It doesn’t seem to matter how far you go, it is difficult to leave Scotland behind. Two days out of a motorbiking tour of South Africa last month (BMW F650GS for those who are interested), I came across a memorial to John Buchan that great writer of adventure stories and colonial administrator.
This photograph was taken at the site, looking out over the great Ebenezer Dam near Magoebaskloof in the Limpopo region. This was a view that Buchan, who knew the area well, loved. The country and the people of South Africa influenced his life and inspired many of his novels; Prester John in particular. My two companions had never heard of Buchan. But I found a copy of the Thirty Nine Steps in a second-hand bookshop in Knysna later on the trip and now both are addicts.
We have an intriguing photographic portrait of John Buchan taken by Yosuf Karsh in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery collection. Created in 1937 when Buchan was Governor-General of Canada he is photographed in a headdress as a symbol of admiration to the Blood Tribe.
I’ve regained my composure just enough to write this post, having been ready to turn into a cartoon character with all the clichés - taking refuge on a desk, stock still with a pale face and speech bubble transmitting a scream, loud enough to wake John Knox. The reason: the smallest of visitors to the Portrait of the Nation offices, here at Baden Powell House, the clue is in the next two lines:
“Wee, sleekit, cow’rin’, tim’rous beastie,
O what a panic’s in thy breastie!”
How appropriate that Burns Night is upon us again! As part of the latest National Burns Collection meeting , we visited The Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock last week – the original monument opened in 1879 and included a statue of the poet by William Grant Stevenson, sculptor of the figure of the poet and Bishop of Dunkeld, Gavin Douglas, on the facade of the Portrait Gallery.
A fire destroyed much of the Kilmarnock Monument in 2004, however, restoration and the addition of a research and family history centre, together with a courtyard, have formed new surroundings for the return of the original statue to its sandstone setting.
Wednesday night saw the opening of Wild Rovers in the IT gallery in the National Gallery Complex. A bus full of school kids who took part, made it through the snow and awful weather to come and see the gallery draped with flags and look at the photographs and footage of their recent stampede through Crieff. Here’s a short extract from the footage.
Robin Baillie, Senior Outreach Officer, took them on a tour of the Scottish collection - mainly for them to see Peter Graham’s Wandering Shadows, one of two paintings which inspired the project in the first place, (the other being Graham’s Moorland Rovers from Perth Museum and Art Gallery’s collection) – before we filled them up with crisps, cookies and oranges and packed them back onto the coach home.
The exhibiton is looking great and is a testament to the creative abilities and community spirit of the people of Crieff that it turned out so well.
This is the first Parallel Lives project, in partnership with Perth and Kinross Council, that we have run outside of Edinburgh, and we hope to reach many more towns and cities throughout the country in the coming years. The exhibition is now on show at the National Gallery Complex in Edinburgh until the 28th February and will then tour to the Strathearn Community Campus in March 2010.
In the bleak midwinter, amidst the snowfall and freezing conditions, work carries on regardless and with new vigour for Portrait of the Nation.
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery of Winters Past © RCAHMS, 1897
Inspired by the weather we have been delving into the collection to find appropriate images for the season and I don’t think we could have come up with anything more spectacular than Alfred Buckham’s photograph of Morning Over the Moorfoots - Peebles, after Snowfall During the Night.
Morning Over the Moorfoots, Peebles, after Snowfall During the Night, c.1920 by Alfred Buckham © Courtesy of Richard and John Buckham
After taking this photograph he recalled that “the air… is so splendidly exhilarating that the discomfort is little felt until the blood begins to circulate freely again”. Find out more about Buckham and see his iconic Aerial Photograph of Edinburgh in our Online Collection.
This December saw the town of Crieff awash with life size cow print flags, 100 schoolchildren with samba drums and cowbells, their faces covered by sinister black cow masks and an adult contingent made up from local residents and parents descending from the historical market square to the new Strathearn Community Campus.
We had spent a full 12 hour day with the artist Gavin Lockhart, the preceding week producing 70 flags with young people at the school. The sight of these 7 foot by 4 foot cow-print flags fluttering against the majestic backdrop of the Perthshire countryside was amazing.
The ‘Stampede’ marked the culmination of Wild Rovers, the recent National Galleries of Scotland Outreach project which took reproductions of two Peter Graham paintings, one from Perth Museum and Art Gallery, one from our collection, (see previous post) and worked with young people in Crieff to create a series of images and artistic interventions within the town that took into account its droving past and looked towards its possible future.
The weather on the day was crisp with a cool mist of ’wandering shadows’ flickering across the mountains, ideally reminiscent of the landscapes depicted in the Graham paintings.
We are currently collating the artwork produced during this project which will be exhibited at the National Gallery Complex from 14 Jan to 28 Feb, with several still photographs, a video work of the Stampede and the flags used in the performance. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished results.
Our contractors are now into their 7th week on site and are pleased with their progress. Here is a selection of photographs to give you an idea of what is going on.
There will be no scones here…
…but here there will be.
A bit difficult to read, this one: front entrance lobby with new opening to the right.
Left: Some of you may remember the ‘Gents’ (blue tiles to the right of this picure, Disabled loo, white tiles to the left).
Bricks are cleaning up nicely.
You may remember this as the Roman Room in the Museum of Antiquities. Lowered ceiling of the 1960s in course of removal.
Recently a picture store - to become a gallery space again.
Above: No more offices here – rather a future gallery space.
Every year at the end of November, visitors to the Portrait Gallery and National Gallery of Scotland staff could be forgiven for crying “already!”, at the sight of the Christmas tree towering in the Great Hall. Now that December is upon us, here is a virtual version for all of you who are missing out on the occasion this year. The annual Portrait Gallery Carol Concert, performed by the Edinburgh University Singers, has relocated to the National Gallery of Scotland and will be held on Wednesday 9 December, from 1.15 to 1.45pm.
The Great Hall is one of my favourite experiences in Edinburgh, I never tire of walking through the front doors and coming upon this part of the Gallery and all the treasures within. As a central part of Portrait of the Nation, we are looking at ways to re-interprete this part of the building. Part of this process consists of delving into the history of the decorative scheme of the Great Hall – the frieze, murals, zodiacal ceiling, heraldry and stained glass.
Seventeen themes from Scottish history were originally proposed by William Hole (1846-1917) to occupy both, the walls of the Ambulatory, and those of the Great Hall on the ground floor. In the end, the ground floor walls were left as brick and Hole executed seven scenes on the Ambulatory of the Portrait Gallery, continuing his scheme in a number of paintings for the Edinburgh City Chambers. From our temporary offices at Baden-Powell House, it was only a hop, skip and jump across the Royal Mile, to the City Chambers, for a rewarding examination of Hole’s later murals illustrating Scottish history.
Four years ago Martyn Wade, the Chief Executive and Librarian of the National Library of Scotland, and I signed a formal Partnership Agreement to help the Library and the Portrait Gallery work closer together. It was aimed to cut out bureaucracy and increase co-operation at every level across both organisations. It has been far more productive than I had dared imagine. For instance, we have helped the Library promote their campaign to secure the fabulous Murray Archive for Scotland and we have organised three joint exhibitions. Another aspect of closer working is our occupation of Baden Powell House at 3 Victoria Terrace. We rent this from the National Library and we use their excellent café (just yards away) as our ‘common room’.
Last Friday we held a party in the Library to make sure that the Portrait Gallery curators and Education staff get to know their colleagues in the Library. It was a jolly evening. Obviously some I know well, others by name only. When we reopen in exactly two years time we want to be thinking of the curators and resources of the National Library as complementing our own staff and collection. Then we really will have established a true partnership.
Now that we’re barred from entry until the builders leave and I have to say I’m missing the Portrait Gallery. While Baden Powell House is in a prime location for nice wee sandwich places to try out and good distance away from the noise of the tram works, it’s all floor and ceiling tiles and strip lighting.
Miles away from gothic arches, antique charm and secret spiral staircases up to dusty attic rooms and without a gilt framed portrait in sight. It’s far too much like a ‘proper’ office up here and I can’t wait to get back into 1 Queen Street.
On a more positive note, the plans for the new gallery spaces are fully underway and in the last week I’ve had two interesting and productive meetings with curators regarding content for two of the galleries I am helping with. We also received good news regarding funding for our involvment in the Inspiring Change Project. Co-ordinated by Motherwell College and involving a whole host of other cultural institutions and academic researchers who will evaluate the impact of the project, the National Galleries of Scotland Outreach Team will support selected artists to develop portrait projects with inmates in five prisons across Scotland. The project is set to run for a year, providing an important part of our wider outreach strategy and undoubtably producing some interesting and worthwhile results.
Well, thank goodness the period of talking and planning is giving way to a time of action! These are still early days of course but perhaps I can do no better than attach some photographs to prove it.
Scaffolding going up. It’s been a nail-biting few weeks as we compete with the tram works to occupy Queen Street.
Ground floor: the daylight returns; parquet flooring in bags for re-use. Note the 1930s radiator boxes.
The middle floor, east side: unseen by the public for 15 years.
We have all waited long enough after all – commissioning a ‘Feasibility Study’ for the Portrait Gallery was one of my first tasks when I arrived at the National Galleries of Scotland 15 years ago. Members of our consultant project team, including Page \ Park architects, Will Rudd Davidson and a team of engineers, and Martin Sinclair, our project manager, have been involved for almost as long.
The Middle Floor, west side: blocking every window must have seemed a good idea at the time (since 1934).
Top Floor Gallery: dismantling of lay-lights (here in preparation for asbestos removal).
Vaults: the basement cleared out.
