographs, newspaper cuttings, string etc. However, with Cut and Paste, curator Patrick Elliott sets out to challenge traditional definitions, and expand our understanding of collage, both in visual art and as a practice that has influenced all forms of creativity in the 20th Century, from literature to punk.

Cut and Paste presents a huge range of styles, techniques and approaches – spanning a period of more than four centuries and including more than 250 works. From sixteenth-century anatomical ‘flap prints’, to computer-generated images; from collages by children to revolutionary cubist masterpieces by Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris; from nineteenth-century do-it-yourself collage kits to Cindy Sherman’s playful collage film Doll Clothes (1975). Highlights of the exhibition include a three-metre-long folding collage screen, purportedly made in part by Charles Dickens; a major group of Dada and Surrealist collages, by artists such as Kurt Schwitters, Joan Miró, Hannah Höch and Max Ernst; Henri Matisse’s exquisite Jazz series; and post-war works by Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Nevelson, Andy Warhol and Peter Blake, including source material for the cover of the Beatles’ album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The importance of collage as a form of protest in the 1960s and ’70s will be shown in the work of feminist artists such as Carolee Schneemann (her Body Collage film, 1967, shows her covered in wallpaper paste and leaping about in shredded paper), Penny Slinger, Nancy Grossman, Annegret Soltau and Cindy Sherman; punk artists, such as Jamie Reid, whose original collages for the first Sex Pistols’ album and posters will feature; and the famously subversive collages of Monty Python founder Terry Gilliam. The exhibition also features the legendary library book covers which the playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell doctored with collages, and put back on Islington Library’s shelves – a move which landed them both in prison for six months. Collage’s ability to juxtapose seemingly disparate images and ideas accords perfectly with the role of political tool, with artists such as Linder and Hannah Wilke revisiting and reinventing the traditional female pursuits of cutting, pasting, stitching and patchwork (represented in Cut and Paste in Victorian-era works by Kate Gough, Sarah Eliza Pye and many others) to create subversive and highly political artworks.

Cut and Paste highlights the playful, experimental nature of collage, finding antecedents to the absurdist creations of Dada and Surrealist artists in the scrapbooks and crazy collages of 19th-century amateurs. The process of manipulating, swapping, lifting and testing to create unexpected and sometimes bizarre images runs right through the exhibition, from Mary Watson’s puzzling collage scrapbook of engravings, handwritten notes and fragmented words cut out from newspapers (1821); to Kate Gough’s Gough Album (1875-80), in which the artist stuck portrait photographs of bewhiskered Victorian gentlemen onto a watercolour of apes in response to Darwin’s recently published theories on evolution; to Sarah Eliza Pye’s exquisite Crazy Patchwork (1897); to Hannah Höch’s weird, hybrid figures, Hausmann’s satirical, cut-and-paste portraits and Max Ernst’s dreamlike collages. Cut and Paste also features work by children, including a child’s bedroom door, covered with stickers, and Elsie Wright and Frances Griffith’s famous Cottingley Fairy photographs, in which the two girls copied book illustrations, added wings, and collaged the fairies onto themselves, for a time unintentionally duping the world into believing in fairies. These works form part of a section on photography and the vogue for ‘composite’ images in the Victorian period.

Cut and Paste demonstrates how collage continues to inspire artists working today and includes recent collage works by Adrian Ghenie, Deborah Roberts, Chantal Joffe, Christian Marclay, Jake and Dinos Chapman and many others. Owing to the fragility of much of the work, the exhibition will not tour: it can only be seen in Edinburgh, at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland said: Cut and Paste is, surprisingly, the first survey exhibition of collage ever to take place anywhere in the world. Collage has a rich and varied history that is not often told: it embraces cut-and-pasted paper, photography, film, patchwork, modern-day stickers and computerised Photoshop – Cut and Paste explores this highly creative, utterly subversive and often overlooked art form in a way that it has never been explored before. And you can only see it in Edinburgh!

Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: We are excited that players of People’s Postcode Lottery are supporting the first survey exhibition of collage ever to take place in Britain and that their support has enabled the National Galleries of Scotland to realise this ambitious project.

Notes to Editors:
Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage is part of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2019.
Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage will be accompanied by an exhibition book: Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage, available for purchase in all National Galleries of Scotland shops or online.

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Beyond Realism 15 June – October 2020
Scottish Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One)
75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission FREE
#NGSBeyondRealism
A brilliant accompaniment to Cut and Paste and running for the entire length of the exhibition (and beyond), this display will bring together some of the finest examples of Surrealist art from the National Galleries of Scotland’s collection. Featuring works by artists such as Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, Beyond Realism will present the Surrealism collection in an expanded display at Modern One, providing an opportunity to view our world-famous collection in greater depth.
Artists mentioned in this press release:
Adrian Ghenie (b.1977) Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987) Annegret Soltau (b. 1946) Carolee Schneemann (1939 – 2019) Chantal Joffe (b. 1969) Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) Christian Marclay (b. 1955) Cindy Sherman (b. 1954) Deborah Roberts (b. 1962) Frances Griffith (1907–1986) Hannah Höch (1889 - 1978) Hannah Wilke (1940 - 1993) Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954) Jake and Dinos Chapman (b. 1966 and 1962) Jamie Reid (b. 1947) Joan Miró (1893 - 1983) Joe Orton (1933 - 1967) and Kenneth Halliwell (1926 – 1967) Juan Gris (1887 - 1927) Kate Gough (1856 – 1948) Kurt Schwitters (1887 - 1948) Linder (b. 1954) Louise Nevelson (1899 - 1988) Max Ernst (1891 - 1976) Nancy Grossman (b. 1940) Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973) Penny Slinger (b. 1947) Peter Blake (b. 1932) Robert Rauschenberg (1925 - 2008) Sarah Eliza Pye (1857-1934) and Elsie Wright (1901 - 1988) Terry Gilliam (b. 1940)

- ENDS –

30 April 2019
Spectacular installation of 10,000 fresh red roses to take centre stage at new contemporary art exhibition

Press View: Friday 31 May 2019, 10:00-11:30hrs
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One), Edinburgh.

Supported by the Henry Moore Foundation and Fluxus.

NOW featuring
ANYA GALLACCIO
PELES EMPIRE
ANYA GALLACCIO
CHARLES AVERY
AURELIEN FROMENT
ROGER HIORNS
ZINEB SEDIRA
1 June – 22 Sep 2019
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One)
75 Belford Road, Edinburgh EH4 3DR
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission FREE
#NGSNow

A spectacular installation of 10,000 fresh red roses which wilt over time are set to stimulate visitor’s senses as the centrepiece of an entralling new exhibition this summer at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA) in Edinburgh.

NOW is a dynamic three-year programme of six exhibitions at the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS), which brings together some of the most innovative and exciting contemporary art from the UK and beyond.

For the fifth instalment, which opens on 1 June, Anya Gallacio’s iconic sculpture Red on Green - in which 10,000 fresh blooms are left to decay over a period of months - will be shown as part of a major survey of the artist’s work. Gallaccio was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2003 and is one of the UK’s most prominent artists, emerging from the group known as the Young British Artists (YBAs) in the 1990s. She is renowned for her use of organic materials, from which she creates temporary works that change over time as they are subjected to natural processes of transformation and decay.

For a short while Red on Green, which was first made in 1992, is a gorgeous and enticing display of velvety flowers, but during the course of the exhibition, this display gradually decays, transforming into something different altogether.The Paisley-born artist will also present a series of existing pieces and new works specially commissioned for NOW which further explore her fascination with the effects of time on her materials.

Exploring other threads on the theme of transformation, NOW will also feature the work of British artists Roger Hiorns (b.1975) and Charles Avery (b. 1973); French artist Aurélien Froment (b. 1976) and French-Algerian artist Zineb Sedira (b.1963); and a newly commissioned installation from Peles Empire, a collaborative project created by the artists Katharina Stöver (b. 1982) and Barbara Wolff (b. 1980).

As in previous years, there will be a family-friendly play area in the beautiful grounds of Modern One for visitors to the exhibition.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at NGS, said: “From the smell and sight of 10,000 red roses slowly decaying to an exploration of our obsession with sugar, NOW 5 offers new ways of seeing and thinking for everyone curious about the world around them. We want to create a playful, anarchic, thought-provoking experience for visitors, so expect to see the use of rope, ceramics, x-ray machines, sugar, obsidian, photography and live performances.

“We’re a place for art-lovers, the curious, experience-seekers and families. We’ll have our temporary playpark for children once again over the summer period next to the spectacular Landform by the artist Charles Jencks, so we are a great free day out for everyone”.

Roger Hiorns works with a range of media and unlikely materials to create surprising transformations of existing or ‘found’ objects, including a decommissioned X-Ray machine, a jet engine and an ordinary park bench, which will be intermittently ‘activated’ through the presence of a naked man and a small fire. Alongside these sculptures Hiorns will present a series of works on panels and canvas. These works resemble paintings but are actually made from varying materials, including copper sulphate crystals and bovine brain matter, the latter exploring themes around BSE, or ‘mad cow disease’. These works are on one side extremely beautiful, sparkling shards of blue crystal and on the other, defiantly ugly, with abstract brown brush strokes of diluted brain matter smeared across the panel.

Aurélien Froment, who is now based in Edinburgh, works with books, performances, video, photography and objects, creating multi-layered works which often reference feature films, early film technology and literature. He will be showing two new works here: The Apocalypse, a film collaboration with the Canadian poet Steven McCaffrey which documents the deterioration of France’s oldest surviving medieval tapestry, the Tapestry of Angers (which famously depicts scenes from the biblical Book of Revelation); and One, an installation comprised of a 200-metre length of rope which changes colour imperceptibly from one end of the spectrum to the other.

In 2004 Charles Avery embarked on a project called The Islanders, a painstakingly detailed and diverse description of the flora, fauna and culture of an imaginary island, which Avery vividly conjures into life through drawings, paintings, sculptures and texts. NOW will present a sculptural installation and accompanying 16mm film by Avery, which follows the flight of the one of the island’s curious creatures - the Dihedra – an ephemeral butterfly-like being that cannot be contained by the boundaries of the physical world. This fascinating installation was recently acquired by the NGS, and is being shown here for the first time.

Zinebs Sedira uses photography, film and installations to explore language, memory and history. In NOW, Sedira exhibits a selection of photographs from her Sugar Routes and Sugar Surfaces series, which highlight the massive scale of the sugar industry by exploring the way sugar is produced, distributed and consumed. These images, which show new ‘landscapes’ - mountains of sugar in siloes and warehouses - will be exhibited alongside cast-sugar sculptures which touch on the dark history of human displacement, slave labour and colonisation that underlie this global business.

Katharina Stöver and Barbara Wolff’s ongoing collaborative project Peles Empire will have its latest showing in NOW. The duo will transform a room at the SNGMA into an installation that fuses photocopied imagery of the remarkable interiors of the nineteenth-century Peles Castle in Romania, with parts of the building here, creating an immersive environment in which the original and the copy are intertwined and blurred.

The NOW programme is being made possible thanks to the support of the NGS Foundation, Kent and Vicki Logan, Walter Scott and Partners Limited, Robert and Nicky Wilson, The Henry Moore Foundation, Fluxus and other donors who wish to remain anonymous.

—ENDS—

25 April 2019
Scottish National Gallery development East Princes Street Gardens works update

East Princes Street Gardens, where a new accessible path and landscaping are being created by the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS), and the Mound precinct are scheduled to re-open to the public in time for the start of the 2019 Festival in August.

A refurbished Scottish Café & Restaurant, which is housed within the Princes Street Gardens level of the Scottish National Gallery, will also open its doors to customers at the same time.

The work in East Princes Street Gardens is part of a wider redevelopment project by NGS that will transform former office, storage and display spaces in the Scottish National Gallery into a new world-class set of galleries that, for the first time, will be entered directly from the adjacent East Princes Street Gardens. They will showcase NGS’s amazingly rich collection of historic Scottish art, which contains masterpieces by Sir Henry Raeburn, The Glasgow Boys, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Scottish Colourists, as well as giving direct access to the rest of the Scottish National Gallery’s international collection. The project is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Scottish Government.

The new accessible path will greatly help those with mobility impairments, wheelchairs and prams. Without this new path, the east gardens would remain accessible only via steep gradients or the flight of stairs.

The creation of the path and the landscaping has been a complex engineering feat which has taken slightly longer than programmed. The intention was to complete the works by Spring 2019 and the NGS team and contractors have been working very hard to complete the works as close to that as possible.

After the summer the construction works are largely focused on the interior and grounds of the Scottish National Gallery. The public will have access into East Princes Street Gardens and the Mound precinct as normal. To enable excavation works to the galleries directly beneath, the Playfair Steps and walkway, at the rear of the Scottish National Gallery, will continue to be closed for the duration of the building work.

The Edinburgh Marathon in May will still run through East Princes Street Gardens and the Mound precinct as a route will be cleared for them to use.

As previously announced, 22 trees will be planted around the new accessible path as part of the construction works. These trees will be between 4.5 metres and 6.5 metres in height.

NGS has also been working closely with Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust and the City of Edinburgh Council on the planting of a further 30 trees in other areas of East Princes Street Gardens, West Princes Street Gardens, Lauriston Castle and Saughton Walled Garden. The Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust and the City of Edinburgh Council Parks department led on the selection and planting of the additional 30 trees.

John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland said: ‘I want to extend a big thank you to the residents and visitors of Edinburgh during the construction works in East Princes Street Gardens. We apologise for any inconvenience and we appreciate you bearing with us whilst we make these transformative changes.

‘As previously announced, the overall project is on schedule to be complete in early 2021. By then we will be ready to reveal an amazing new suite of galleries, bursting with light and colour with new views out into Princes Street Gardens. Previously only one in six visitors found their way to the dark and tucked away Scottish Galleries, so this will transform the presentation of the world’s greatest collection of Scottish art.’

-ENDS-

Notes to Editor:

The vision for the SNG project has been driven by the National Galleries’ ambition to ensure that the widest number of people can enjoy our art and activities. The displays in the new galleries will be directly informed by extensive research into the needs of existing and potential audiences.

The scope of the new displays, which will be revealed when the new galleries open in early 2021, will also be broader, encompassing the work of early 20th-century artists such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Stanley Cursiter, Jessie M. King, Phyllis Mary Bone and the Scottish Colourists S J Peploe and F C B Cadell.

The project will create a beautiful new space in the heart of Edinburgh, which will be free for everyone to use and enjoy. A series of large windows will punctuate the façade and fill the galleries with light and colour, and offer spectacular views over East Princes Street Gardens. Extensive new landscaping in the gardens will radically improve access to this much-loved part of the city, and the project will also create a larger shop, brand-new café and more accessible restaurant.

The SNG redevelopment has been designed by one of Scotland’s leading architectural practices, Hoskins Architects, which has been widely praised for a number of high-profile designs in the arts and cultural sector.

A fly-through animation of the Scottish National Gallery Project is available to view here.

Read more on the Scottish National Gallery Project changes on our website here.

Funding figures from Scottish Government and National Lottery Heritage Fund:
Scottish Government: £5.5 million.
National Lottery Heritage Fund: £4.94 million.

18 April 2019
National Galleries of Scotland and Victoria and Albert Museum purchase spectacular Zucchi portrait of architect James Adam

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) have jointly acquired the most ambitious and splendid surviving portrait of a member of the Adam family, the great eighteenth-century Scottish architectural dynasty.

The portrait of James Adam (1732-94) by the Italian artist Antonio Zucchi (1726-95) becomes the third outstanding artwork to be jointly-acquired by the V&A and NGS after together securing two exceptional sculptures, Antonio Canova’s The Three Graces (purchased 1994) and Lorenzo Bartolini’s The Campbell Sisters (purchased 2015). The Zucchi portrait has been purchased thanks to a major grant from national charity Art Fund.

The newly acquired portrait of James Adam will be shown among the great eighteenth-century collection at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG), Edinburgh before going on display in the V&A’s British Galleries in London later this year. It will remain on display at the V&A for one year before returning to be shown in Edinburgh. Thereafter, it will be shown at each institution for a period of seven years, on rotation.

Christopher Baker, Director of European and Scottish Art and Portraiture for the National Galleries of Scotland, commented: “James Adam’s portrait is a work of great swagger and refinement that demonstrates the confidence of the Scottish Adam family as seminal taste makers for eighteenth-century Europe. It represents a splendid addition to the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland and we are immensely grateful to both the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Art Fund for making its joint purchase possible.”

Julius Bryant, Keeper of Word and Image at The Victoria and Albert Museum, said: “Zucchi’s portrait of James Adam depicts one of the leading Scottish exponents of the European Neoclassical movement who played a formative role in developing British architecture. It is an ideal portrait for the Neoclassicism section of the V&A’s British Galleries. We are delighted that it joins the V&A’s collection, together with the two sculptures previously purchased with the National Galleries of Scotland. We are enormously grateful to both the NGS and Art Fund for enabling this joint acquisition.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, added: “We are very pleased to be helping both National Galleries Scotland and the V&A in acquiring this fine and important portrait of James Adam. It is fitting addition to both collections, marking the sitter’s legacy as a highly influential Scotsman with great significance to the history of British architecture and design, and we know it will enjoyed by a wide public in both locations.”

The painting depicts James Adam during his grand tour of Italy in 1763, before he returned to London to work with his brother, Robert Adam (1728-92). Dramatically posed and luxuriously dressed, he is surrounded by objects that refer to the study of the ancient world that inspired the neo-classical designs for which the Adam were renowned.

Robert and James Adam, along with their brothers John and William, were the sons of the mason-architect and entrepreneur William Adam (1689-1748). Together the family enjoyed the status of being Scotland’s foremost architects of the eighteenth century. Their role as designers of neo-classical buildings and interiors was to prove profoundly influential not only in Edinburgh and London but all across Europe, North America and Russia.

Robert and James established their architectural practice in 1758. They not only excelled at designing elegant Palladian buildings but also entire interior decorative schemes, including furniture, so ensuring a unity to their immensely popular neo-classical vision. Between 1773 and 1779 the brothers published The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam which played a key role in spreading knowledge of their work internationally.

James undertook a Grand Tour of Italy, to seek inspiration for his work, between 1760 and 1763. This impressive portrait was painted in the final year of his tour. It refers to his profession as an architect, and sees him hold dividers in one hand and paper in the other. However, he is also presented as a man of wealth and discrimination, dressed in a silk and fur trimmed gown, at ease with his knowledge of the remains of the classical world that surround him. This type of magnificent portraiture was commonly associated with travelling aristocrats, rather than architects.

The portrait has the distinction of being the only known work of such a subject by the painter Zucchi, who was born in Venice and later worked on a number of decorative paintings for major interior schemes designed by the Adam brothers, before marrying the painter Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807) in 1781 and settling with her in Rome.

The sculptures depicted in the painting behind James include the Medici Vase and a variant of the Giustiniani Minerva – revered examples of ancient art which could be studied in Rome and, it was felt, could inspire contemporary design. Panels of so-called grotesque ornament frame the niche in which Minerva stands.

The most significant object depicted is the capital (the sculpted top of a column) in the foreground, on which James rests his left arm. It looks at first like a work from antiquity, but is in fact taken from a sculpture design by James Adam. While in Italy he made detailed plans for re-building the Houses of Parliament in London in a neo-classical style, a project that was never realised. As part of this scheme, he produced detailed drawings for a new British architectural order of columns, and combined on them the Scottish unicorn (clearly visible here) with an English lion. The drawings he made were used as the basis for creating a model made of wax that was coloured bronze – and it is this object, which sadly no longer survives, that is depicted by Zucchi. It acted as an extraordinary advertisement for Adam’s ingenuity as a designer and through the prominence of the unicorn, reminded his clientele of his Scottish heritage.

Until now James Adam has only been represented in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland through a modest and informal drawing by Allan Ramsay (1713-84), while Robert Adam is the subject of two paste medallions by James Tassie (1735-99).

Zucchi’s unique painted portrait complements his work as an engraver and decorative painter held in the V&A’s collection.

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors
The portrait of James Adam has been acquired for £480,000. The purchase price was raised with £150,000 from the Art Fund, with the remaining contributions from the V&A and NGS.

About the V&A:
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity, spanning 5000 years of human creativity. It was established in 1852 to make works of art available to all and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. Today, its purpose is to champion creative industry, inspire the next generation, and spark everyone’s imagination.

vam.ac.uk

Art Fund

Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. In the past five years alone Art Fund has given £34 million to help museums and galleries acquire works of art for their collections. It also helps museums share their collections with wider audiences by supporting a range of tours and exhibitions, and makes additional grants to support the training and professional development of curators. Art Fund is independently funded, with the core of its income provided by 151,000 members who receive the National Art Pass and enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions and subscription to Art Quarterly magazine. In addition to grant-giving, Art Fund’s support for museums includes Art Fund Museum of the Year (won by Tate St Ives in 2018) and a range of digital platforms.

Find out more about Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org

1 April 2019
Audrey Grant, Norman McBeath and Val McDermid star in new exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

THE LONG LOOK
25 May – 27 October 2019
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission FREE
#NGSLongLook

The private world of portrait making is revealed in a beguiling new exhibition opening this spring at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. The Long Look – The Making of a Portrait explores the creative collaboration that grew between Edinburgh-based artists Audrey Grant (b.1964) and Norman McBeath (b.1952), and the award winning crime-writer Val McDermid (b.1955), when Audrey asked Norman and Val to sit for portraits.

Audrey Grant began to draw photographer and printmaker Norman McBeath in charcoal at her studio in the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh in December 2015. Audrey would create a portrait drawing of Norman over many sittings – the process could take weeks, months or even years, because at the end of each sitting Audrey would erase her work. This fascinating long-term aspect of Audrey’s practice allows her to get under the skin of her subject – looking anew with each sitting, seeking to evoke a sense of the sitter’s presence, and constantly creating and destroying what has come before.

Describing this process, Audrey said: “The charcoal, the eraser and the rag enabled this process, allowing me to constantly apply, remove, reapply, find and re-find, while leaving the ghosts of erased images. These, in turn, will give essential weight to the final version of the drawing.”

Audrey asked Norman to photograph the drawing at the end of each session to chart her progress. Norman soon became fascinated by the way Audrey was working, which led him to create photographs of the process as a reflection on his experience of sitting for a portrait – the paint-spattered surfaces of her studio, her charcoal covered hands, the chair on which he sat for hours.

Speaking about the process, Norman said: “I became fascinated by the sheer physicality of Audrey’s drawing: the constant back and forth to the easel, the scrapes, rubs and wipes of the charcoal and cloth on the paper, the sharp snap of a new piece of black willow…From my static position, unable to see anything of the front of the easel, I found myself trying to interpret this information as a way of imagining the progress of the portrait.”

The Long Look features the drawings, photographs and objects that Audrey and Norman produced during sittings, giving us a unique opportunity to explore the art of portraiture, and what it means to really look at another person.

In addition to two portraits of Norman, Audrey also completed two charcoal portraits of the award-winning crime writer Val McDermid. Much like Norman, Val found that the many sittings over a long period inspired her own creative practice. Sessions with Audrey allowed Val time to let her mind roam, exploring thoughts and ideas that might otherwise have been crowded out by her busy life.

Speaking about her experience, Val said: “It’s a gift in my busy life to have two hours where no distraction is permitted. And letting go of the immediate need to deal with any one of the many demands on my time allows my mind to range randomly far and wide. It’s a chance for my subconscious to make itself heard, and the end result is all sorts of sparky creative moments.”

The Long Look gives visitors a unique opportunity to explore the nature and intimacy of portraiture and places you in close proximity to the various and subtle layers of looking and building a dialogue which occur as part of the process of making a portrait, in this case through drawing and photography.

Speaking about the exhibition, Deputy Director & Chief Curator of Portraiture at the National Galleries of Scotland, Imogen Gibbon said: “The Long Look is unlike anything displayed before at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and presents an unmissable opportunity to explore portraiture at its core. The work on display shows portraiture at its most compelling in that it hides nothing and discloses everything."

Notes to Editors:

The Long Look will be taking place as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival.

The Long Look will be accompanied by an exhibition book: The Long Look: The Making of a Portrait, available for purchase in all National Galleries of Scotland shops or online.

The Long Look-related events can be found via this link here.

—ENDS—

26 March 2019
Monumental self-portrait by important Scottish artist to star in new display at National Galleries of Scotland

A large, powerful self-portrait by one of the finest and most singular Scottish artists of the 20th century has been acquired by the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS), where it will go on display for the first time this week. Womb from Womb by William Crosbie (1915-99), will be included in the Modern Portrait display, which re-opens at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh on Saturday 30 March.

Painted in 1941, in a style which reflects the artist’s interest in international surrealism, Womb from Womb was the most ambitious painted portrait of the artist’s career, and is a major addition to the national collection’s already-outstanding series of 20th-century Scottish self-portraits.

The impressive painting joins a significant group of Crosbie’s works in the NGS collection, which include drawings and paintings of figurative and abstract subjects. It has been purchased from the artist’s estate via the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, in what is the twentieth year since the artist’s passing at the age of 84.

William (Bill) Crosbie is one of the most respected Scottish painters of the 20th century. His work is represented in many major Scottish museums and galleries, the British Museum in London, and in private collections throughout the United Kingdom and abroad.

He was born to Scottish parents in Hankow in China, where his father was an engineer working on a harbour on the Yangtze River. The family moved to Glasgow in 1926 and Crosbie studied at the Glasgow Academy and Glasgow School of Art. He won a number of scholarships, including the Haldane Travel Scholarship in 1935.

Crosbie travelled to Paris in 1937 and enrolled there in the influential French art school, the École des Beaux-Arts, where he became familiar with the latest trends in European painting, most especially the work of artists such as Fernand Léger (1881-1955) and Aristide Maillol (1861-1944). He stayed in the city for two years and would later describe his time studying under Léger as, “one of my proudest experiences”.

At the end of his scholarship, Crosbie ventured to Egypt to work with the Royal Archaeological Institute on an expedition to the newly-excavated Temple of the Bulls and Temple of Saqqara, the burial grounds for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. There, Crosbie copied the four thousand year old friezes on the temple walls.

The artist returned to Scotland in 1939 and found work painting murals (including for the Festival of Britain in 1951), altarpieces, book illustrations and scenery designs for the ballet. Initially setting up a studio on 12 Ruskin Lane in Glasgow, Crosbie found himself the centre of what he once described as ''a little local Renaissance'', which included contemporaries such as the painter J D Fergusson (1874-1961), poet Hugh MacDiarmid (1892-1978), playwright James Bridie (1888-1951) and architect Basil Spence (1907-76). He was later elected a member of the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) and throughout his life, regularly exhibited with the Royal Glasgow Institute.

Crosbie painted Womb from Womb during the Second World War, in 1941. It is a monumental self-portrait demonstrating Crosbie’s increasing interest in surrealism. The painting was made five years after the International Surrealist Exhibition in London, which was hugely influential on the art of many English and Scottish painters. Such surrealist work was however a rarity among the relative conservatism of the Scottish art scene of the period, and so demonstrates Crosbie’s innovative and highly inventive outlook.

Womb from Womb was an outstanding inclusion in the exhibition A New Era, organised by the National Galleries of Scotland in 2017.

Christopher Baker, Director, European and Scottish Art and Portraiture at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “Crosbie’s impressive self-portrait is a significant addition to the National Galleries’ unrivalled collection of Scottish art. It’s a complex and thought-provoking work which combines three fascinating elements – the artist himself, glimpses of his wartime studio, and an intriguing painting in progress on the easel. With rich decorative and lighting effects and elements of spatial ambiguity, it’s an unnerving portrait that pays homage to European surrealism, but in a wholly distinctive and individual manner.”

—ENDS—

19 March 2019
Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe and Francesca Woodman exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

ARTIST ROOMS:
SELF-EVIDENCE – PHOTOGRAPHS BY WOODMAN, ARBUS AND MAPPLETHORPE
6 April – 20 October 2019
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission FREE
#NGSSelfEvidence

ARTIST ROOMS: Self Evidence – Photographs by Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe explores how three of the twentieth century’s most influential photographers addressed issues of self-expression, performance and truth. This new exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery includes over 40 outstanding works, from Francesca Woodman’s experimental images, to Diane Arbus’ raw, compassionate documentary photography, and the touching self-portraits that track the final years of Robert Mapplethorpe’s life.The works in ARTIST ROOMS: Self Evidence are drawn from ARTIST ROOMS, a touring collection of over 1,600 works of modern and contemporary art jointly owned by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate on behalf of the nation. The collection is displayed across the UK through a touring programme, supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Creative Scotland.

Francesca Woodman (1958-81) began exploring self-expression through photography at the age of thirteen and continued to experiment and develop her practice in the following decade. From her teenage years until her early twenties (Woodman died at the age of 22) she produced an astonishing body of work in which she was simultaneously the creative force and the ultimate subject. This blurring of the lines between artist and subject is brought to the fore in the work Woodman produced while studying photography at the Rhode Island School of Design in the 1970s. Woodman worked in an abandoned house near the campus, producing thoughtfully staged photographs of herself that experimented with slow exposures, blurred movement, shadows and reflections. She further developed her practice in a year of study abroad in Italy in 1977-78, using carefully chosen locations, lighting, clothing, props and her own body to produce innovative works including the lyrical Eel Series, one of which shows the photographer positioned alongside a fish, her torso curving and echoing its circular forms. Woodman’s work exquisitely balances performance and self-exposure, paving the way for later artists who used photography to explore issues of identity, such as Cindy Sherman and Nan Goldin.

ARTIST ROOMS: Self Evidence will include a very rare portfolio of original prints by Diane Arbus (1923-71), A Box of Ten Photographs (1969-1971), which Arbus produced shortly before her death by suicide in 1971. These works were carefully chosen to encapsulate the themes that obsessed Arbus, and include some of her most iconic images, such as Xmas Tree in a Living Room, in Levittown 1963, and A Jewish Giant at Home with his Parents in the Bronx, N.Y. 1970. Having been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1963, and again in 1966, for a project looking at ‘American rites, manners and customs’, Arbus was part of a new generation of documentary photographers who sought to engage with people in a bold and direct style. She began assembling A Box of Ten Photographs in the years following the 1967 exhibition New Documents at the Museum of Modern Art, New York where her photographs appeared alongside Garry Winogrand and Lee Friedlander. Arbus gave considerable thought to what this portfolio should be and how it should look; ultimately deciding on a clear Plexiglas box and selecting a set of ten images that date from as early as 1963. There is a particular focus on families and identity with iconic portraits such as Identical Twins, Roselle N.J.1967 featuring within the portfolio. For Arbus the ten images represented who she was as an artist and how she saw her work in the world, a legacy which became more solidified with her death in 1971.

Finally, a series of self-portraits by Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-89) explores his varying personas, as expressed for the camera, and poignantly documents his declining health, as a result of having contracted AIDS. ARTIST ROOMS: Self Evidence, will be the first exhibition of the photographer’s work to take place in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s dedicated photography space since it was established with assistance from the Robert Mapplethorpe foundation in 2012 and named in the artist’s honour. Significantly, the exhibition will be held during the 30 year anniversary of Mapplethorpe’s death. Known for his explicit imagery, particularly his portrayal of the male nude, Mapplethorpe worked at a time when the conservative backlash against the socially progressive 1960s and 1970s was at its peak. His retrospective exhibition, The Perfect Moment was so controversial in the late 1980s that one venue cancelled the show weeks before its opening, while another institution found itself at the centre of an obscenity trial. These events have often overshadowed Mapplethorpe’s work, which at its core speaks to diversity within society by showing that it is not homogenous. For his series of self-portraits Mapplethorpe shows different aspects of his own personality—from the debonair romantic in a tuxedo to the devil sprouting horns, and ultimately ends with that of a man confronting his own mortality.

Anne M. Lyden Chief Curator, Photography at the National Galleries of Scotland said: “This exhibition is an opportunity to reflect on the important contributions from each of these three artists and how they used photography to explore and express the self, while simultaneously documenting the shifting world around us. Although these photographs were made in the 1960s, 70s and 80s many of the issues being addressed are still relevant to us today. There is still a fascination with how we are seen by ourselves and others in relation to the world we live in – our self-evidence.”

Ceri Lewis, Managing Curator of ARTIST ROOMS, Tate and National Galleries of Scotland said: “This is the first time that we are presenting ARTIST ROOMS at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and we are showcasing some of the greatest photographic portraits within the ARTIST ROOMS collection by three of the twentieth century’s most influential photographers. It is particularly fitting to be able to mark the 30th anniversary of Mapplethorpe’s death with this display in the dedicated photography gallery established through the generosity of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.”

Notes to Editors:

ARTIST ROOMS
ARTIST ROOMS is a touring collection of over 1,600 works of modern and contemporary art. The collection is displayed across the UK in solo exhibitions that showcase the work of more than 40 major artists. The touring programme gives young people the chance to get involved in creative projects, discover more about art and learn new skills. Since 2009, nearly 50 million people have visited more than 180 displays at over 85 museums and galleries.

ARTIST ROOMS is jointly owned by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. The collection was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, and the Scottish and British Governments. The current ARTIST ROOMS touring programme is delivered by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate in a partnership with Ferens Art Gallery until 2019, supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Art Fund and by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland. www.nationalgalleries.org/artistrooms | www.tate.org.uk/artist-rooms | www.artistrooms.org | #ARTISTROOMS

Image credits:

1. Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989), Self Portrait, 1980. Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper, 34.00 x 34.10 cm (framed: 50.80 x 40.60 cm). ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.
2. Francesca Woodman (1959-1981), Francesca Woodman - Eel Series 1977-8. Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper, 21.90 x 21.80 cm (paper 35.40 x 27.90 cm) (framed: 45.80 x 40.20 x 2.00 cm). ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008 © Courtesy of George and Betty Woodman
3. Diane Arbus (1923-1971), The King and Queen of a Senior Citizens' Dance, N.Y.C. 1970, 1970. Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper 37.20 x 36.90 cm (framed: 50.80 x 40.60 cm). ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
4. Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989), Self Portrait, 1988. Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper, 57.70 x 48.10 cm. ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.

—ENDS—

28 January 2019
Exhibition of work by young people opens at Scottish National Portrait Gallery

BEINGS
2 February 2019 – 28 April 2019
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission FREE
#NGSBeings

A new exhibition of recent artwork by young people from across Scotland, which explores the many ways in which creativity can help us to understand and express our emotions, opens today at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. Beings brings together the young people from Lanarkshire, Fife, Ayrshire, Lothian and the Scottish Borders, and addresses a number of themes that have a significant impact in their lives: identity, emotional health, happiness, resilience and self-worth.

Thirteen groups, from youth clubs, schools, kinship care groups and employability projects, have run free with works from the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) collection, using them as springboards to create their own work, and their own exhibition, working closely with NGS staff to design way the Beings is laid out.

The exhibition forms a ‘mind map’ of thematic displays, in which new works made by participants are shown alongside the works in the NGS collection that inspired them. Drawings from Five Minutes about Surrealism, a film scenario by the world-famous Spanish artist Salvador Dalí (1904-89), are displayed alongside artworks by students from North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and Edinburgh, who used techniques developed by Dalí and his fellow Surrealists to tap into the subconscious mind.

Performance videos and sculptures by young people from Works + (Galashiels) and Inverkeithing High School respond to a poignant work by Scottish contemporary artist and Turner Prize nominee Christine Borland (b.1965). Twin, hand-made, child-birth demonstration model (1997) was made by Borland to the replicate an eighteenth-century medical teaching aid she came across in her research – a hand-stitched leather and sawdust baby, which in the original enclosed a real foetal skull.

Students from Waid Academy in Anstruther were inspired by the work of Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti (1901-66) to create a series of beautiful shadow projections, presented in a mysterious fairground booth.

All of the NGS works included in Beings were chosen to reflect the ways in which we process and understand our thoughts and feelings, each providing the young people with a different approach. Participants also explored the visually rich imagery of contemporary fashion photographer Viviane Sassen, the power of abstract art to convey complex emotions, and the attempts of the Victorian pseudo-science of phrenology to map out the human mind on the surface of the skull.

Interactive elements in the display will encourage visitors to respond to the exhibition, in much the same way Beings participants responded to works in the NGS collection. Visitors can take part in automatic drawing (a favourite Surrealist technique); find their own way around the shadows made by etched perspex artworks by lighting them up with their phones; and map their emotional journey around the exhibition using a 3-D paper phrenological head.

Beings forms part of a wider outreach program run by the National Galleries of Scotland, which aims to provide disadvantaged young people across Scotland with opportunities to develop their skills and their creativity, so they can represent their own point of view, inspired by the national art collection.

Speaking about the project, Robin Baillie, Senior Outreach Officer at NGS, said: “We wanted our participants to explore their emotions, and maybe find ways to cope with the issues that affect them. Could art help? Our idea was for participants to look at our art, and then respond spontaneously. They learned how to create art without worrying about the result, free from pressure to succeed. By doing this, they have shown that (like us all) they are vulnerable, in need of safe spaces to explore their personal and shared identities, but also that they can imagine a more joyous world of free expression and connection with others. They have produced a compelling body of work that is touching, honest and arresting. Life is strange … some of our art is strange and challenging, but the art that the young people have created for this exhibition is brave and bold, and totally unique.”

Laura Chow, head of charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said:
“It’s fantastic that so many young people from across Scotland have produced artwork for this emotive exhibition. We are delighted that the support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery has enabled the National Galleries of Scotland’s Beings project to take place.”

Notes to Editors:

People’s Postcode Lottery

People’s Postcode Lottery manages multiple society lotteries promoted by different charities and good causes. People play with their chosen postcodes for a chance to win cash prizes. A minimum of 32% from each subscription goes directly to charities and good causes across Great Britain and internationally -- players have raised £382 million so far. For details of the charities and good causes which are promoting and benefitting from the lottery draws, please visit https://www.postcodelottery.co.uk/good-causes/draw-calendar
It costs £10 a month to play and winning postcodes are announced every day. The maximum amount a single ticket can win is 10% of the draw proceeds, subject to a maximum of £400,000. For details, please visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/prizes
New players can sign up to pay using direct debit by calling 0808 10 9 8 7 6 5. New players who sign up online at www.postcodelottery.co.uk can pay using direct debit, debit card or PayPal.
Postcode Lottery Limited is regulated by the Gambling Commission under licence numbers: 000-000829-N-102511 and 000-000829-R-102513. Registered office: Titchfield House, 69/85 Tabernacle Street, London, EC2A 4RR
Follow us @PostcodePress

Participating groups

Coatbridge Community Centre, North Lanarkshire Council Social Services
Drummond Community HS, City of Edinburgh Council
Waid Academy, Anstruther, Fife Council
Inverkeithing HS, Fife Council
North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership, Intervention Services, Rosemount Project Kinship Group/North Ayrshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership
NHS Lothian Public Health Awareness
Works + (Galashiels)
Spartans Football Club Alternative Academy, North Edinburgh
Citadel Youth Project (Leith)
NYAAG – National Youth Arts Advisory Group (Creative Scotland)
TUK, Thinktank for Youth Culture, Denmark
Canongate Youth Project
Access to Industry
Artists: Morgan Atkinson, Catherine O’ Brien
Students: Emma Mitchell, Level 3, Contemporary Art Practice, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD), and Sarah-Jane Henderson, Third Year, Glasgow School of Art

7 January 2019
Work starts in East Princes Street Gardens as transformation of the Scottish National Gallery continues

• New fly-through animation reveals the new gallery experience being created.
• Work gets underway to create new accessible path, new landscaping and wider steps in East Princes Street Gardens.
• Gardens entrance to the Scottish National Gallery to temporarily close until spring 2019.
• The Scottish Café & Restaurant and main Gallery shop to temporarily close until spring 2019.
• Galleries to officially join the Council’s community toilet scheme as an accessible toilet on the Mound precinct will be removed.

January 2019 will bring the next steps in the redevelopment of the Scottish National Gallery (SNG) in Edinburgh with work starting in East Princes Street Gardens and continuing inside the Galleries.

The vision for the project, which got underway in October 2018, has been revealed in a new fly through animation which has been released to coincide with this stage of work.

The £22m project, which will create a new home for the world’s greatest collection of Scottish art, began in October 2018. It will transform former office, storage and display spaces into a new set of galleries that, for the first time, will be entered directly from the adjacent East Princes Street Gardens. They will showcase the National Galleries of Scotland’s amazingly rich collection of historic Scottish art, which contains masterpieces by Henry Raeburn, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Scottish Colourists as well as giving direct access to the rest of the SNG’s international collection. The project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Scottish Government.

As part of the work in this phase of the development, which is due to last until spring 2019, public access in and around East Princes Street Gardens and the Mound precinct will change. During this period the Gardens entrance to the SNG will be closed; visitors will instead use the entrances on The Mound.

From mid-January, work starts on the new landscaping which includes the widening of existing steps and the construction of a new accessible path in the Gardens, which will help those with mobility impairments, wheelchairs and prams. The Galleries’ plans, which were approved after a lengthy consultation with City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) and other bodies, address the long-standing inadequacy of accessible routes in this area; without this new path, the East Gardens would remain accessible only via steep gradients or stairs.

As part of the works an accessible toilet on the Mound precinct will be removed, and the NGS will join the CEC’s community toilet scheme. Our nearby accessible toilet facilities are open to the public without having to visit the Gallery itself.

During this phase of work we will also be planting 22 new trees in East Princes Street Gardens with species chosen to complement existing trees in the wider gardens. These trees will be between 4.5 metres and 6 metres in height. They will replace 52 trees removed in autumn 2018 to enable the reshaping of an embankment that is necessary for the new accessible path.

The new trees are depicted in the new animated fly through, and landscape architects and other professional organisations supporting the project have advised and verified on their depiction, including their size and species. NGS is also in discussion with the CEC and Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust about the planting of additional trees in other locations in the city.

The main Gallery shop and The Scottish Café & Restaurant will also temporarily close until spring 2019. Alternative facilities – including a souvenir shop inside the Gallery and the shop on Princes Street will be available as normal - as well as a new Espresso café opening at the SNG entrance on the Mound in early 2019.

Also due to start in this phase is the installation of a much larger lift and stairwell at the south end of the SNG, which will connect with the new gallery spaces and radically improve the way the whole building is accessed by visitors. While construction work continues on the stairwell, there will be some temporary disruption with no lift access to some rooms where we show 18th, 19th and early 20th Century Art, including Scottish Art, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.

Speaking today, Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “It has been very exciting over the autumn to see work on this transformational project get started, and as we move out of winter and into spring we’re looking forward to some of our first milestones becoming a reality. Landscaping will start shortly and by the spring our new accessible route into Princes Street Gardens will be complete and our restaurant and enlarged shop will reopen to welcome the public. Unavoidably there will be some disruption around the site over the coming weeks, and we are grateful for the public’s patience while we create these improvements to the galleries and the surrounding space. We want the Scottish National Gallery to be a place for everyone to enjoy. We have two years to go before opening, but we hope that as this year progresses people will already begin to feel the great benefits of the work we are doing here.”

Dr Tricia Allerston, Co-Director, Scottish National Gallery Project, added: “We draw around 2.5 million visitors each year to our Edinburgh-based galleries, and our ambitious plans for the Scottish National Gallery will ensure we continue to meet the needs and expectations of all. With this once-in-a-lifetime project, we will transform the way we show the world’s greatest collection of historic Scottish art, both in the new, light-filled, state-of-the-art display spaces and in the innovative way we will be showcasing the work of Scottish artists alongside our wider international collection.’

—ENDS—

Notes to Editors

The project will create a beautiful new space in the heart of Edinburgh, which will be free for everyone to use and enjoy. A series of large windows, running the length of the new gardens-level façade, will fill the galleries with light and colour, and offer spectacular views over one of the most celebrated cityscapes in the world. Extensive new landscaping in the gardens will radically improve access to this much-loved part of the city, and the project will also create a larger shop, brand-new café and more accessible restaurant.

During construction work we intend to keep disruption in the surrounding area and in the Gallery itself to a minimum, though there will be some room closures. To enable excavation works to the galleries directly beneath, the Playfair Steps, at the rear of the SNG, will be closed for the duration of the building work.

New fly-through animation of the Scottish National Gallery Project is available to view here.

Read more on the Scottish National Gallery Project changes on our website here.

Funding figures from Scottish Government and Heritage Lottery Fund:
Scottish Government: £5.5 million.
Heritage Lottery Fund: £4.94 million.

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Press releases 2020

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Press releases 2020

17 December 2020 — Portrait of iconic singer-songwriter Horse McDonald to enter Scotland's national art collection

1 December 2020 — Scotland's national art collection acquires rare painting by Gwen John

27 November 2020 — Scotland's national art collection receives first artwork by Marc Chagall, one of the greatest masters of modern art​

25 November 2020 — Revised completion date for the Scottish National Gallery Project

5 November 2020 — Scotland's lockdown experience captured in new exhibition at Scottish National Portrait Gallery

12 October 2020 — New opening days announced for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One)

10 September 2020 — Arts face coverings gifted to local community by National Galleries of Scotland and North Edinburgh Arts

21 August 2020 — Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s Modern Two to reopen with landmark show on filmmaking icon Ray Harryhausen

6 August 2020 — Wonder awaits at the National Galleries of Scotland: first phase of reopening dates announced

27 July 2020 — Public appeal for stories, portraits and ideas to be displayed alongside the national collection

16 July 2020 — A breath of fresh air awaits you in the serene grounds of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

9 July 2020 — Statement on reopening from the National Galleries of Scotland

4 June 2020 — The public's most-asked art questions explored in new six-part National Galleries video series

28 May 2020 - Titian announcement

26 May 2020 - National Galleries of Scotland appoints new Director of Collection and Research

30 March 2020 — Members appointed to the National Galleries of Scotland board

17 March 2020 - Galleries closed until further notice

13 February 2020 — MacKinnon Collection show extended due to popular demand and Scottish tour announced

7 February 2020 - An Announcement on the Timescales of The Scottish National Gallery Project

30 January 2020 - Portrait of rugby legend Doddie Weir to go on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

6 January 2020 - Pig Rock Bothy moves on in 2020 after final exhibition

11 December 2019 - Experience the dazzling and fascinating life of King James VI & I

11 December 2019 - National Galleries of Scotland announces a season of wonder with its 2020 summer programme

Press releases 2019

15 November 2019 - Monumental Vulcan Gets a Makeover

24 October 2019 - Art Competition for Schools 2020

18 October 2019 - Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance

18 October 2019 - Scotland’s Photograph Album: The MacKinnon Collection

10 October 2019 - New shopping experience this Christmas at the National Galleries of Scotland

3 October 2019 — A dazzling end to NOW: Humanity, time and the cosmos

12 September 2019 - Scotland's national art collection gifted powerful Damien Hirst sculpture

30 August 2019 - Spellbinding surrealist painting becomes first Dorothea Tanning work acquired for Scotland's national art collection

12 July 2019 - Outstanding Georges Seurat painting to be shown in Scotland for first time

4 June 2019 - Beyond Realism | Dada and Surrealism from the National Galleries of Scotland

14 May 2019 — Decades-spanning survey of one of the most original artists of our time to open at National Galleries of Scotland

9 May 2019 — Antony Gormley sculptures to be reinstalled along Edinburgh's Water of Leith

5 May 2019 — First survey exhibition of collage ever to take place anywhere in the world at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

30 April 2019 — Spectacular installation of 10,000 fresh red roses to take centre stage at new contemporary art exhibition

25 April 2019 — Scottish National Gallery development East Princes Street Gardens works update

18 April 2019 — National Galleries of Scotland and Victoria and Albert Museum purchase spectacular Zucchi portrait of architect James Adam

1 April 2019 — Audrey Grant, Norman McBeath and Val McDermid star in new exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery​

26 March 2019 — Monumental self-portrait by important Scottish artist to star in new display at National Galleries of Scotland

19 March 2019 — Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe and Francesca Woodman exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

28 January 2019 — Exhibition of work by young people opens at Scottish National Portrait Gallery

7 January 2019 — Work starts in East Princes Street Gardens as transformation of the Scottish National Gallery continues

Press releases from previous years

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